which induced him to purchase its cessation at the cost of a retraction, in which he approved of the decisions of the late council and the condemnation of the Three Chapters. He died, however, in 655, before he cotdd resume his throne. See Anastasius, Lib. Pontifical., in Mansi, vol. ix ; Liberatus, lireviarium ; Victor of Tun- j nunum, Chi-onicon ; Facundus of Hermiane, Pro Defen- I iiione Trium Capit., an-d Adc. Mocianum. all to be found in (iallandi Bibl. vol. xi sq. See also U'alcb. Ketzer- (jesch. vol. viii ; Ncander, Kirchen(jesch. vol. iii, etc. ; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v.
Vigilius THE Deacon, mentioned in Gcnnadius. De ]'iris Jllnstribiis, No. 51, was doubtless resident in Gaul, and lived in the second or third decade of the 5lh century. A monastic rule, based upon traditions and read in the conventual assemblages, is mentioned as his only literary production. Holsten lias published such a rule, based substantially on Pachomius, in the Codex Regulariim, i (Migne, f\itroL 50, p. 370-380). A'igilius must accordingly be regarded as one of the promoters of monasticism upon the basis of the experiences obtain- ed by the Oriental Church, of which that age furnished so many. See Cave, Script. Eccles. Hist. Lit. ami. 402; Herzog, Real-Lnci/kloj). s. v.
Vigilius OF Thapsus, in the African province of B\'zacene. His name stands last on a list of bishops who attended a conference at Carthage called by the Vandal Hunneric, in A.D. 484, to bring to a conclusion the quarrel between the dominant Arian and the op- pressed orthodox parties in the Church. A later report of his banishment to Constantinople, though not authen- ticated, is yet credible because a similar fate was expe- rienced by his colleagues, and his works justify the ci n- clusion that he sojourned in that city. He was an im- portant character among the theological writers of his day, possessing a logical, simple, perspicuous style, and considerable dialectical skill, and producing a series of polemical works which were directed against the Ariaiis and other heretics. His foremost work was Fire Book.* affainst Eittijches, and it was also the only work he gave to the public over his own name — a circumstance which led tradition to ascribe it to bishop Vigilius of Trent, who was more generally known. Several pseudonymous works from the pen of Vigilius of Thap- sus were also attributed to other authors in the uncriti- cal period of the world; e.g. several controversial dis- cussions between Athanasius, Photinus, Sabellius, ainl Arius were credited to Athanasius. The staiid|)oint of V^igilius was that of Chalcedonian ortho<loxy. He holds to a distinction of persons and a unity of essence in the Trinity, and to a unity of person and a diversify of nat- ures in the person of Christ; but he does not even imagine that any difticulty is connected with the recep- tion of such divergent doctrines, and seems utterly un- able to discover any occasion whatever for the rise of heretical opinions. The importance of his work is con- sequently only relative, as it dealt with the particular heresies antagonized in a polemical or apologetical way. He was a dialectician rather than a theolo- gian, and his works, if measured by the standards of a productive age, have no considerable value, while, if tliey be regarded as designed merely to combine and recapitulate the matter furnished by earlier thinkers, their value cannot be denied. Editions of the works of Vigilius are by ChitHetius (Dijon, KifU) and Chur- rerus (Tiib. 1528). The books against Eutyches, and the disputations with Arins, and with Arius an<i Sabel- lius, together with twelve (donbtfid) books De Trinitate, are given in the Max. Jiihl. P<itnim,vo\.\\\\\ and the controverted books against Marivad, against I'alladius, the De Unil<ite Trini/atis (which is generally ascribed to Augustine, but possibly belongs to Vigilius). are in vol. iv of the same collection. See Tillemont, jS/. Knrfene, arts, li, Iii ; id. Memoires, vol. xvi ; Cave, Script. Ecclen. Hist. Lit, \, 458; HerxK^, Real- Kncyklojus, v.
Vigilius 01' TtfENT, bishop, is mentioned by Gen-
VIGILS
VSl
VIGNOLES
nailiii? in De Viris Illnstrihus, No. 37, as the writer of an article " In Laudem Martyrum," addressed to a certain Siniplicianns, who can only have been the successor of Ambrose in the see of Milan. This assii^ns him to the 4th or 5th centnry, and proves conclusively that he coiiW not have written the books against Entyches. See Viciii.iu.s of Tjiapsus. lie lived probably not later than the reign of Ilonoriiis, for in his day the heatlien party was still able to inflict gross indignities upon Ciiristians. In Usiiard, Acta, under June 'it!, it is stated that Vigilius studied at Athens and was com- pelled by tlic populace to become bisiuip of Trent. Af- ter a zealous administration of his otHce. he was stoned to death in a distant part of his diocese because he had caused a statue of Saturn to be destroyed. Stilicho was consul at the time, which fixes the date in A.D. 400 or 405. The letters of Vigilius to Siuiplician and Clirys- ostorn are given in Ruinart, uniler JMay '29. Their su- perscription indicates that the missionary field of Vi- gilius was dependent on Milan as the Western metropo- lis of that day, and affords ground for the conclusion that he went out from Milan when he entered on that work; and the thought is not far to reach that a Church which could prosecute missionary labor on its own account was itself an independent Church. See Baronius, /l)(;?«/es, ann. 400, Nos. 2-18; Tillemont, Meiiiuires, xi; Herzog, Ri'iil-Kiirykhip. s. v.