Pelagius, a very noted ecclesiastical character of the 5tli century, whose origin and early history is much obscured, was the exponent of a heretical theory con- cerning the dogma of original sin (q. v.) and the neces- sity of divine grace. His contemporaries r.iiplied to him the title of Brit o, from which it has been concluded that he was a British monk. His real name is said to have been Morgan (^Murigena), which was translated into Pelagius (-tXdyfof). About the yeax 400 he went to Rome, when he began to teach tiie system of doc- trine with which his name is generally associated. The chief events of his history are noticed under the article Pei^agianism (q. v.). The time and circumstances of his death are unknown. He was the author of the fol- lowing works : Expositiomun in Epistolas Paidi libri xir. These commentaries, consisting of brief, simple explanatory notes on all the Epistles of Paul, with the exception of that to the Hebrews, were at first attrib- uted to (ielasius, bishop of Rome ; they afterwards found a place among tlie jMSS. of Jerome. Tiiey are printed in the Benedictine edition of that father's works, and also in that of Vallarsi. Quotations made from them by Augustine led jMarius Mercator and others to the conclusion that they were the work of Pelagius, although they have come down to us in a somewhat mutilated form, as the editors of Jerome's works regarded it as their duty to expunge from them every passage which seemed to them to savor of heres}' (see Garnier's ed. of Mercator, Ajip. ad Diss, vi, 367): — Episfola ad De- metriadem : a letter addressed to a Roman lady of dis- tinction. Like the other works of Pelagius, this also was assigned to Jerome, and is foimd in the best edi- tions (if his works. Its real authorship was ascertained from the quotations made by Augustine in his De Gra- tia Chris/i. It was published separately by Semler in 1775: — lAbellus Fidei ad Innocentium Papam. This also had a jjlace among Jerome's works, and its real authorship was only discovered by quotations in Au- gustine's De Gratia Chi-isti : — Kpistola ad Celantiam Matronem de Ratione pie vivendi, found among .Jerome's correspondence, numbered 148, in Vallarsi's ed. of liis works. Erasmus assigned it to Paulinus of Nola, and Vallarsi to Sulpicius Severus; but Semler has shown from its style and tone that it was the work of Pelagi-
us. The following fragments of works are also found : Y.h\oyiujv Liber, designated by Gennadius as Eulogi- arum pro uctuali conversaiione ex divinis scripturis Li- ber ; by Honorius as Pro actuali vita Liber. It Avas a collection of Scripture texts, arranged and illustrated after the manner of the Testimonia of Cyprian (see Je- rome, Dialog, advers. Pelag. lib. i ; Augustine, C. duas Pelagianorum, op. iv, 8 ; De Gestis Pelagii, comp. Gar- nier, Ad M. Mercat. Append, ad Diss, vi) : — De na- tura Liber, to which Augustine's De natura et Gratia was a reply : — lAber ad viduam consolatorius atque ex- hortatorius (see Jerome, Dialog, adv. Pelag. lib. iii ; Augustine, De Gestis Pelag. c. (5) : — Epistola ad A u- gustinuni (see De Gestis Pelag. c. 26) : — Epistola ad A u- gustinum secunda (see De Gestis Pelag. c. 30). See Au- gustinus, De Gest. Pelag. ch. xxx; Voss, IHst. Controv, Pelag. (Lug. 1618); Tillemont, Menioires Ecclesiast.; Schrockh, Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii ; and the literature quoted in the art. Pelagianism. (J. H. W.)
Pelagius, St., an Eastern ecclesiastic, flourished in the second half of the 4th century. He was made bish- op of his paternal city, Laodicea, notwithstanding that he was a married man, because he abstained on religious grounds from all sexual connection. He was one of the leaders of the orthodoxy, and in their struggles with the Arians took part at the synods of Antioch (A.D. 361) and Tyana (367). He was banished to Arabia b)' the emperor Valens in 370, but was jiermitted to re- turn in a few years, and was present at the Council of Constantinople in 381, and was one of its most honored attendant bishops.
Pelagius I, pope of Rome, succeeded Virgilius in the see of Rome (A.D. 555). Like his predecessor, he was involved in doginatic controversy with most of the Western bishops concerning certain theological tenets condemned by the Council of Constantinople, and known in controversial history by the name of the Three Chap- ters. Pelagius was supported in his views by the em- peror Justinian, who was fond of interfering in theo- logical disputations. He died in 560, and was succeed- ed by John HI (see Norris, De Synodo Quinfa), Six- teen of his Epistles are in the Concilia, torn. v.
Pelagius II succeeded Benedict I as pope of Rome in 579. He was likewise embroiled in disputes concern- ing the Three Chapters above mentioned. In the mean time a council which assembled at Constantinople be- stowed on the patriarch of that city the title of cecu- menic, or '• universal" bishop, at which Pelagius was greatly offended. He died at Rome in 5P0, and was suc- ceeded by Gregory I. Ten of his Epistles and six De- crees are extant in the Concilia, tom. v.
Pelagius, Alvaius, a noted Spanish Franciscan, flourished in the first half of the 14th century. He was a scholar of Duns Scotus, and first became grand penitentiary of pope John XXII (1316-34), and later bishop of Silves, in Algarve. He is noted especially as the defender of extreme Ultramontanism by his De planctu ecclesia (Ulm, 1474; Lyons, 1570; Venice, 1560). He regarded the power of the pope as limitless, and not even bound by the laws he might himself have given. Everything is subject to the pontiff", of course all councils included, even the oecumenical. The tri- bunal of Christ and of the pope on earth are one. Pela- gius's work belongs to the classical documents of the curialistic system of the Middle Ages. See Schwab, Johannes Gerson (Wi'irzburg, 1855).