FAUSTUS OF RIEZ. - Ecclesiastical writer, b. in Brittany at the beginning of the 5th century, d. after 485. He entered the monastery of Lérins at a young age, and was elected abbot there in 433; he defended its rights against Theodore, bishop of Fréjus. Before 462 he succeeded Maximus, who had already been his predecessor as abbot of Lérins, on the episcopal see of Riez (Reji, Regium) in Provence, continuing in the austere manner of life and devoting himself unstintingly to pastoral care. He was a celebrated preacher even outside his diocese. He was part of a commission of bishops charged by the emperor Nepos with negotiating with Euric, king of the Visigoths. When the latter, in 477, seized Gallia Narbonensis, F. was condemned to exile, which he spent in a monastery; he returned from it, it seems, after the death of Euric, which occurred in 485.
His literary activity, about which Gennadius informs us with a certain abundance (De viris ill., 85), is connected with the theological controversies of his time — Trinitarian, Christological, and particularly with that concerning Grace. A book of his, De Spiritu Sancto, which has come down under the name of the Roman deacon Paschasius, demonstrates, starting from the relevant article of the Creed, the divinity of the Holy Spirit, consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son.
He wrote a short book Adversus Arianus et Macedonianus, on the unity of essence of the three divine Persons, probably lost, since the identifications attempted with works that have come down to us have not won the assent of scholars. In the De gratia, in two books, written at the behest of the Synods of Arles (473) and Lyon (474), he sets out to keep a middle way between the opponents of Grace and the deniers of free will. In fact he maintains, against the Pelagians, the insufficiency of free will, the immortality conferred on Adam, the transmissibility of original sin; but more extensively he combats predestination, saying that it denies the justice of God and renders prayer, penance and good works useless. He affirms the possibility of faith even without Grace, which is above all external. Thus he ranges himself decisively against St. Augustine, without naming him, accepting the Semi-Pelagian theses. The work aroused a strong reaction among Catholics and was refuted by St. Fulgentius. Ten letters of F. survive: the first and second are connected with the De Gratia; the third, to an unnamed bishop, seeks to demonstrate that all creatures, including the soul and the angels, are corporeal; the fourth, to Paulinus of Bordeaux, answers various questions of a psychological and soteriological nature; the sixth gives ascetic advice to the young Felix; the seventh, to the deacon Graecus, combats Nestorian doctrines; the others, addressed to Ruricius, are of an ascetic nature and of recommendation. Of the sermons that have come down under the name of F., and attributed to him by scholars, it cannot be said how many are authentic. F. writes in an emphatic and prolix style and willingly repeats the same expressions.
Bibliography10 works
Michele Pellegrino