{{For|the poem by Orientius|Commonitorium (Orientius)}} {{Infobox book |italic title= |name=Commonitory |author=Peregrinus (pseud. of Vincent of Lérins) |title_orig=Commonitorium<ref name="Demeulenaere1985">{{cite encyclopedia|location=Turnholti|publisher=Brepols|series=Series Latina|encyclopedia=Corpus Christianorum|volume=64|author=Vincentius Lerinensis|editor-last=Demeulenaere|editor-first=Roland|title=Commonitorium|language=la|year=1985|isbn=2503006418}}</ref> |orig_lang_code=la |translator=Reginald S. Moxon |country = |language =Latin |subject =apologetics, Christian theology |published = |media_type =Print |oclc = |dewey = |congress =BR65 .V4 |wikisource = }} The '''''{{lang|la|Commonitorium}}''''' or '''''Commonitory''''' is a 5th-century Christian treatise written after the council of Ephesus under the pseudonym "{{lang|la|Peregrinus}}" and attributed to Vincent of Lérins.<ref name="Moxon1915">{{Source-attribution|{{cite book|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|series=Cambridge patristic texts|author=Vincent of Lérins|editor-last=Moxon|editor-first=Reginald S.|title=Commonitorium of Vincentius of Lerins|year=1915|oclc=635499104|language=la, en|url=https://archive.org/details/commonitoriumofv00vinc}}}} Has good notes.</ref><ref name="Heurtley1894">{{cite wikisource |editor1-last=Schaff |editor1-first=Philip |editor2-last=Wace |editor2-first=Henry |plaintitle=A select library of the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian Church |series=2 |location=Buffalo |publisher=Christian Literature |edition=American |year=1894 |volume=11 |ref={{sfnRef |NPNF2 11}} |author=Vincent of Lérins |translator=Heurtley, Charles A. |chapter=The Commonitory of Vincent of Lerins |wslink=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume XI}}</ref> It is known for Vincent's famous maxim: "Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all."<ref name="Heurtley1894" />{{rp|page=132}}{{efn|"''{{lang|la|In ipsa item catholica ecclesia magnopere curandum est, ut id teneamus quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est....}}''".<ref name="Moxon1915" />{{rp|page=10}}}}
Charles Heurtley introduced the ''Commonitory'', in his translation, as Vincent's personal reference to "distinguish Catholic truth from heresy" based on the authority of Holy Scripture by which "all questions must be tried in the first instance" and "supplemented by an appeal to that sense of Holy Scripture which is supported by universality, antiquity, and consent."<ref name="Heurtley1894" /> *by universality – of the whole Church *by antiquity – held from the earliest times *by consent – acknowledged belief of all, or of almost all, whose office and character gave authority to their decision
Thomas Guarino commented, in ''Vincent of Lérins and the Development of Christian Doctrine'', that Vincent of Lérins' theology "is often reduced to a memorable slogan: 'We hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by everyone.'"<ref name="Guarino2013">{{cite book|location=Grand Rapids|publisher=Baker Academic|series=Foundations of theological exegesis and Christian spirituality|volume=2|last=Guarino|first=Thomas G.|title=Vincent of Lérins and the development of Christian doctrine|year=2013|isbn=0801049091|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsOtD8Q0rYAC}}</ref> Bernard Prusak explained in ''The Church Unfinished,'' that for Vincent, "the decrees of a universal council were to be preferred to the ignorance of a few" and the deposit of faith "did not exclude development or progress, as long as it was not an alteration" and accordingly, doctrines "could be taught in a new way."<ref name="Prusak">{{cite book|location=New York|publisher=Paulist Press|last=Prusak|first=Bernard P.|title=The church unfinished: ecclesiology through the centuries|year=2004|isbn=0809142864|page=131|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sz21fd361-QC&pg=PA131}}</ref>
Most of the work contains illustrations and applications of this principle. The work consisted originally of two tomes; but the second was lost or, according to Gennadius of Massilia, stolen while Vincent was still alive, and he wrote only a synopsis of the lost tome's contents but never rewrote it.
==Further reading== *{{cite journal|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|journal=Vigiliae Christianae|issn=0042-6032|volume=49|issue=2|year=1995|pages=180–188|last=Ferreiro|first=Alberto|title=Simon Magus and Priscillian in the ''Commonitorium'' of Vincent of Lérins|doi=10.2307/1584394|jstor=1584394}} *{{cite journal|location=Rome|publisher=Gregorian & Biblical Press|journal=Gregorianum|issn=0017-4114|volume=75|issue=3|year=1994|last=Guarino|first=Thomas|title=Vincent of Lerins and the hermeneutical question: historical and theological reflections|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqzxB99MleMC&pg=PA491|jstor=23579794}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3506.htm ''Commonitory''] Newadvent.org *[https://archive.org/details/commonitoryofsai0000unse The Commonitory of Saint Vincent of Lerins], translated by J. Shanahan. New York, 1833 *[https://archive.org/details/commonitoryofvin00vinc/page/n5/mode/2up The Commonitory of Vincent of Lerins], 1847 *{{librivox book | title=The Commonitory of Saint Vincent Lerins| author=Vincent}}
{{Authority control}} Category:5th-century Christian texts