Commonitory for the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Although the </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Commonitorium </em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>is among the most famous and influential of fifth-century Latin Patristic works relatively little is known about its author Vincent (the pilgrim as he calls himself) a late-vocation monk of Lérins Abbey on the Isle of Saint Honorat off the coast of France. Yet the voice that speaks to us from these pages is rich in personality deftly trained in logic rhetoric theology and history. His thesis is clear his argument compelling: the Christian faith is rooted in a changeless deposit of faith revealed by God entrusted to the Apostles and their successors and accordingly incompatible with novelty; progress consists only of a deeper understanding and expression of what remains in itself the same so that no future formulation can ever contradict what has already been understood and expressed.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Across the centuries Vincent's Canon-In the Catholic Church every care should be taken to hold fast to what has been believed everywhere always and by all-has resounded as a battle cry for defenders of dogmatic tradition; indeed it served as inspiration and catalyst for John Henry Newman's </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>.Yet Vincent has also been pressed into service by the Eastern Orthodox who maintain that his vision is precisely their own; and within the Catholic Church itself both Pope Francis and his severest critics have cited the </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Commonitorium </em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>in support of their opposing views. Finally liberal critics reject the validity of Vincent's Canon asserting there is almost nothing that meets this criterion.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Os Justi Press's edition of the </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Commonitorium </em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>provides the reader with excellent tools for grasping the subtleties of Vincent's argument and for adjudicating the aforementioned interpretations. The original Latin text is given alongside the English translation. Peter Kwasniewski's preface furnishes context Alan Fimister's theological introduction analyzes the ecclesial and magisterial structure of the Canon and Phillip Campbell's epilogue defends the concept of the unanimous consent of the fathers.</span></p>