St. Vincent of Lérins Feast on 24 May, an ecclesiastical writer
in Southern Gaul in the fifth century. His work is much better
known than his life. Almost all our information concerning him
is contained in Gennadius, "De viris illustribus" (lxiv). He
entered the monastery of Lérins (today Isle St. Honorat), where
under the pseudonym of Peregrinus he wrote his "Commonitorium"
(434). He died before 450, and probably shortly after 434. St.
Eucherius of Lyons calls him a holy man, conspicuous for
eloquence and knowledge ; there is no reliable authority for
identifying Vincent with Marius Mercator, but it is likely, if
not certain, that he is the writer against whom Prosper, St.
Augustine's friend, directs his "Responsiones ad capitula
objectionum Vincentianarum". He was a Semipelagian and so
opposed to the doctrine of St. Augustine. It is believed now
that he uses against Augustine his great principle: "what all
men have at all times and everywhere believed must be regarded
as true ". Living in a centre deeply im