GIOVINIANO. — Heretic of the 4th century. No information is known concerning his origins and early education; the place and date of his death are likewise unknown. Around 385, after having lived for some time according to the practices of the strictest asceticism, he suddenly changed his way of life, devoting himself to pleasure and revelry. To justify this new way of life, he wrote works that are now lost.
Their content, however, can be learned from the writings of those who refuted them, particularly St. Jerome, and may be summarized as follows: 1) no difference exists among the various states of social life: virgins, married persons, and widows or widowers, provided they have received Baptism, are equal; 2) whoever has been regenerated through Baptism can no longer sin or suffer the suggestions of the demon; 3) there is no difference in merit between an abstinent life and participation in a banquet, provided that the latter concludes with thanksgiving to the Lord; 4) there is no distinction of merit in heaven among the various degrees of virtue. Because of this system of doctrines, which endangered the whole of Christian morality, G. was accused before Pope Siricius, who, at a synod held in 390, condemned his doctrines and excommunicated him together with eight followers. To defend himself, G. then published a pamphlet known as the Commentarioli, in which, by adducing a series of scriptural passages, he sought to substantiate his theories. Meanwhile, he moved to Milan, hoping to obtain justice and protection from the Emperor Theodosius; the latter, however, not only refused to receive the heretic but also banished him from Milan. St. Ambrose then, to whom Pope Siricius had communicated the sentence of excommunication, confirmed the condemnation of Rome with the approval of a synod held in 391. The Milanese synodal letter shows that G. also denied the perpetual virginity of Mary (St. Ambrose, Epist. 42).
From Rome, Pammachius then thought of sending the Commentarioli to St. Jerome, who was in Palestine, asking him to write a refutation. In two weeks, between 392 and 395, the solitary of Bethlehem composed the two books Adversus Iovinianum, in which, following the pamphlet step by step, with an abundance of sacred and profane quotations and in a vehement and strongly polemical style, he demolished G.’s arguments and particularly exalted the beauty of the virginal state and its superiority to the married state.
Despite the sentences of excommunication issued by Rome and Milan and St. Jerome’s mordant refutation, G. continued to spread his propaganda and to have followers; two apostate Milanese monks also disseminated his errors at Vercelli.