Vieux, Renaud le, a French historical painter, flourished in the latter part of the 17th century. He visited Rome for study, and when he returned to France produced many works of considerable merit. He paint- ed several pictures for the Church of the Penitents at Avignon from subjects in the history of John the Baptist. Two of these were taken to Paris in 1793, two are in the Gallery of Nismes. and the rest are at Avignon. See Spooner, Biog. Hist, of the Fine A rts, s. v.
Viger, Francis, a French .Jesuit, was born in 1591 at Rouen, and was professor of elocution at Paris, where he died Dec. 1.5, 1647. He edited Enscb/i Evangel. Praparat., in Greek and Latin, accompanied with notes
VIGERUS
119
VIGILIUS
(Paris, 1G28). See Alegarabe, Bibliotheca Scnptorum SocieUttig Jesu ; Witte, IHarium Biofjraphicum ; Jii- ctier, Allyemeines Gelehrtcn-Lexicon, s. v. ; Winer, lland- buch der theol. Literatur, i, 89-2. (B. 1". )
Vigerus, Marcus, a Ligurian Dominican, a pro- fossor (if theol()g\' at Fadna and Rome, and a cardinal, was born in 144G. He wrote various treatises respecting the death of Christ, which were printed in two volumes at Douay in 1(!07. He died in 15IG. See Mosheira, //i.<t. of the Church, bk. iii, cent, xv, pt. ii, oh. ii.
Vigier, Gerald, a French hagiographer, who died in 1637. He wrote a Ilistoire des ISaiuts Protecieurs d\\ ucergne (Paris, 1535, 8vo) : — and La Monarchic de France (ibid. 1670-72; Clermont, 1677,2 vols. fol.).
Vigil OF Lights, an old English term to designate Candlemas-eve (Feb. 1).
Vigilantius, a presbyter of the early part of tlie 5th century, belongs to the number of isolated testes veritdlis who rose in opposition to tlie errors of the Cluireh with respect to worship and morals, which were becoming increasingly notorious with the advancing years of the 4th century. He was a native of Cala- giirris, now Casere, in the county of Commenges (Cun- venno'). His Grallic extraction is indisputably proven, despite the fact that some authorities have been misled into stating that he was of Spanish family. He was brought up to follow the business of inn-keeping ; but in 395 (?) visited Paulinus of Xola (q. v.), and immedi- ately afterwards was ordained presbyter. Recommend- ed to Jeroine by Paulinus, he travelled into the East and visited Jerusalem in 396, meeting with a friendly reception at the hands of Jerome, but making no favor- able impression upon his heart. Jerome had two es- pecially tender spots in his character — the one an inor- dinate vanity because of his learning, and the other an exalted opinion of his own orthodoxy; and Vigilantius managed to fret them both. He was not possessed of learned culture, though Gennadius credits him with be- iwr lingua pulitiis ; and yet he laid claim to the literary character; and, with the practical disposition of a West- ern mind, he objected to the speculative dogmatics of Origen, upon whose study Jerome was at that time em- plox-ed, and even raised suspicions against the sound- ness of Jerome's personal views. Jerome at first at- tempted to prove the correctness of his creed ; but Vigilantius, having refused to avail himself of the scholar's hospitality and departed from Jerusalem, felt himself bound by no restraints, and issued an epistle condemnatory of Jerome's Origenism (see Hieron. Ep. cix, 2, inter Adrice Fluctus Cottiique Regis Alpes), in re- sponse to which the irascible saint compared him to Judas and termed him an ass. Either just before, or immediately subsequent to, the sojourn at Jerusalem, Vigilantius went to Egypt, but the exact time is not determined ; and a similar uncertainty surrounds the place of his residence on his return to the West. The letters of Jerome appear to compel the conclusion that liis opponent was settled in Gaul, while Gennadius makes him to have charge of a parish in Barcelona. We incline to believe the former the only settlement of the question which can be successfully defended. Eight years after the departure of Vigilantius from Jerusalem, a presbyter named Riparius notified Jerome that his adversary was teaching very questionable doctrines and disturbing the entire ((iallic ?) Church witli the promulgation of his views. He thereupon renewed liis attacks upon Vigilantius {Ep. contra Vig. 18), but, much to the surprise of himself and other students of the sit- uation, without giving wider dimensions to the quarrel; for Vigilantius was certainly supported by many of the lower clergy and of the laity, and was even protected by bishops. No answer was made to Jerome's abusive epistle, and Vigilantius thenceforward drops out of view, either because he soon afterwanls died, or because the barbarian invasions of Gaul crowded the paper quarrels of incensed churchmen out of sight.
The views which stirred the soul of .Jerome to wrath are not preserved to us in sufficient fulness to furnish a connected system. The primary object of attack by Vigilantius was the veneration of martyrs and of relics. He doubted the genuineness of the relics, and condemned the bearing about of dead men's bones enswathed in costly wrappings. He also considered the invocation of martyrs as a deifying of the creature and a step back- ward into heathenism, and insisted that it iinplies the doctrine of their omnipresence, and that their intercession cannot be safely relied upon, since their prayers in their own behalf were not always answered. He held that the miraculous power with which relics were supposed to be endowed had not extended further than to the close of the distinctively missionary period of the Church. The burning of daylight candles in the basilicas was rejected by him on the ground that the martyrs, in whose honor the basilicas were erected, were rejoicing in the light of the Lamb on the throne, and liad no need of sucli illuminations. The celebration of vigils (q. V.) and martyrs' feasts was denounced as involving danger to public morals; but he violated consistency in consenting that vigils might be kept in connection with the Easter festival.