Saint
Prudence, évêque
Né en Espagne à la fin du
VIIIème siècle. Chapelain du roi Louis le Débonnaire, écrivain de talent, il
devint évêque de Troyes vers 844 où il mourut le 6 avril 861.
Saint PRUDENCE de TROYES
Saint, confesseur
Natif des marches de
l’Espagne, il est d’abord baptisé « Galindo » par ses parents. Encore jeune, il
émigre en France pour échapper aux persécutions des sarrasins, et devient
étudiant à l’école Palatine (c’est à cette époque qu’il décide de changer son nom
pour Prudence). Ses études terminées, il demeure à la cour où il occupe
diverses charges. Vers le milieu de sa vie, il quitte son emploi civil pour se
consacrer à la vie religieuse, et vers 843, il est nommé évêque de Troyes.
Théologien, historien et poète, il est surtout reconnu pour ses nombreux écrits
(+ 861)
Saint Prudence
Confesseur (+ 861)
Originaire d'Espagne, il abandonna son nom de Galando pour prendre celui d'un
de ses compatriotes, le poète chrétien du IVe siècle, Prudence. Comme lui, il
fut un bon écrivain et un auteur fécond. Chapelain de l'empereur Louis le
Débonnaire, fils de Charlemagne, il publiera un recueil des plus beaux passages
des Psaumes à l'intention de la deuxième femme de l'empereur. Cette anthologie
sera, durant tout le Moyen Âge, le bréviaire des moines itinérants. Devenu
évêque de Troyes, il publie un petit code de dogme et de morale, les
"precepta" que tous ses prêtres devaient savoir par cœur. S'étant
placé au premier rang de l'épiscopat des Gaules, il défendit la doctrine augustinienne
de la Grâce, polémiquant avec l'orthodoxe Scot Érigène tout autant qu'avec les
hérétiques. Ce qui survit de nos jours encore, c'est sa "Chronique"
où l'on trouve de nombreux détails sur les affaires ecclésiastiques, civiles et
militaires. Cette chronique des événements importants est marquée de son amour
pour Dieu et pour les hommes.
À Troyes, en 861, saint Prudence, évêque, qui composa un abrégé du psautier
pour les itinérants, sélectionna un certain nombre de textes de l’Écriture
sainte pour les candidats au sacerdoce et restaura la discipline dans les
monastères.
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/6527/Saint-Prudence.html
Saint Prudence
En 845, Prudence est élu dans le gouvernement de l’église de Troyes.
Ce nouveau pontife originaire d’Espagne, arrive en France sous la protection de
Charlemagne et de Louis-le-Débonnaire. Il passe plusieurs années à la cour où
il est élu chapelain de Charles-le-Chauve.
Dégoûté de la vie de la cour, il est nommé par la faveur du prince, à l’évêché
de Troyes.
Bientôt, la renommée le fait connaître comme " le plus savant et le plus
éclairé des évêques de l’église gallicane ". Même les plus éclairés, comme
Wenilon, archevêque de Sens, et Hincmar de Reims, le consultent sur les
matières les plus difficiles de la religion. Il est très attaché à la doctrine
des Pères, et surtout à celle de saint-Augustin qu’il regarde comme la doctrine
même de l’église catholique. Il entend les confessions des fidèles, administre
les sacrements et s’adonne à la prédication.
Saint Prudence, après le décès de sainte Maure, prononce un très long sermon,
qui est le souvenir qu’il a de cette jeune fille qu’il a côtoyée jusqu’à sa
mort. Nous avons la chance d’avoir conservé ce précieux document qui nous
permet de retracer la vie exemplaire de cette sainte : un saint parle d’une
sainte contemporaine, et est une preuve de son talent pour la prédication !
L’église de Montier-la-Celle étant tombée, il en fait élever une autre sur ses
ruines.
Le roi lui demande de tenir les Annales du Royaume et le charge en 853, de
visiter en son nom, tous les monastères de France.
En 855, au concile de Valence, il fait valoir par son érudition et son
éloquence, ses sentiments sur la doctrine de la grâce. Il envoie les canons de
ce concile au pape qui lui en donne confirmation.
Saint Prudence se reprochait de ne pas avoir fait assez attention au corps de
saint Frobert lorsqu’il avait fait la dédicace de l’église de Montier-le-Celle.
A la nouvelle des miracles qui s’opèrent à son tombeau, il se dispose à donner
à ce saint corps une place plus honorable, mais il décède en 861, avant d’avoir
pu exécuter ce projet, qui ne l’est qu’en 872 par son successeur Otulphe.
L’église de Troyes célèbre sa fête le 6 mai, jour qui est devenu la fête
officielle des célibataires.
SOURCE : http://jschweitzer.jimdo.com/religion/les-%C3%A9v%C3%AAques-influents/saint-prudence/
Dessin
de l'abbaye de Montiéramey par Fichot ; l'église abbatiale de Montiéramey a
été dédié par saint Prudence à saint Pierre et à saint Léon à la demande du
pape Léon IV.
Also
known as
Prudentius Galindo
Galindo…
Prudencio…
Profile
As a young man,
Galindo fled from Spain to France ahead
of the Saracen invaders, and there changed his name to Prudentius. Priest. Bishop of Troyes,
Nuestra (in modern France).
Worked for monastic reform
and a return of monastic discipline.
Created a combination catechism and breviary based
on the Psalms to teach some basics to candidates to the priesthood.
Born
Spain as Galindo
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“Saint Prudentius of
Troyes“. CatholicSaints.Info. 30 May 2020. Web. 6 April 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-prudentius-of-troyes/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-prudentius-of-troyes/
Prudentius
(GALINDO)
A Bishop of Troyes,
born in Spain;
died at Troyes on
6 April, 861; celebrated opponent of Hincmar in
the controversy on predestination.
He left Spain in
his youth, probably on account of the Saracen persecution,
and came to the Frankish Empire where
he changed his native name Galindo into Prudentius. He was educated at
the Palatine school,
and became Bishop of Troyes shortly
before 847. In the controversy on predestination between Gottschalk
of Orbais, Archbishop
Hincmar of Reims, and Bishop Pardulus of Laon, he opposed Hincmar in
anepistle addressed to him. In this epistle, which was written about
849, he defends against Hincmar a
double predestination,
viz, one for reward, the other for punishment, not, however, for sin.
He further upholds that Christ died
only for those who are actually saved. The same opinion he defends in his
"De prædestinatione contra Johannem Scotum", which he wrote in
851 at the instance of Archbishop Wenilo of Sens who
had sent him nineteen articles of Eriugena's work on predestination for
refutation. Still it appears that at the synod of Quierzy, he
subscribed to four articles of Hincmar which
admit only one predestination,
perhaps out of reverence for the archbishop,
or out of fear of King Charles the Bald. In his
"Epistola tractoria ad Wenilonem", written about 856, he
again upholds his former opinion and makes his approval of the ordination of
the new bishop Æneas
of Parisdepend
on the latter's subscription to four articles favouring a double predestination.
Of great historical value is his continuation of the "Annales
Bertiniani" from 835-61, in which he presents a
reliable history of that period of the Western Frankish Empire.
He is also the author of "Vita Sanctæ Mauræ Virginis" (Acta
SS. Sept. VI, 275-8) and some poems. At Troyes his feast is
celebrated on 6 April as that of a saint,
though the Bollandists do
not recognize his cult (Acta SS. Apr. I, 531). His works, with the
exception of his poems, are printed in P.L., CXV, 971-1458; his poems in
Mon. Germ. Poetæ Lat., II, 679 sq.
Sources
GIRGENSOHN, Prudentius und die Bertinianischen Annalene (Riga, 1875);
FREYSTEDT, Ueber den Prädestinationsstreit in Zeitschrift für
wissenschaftl. Theologie (1893), 315 sq., 447 sq.; BREYER, Les vies
de St. Prudence Evéque de Troyes, et de St. Maura, vierge (Troyes, 1725);
MIDDELDORFF, De Prudentio et theologia Prudentiana commentatio in Zeitschrift
für histor. Theol., II (1832), 127-190.
Ott,
Michael. "Prudentius." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 5 Apr.
2015<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12518a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to
the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin
Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12518a.htm
Prudentius Galindo B (AC)
(also known as Prudentius of Troyes)
Born in Spain; died in Troyes, France, April 6, 861. In the days of the Franks,
there came from Spain to the court of France a young and gifted lawyer named
Prudentius, baptized Galindo, who was a patriotic citizen of the Roman Empire.
He had come to Gaul fleeing the persecutions of the Saracens and studied at the
Palatine school, where he changed his name to Prudentius.
He had distinguished gifts and rose to high office. In the course of time he
held, we are told, "the reins of power over famous cities." In later
middle life, however, he turned from his public offices to the Church and
devoted himself and his talents to the service of God.
He now came to regard the empire that he had served so well as an instrument in
God's hands for the advancement of Christianity, and he lived to see the tide
turn against Julian the Apostate, who had bee "faithful to Rome, but
faithless to God." He was appointed chaplain to the Frankish court and, in
840 or 845, was elected bishop of Troyes, thus becoming a leading member of the
episcopate.
Prudentius was appointed by Bishop Hincmar of Rheims to judge the case of a
monk named Gottschalk, whom Hincmar had tortured, imprisoned, and
excommunicated for teaching that God would save only the elect and condemn most
of humanity. Prudentius defended the theory of double predestination and that
Christ died only for those who are saved--a theory that set off a widespread
dispute.
Known for his learning and as a theologian, Prudentius was also a poet, and one
of his poems reflects his experience:
He became widely known by
his writings, including a history of the Western franks called Annals of Saint
Bertin, an extant treatise against John Scotus Erigena De praedistinatione
contra Johannem Scotem (851), a defense of his own theory in Epistola tractoria
ad Wenilonem (856). Prudentius was the best author of his day--"the prince
of Christian poets," and "the Homer and the Virgil of the
Christians." Today he is chiefly remembered for his fine hymn, Of the
Father's love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be. The feast of Prudentius is
still kept at Troyes (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0406.shtml
St. Prudentius, Bishop of
Troyes, Confessor
HE was by birth a
Spaniard; but fled from the swords of the infidels into France, where in 840,
or 845, he was chosen bishop of Troyes. He was one of the most learned prelates
of the Gallican church, and was consulted as an oracle. By his sermon on the
Virgin St. Maura, we are informed that, besides his other functions and
assiduity in preaching, he employed himself in hearing confessions, and in
administering the sacraments of the holy eucharist and extreme unction. In his
time Gotescalc, a wandering monk of the abbey of Orbasis, in the diocess of
Soissons, advanced, in his travels, the errors of predestinarianism,
blasphemously asserting that reprobates were doomed by God to sin and hell,
without the power of avoiding either. Nottinge, bishop either of Brescia or
Verona, sent an information of these blasphemies to Rabanus Maurus, archbishop
of Mentz, one of the most learned and holy men of that age, and who had, whilst
abbot of Fulde, made that house the greatest nursery of science in Europe. 1 Rabanus
examined Gotescalc in a synod at Mentz in 848, condemned his errors, and sent
him to his own metropolitan Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, a prelate also of
great learning and abilities. 2 By
him and Wenilo, archbishop of Sens, with several other prelates, the monk was
again examined in a synod held at Quiercy on the Oise, in the diocess of
Soissons, a royal palace of King Charles the Bald, in 849. Gotescalc being
refractory, was condemned to be degraded from the priesthood, and imprisoned in
the abbey of Haut-villiers in the diocess of Hincmar. By the advice of St.
Prudentius, whom Hincmar consulted, he was not deprived of the lay-communion
till, after some time, Hincmar, seeing his obstinacy invincible, fulminated
against him a sentence of excommunication, under which this unhappy author of
much scandal and disturbance died, after twenty-one years of rigorous
confinement, in 870. Some suspected Hincmar of leaning towards the contrary
Semipelagian error against the necessity of divine grace; and Ratramnus of
Corbie took up his pen against him. St. Prudentius wrote to clear up the point,
which seemed perplexed by much disputing, and to set the Catholic doctrine in a
true light, showing on one side a free will in man, and that Christ died for
the salvation of all men; and on the other, proving the necessity of divine
grace, and that Christ offered up his death in a special manner for the
salvation of the elect. When parties are once stirred up in disputes, it is not
an easy matter to dispel the mist which prejudices and heat raise before their
eyes. This was never more evident than on that occasion. Both sides agreed in
doctrine, yet did not understand one another. Lupus Servatus, the famous abbot
of Ferrieres, in Gatinois, Amolan, archbishop of Lyons, and his successor St.
Remigius, wrote against Rabanus and Hincmar, in defence of the necessity of
divine grace, though they condemned the blasphemies of the predestinarians.
Even Amolan of Lyons and his church, who seem to have excused Gotescalc in the
beginning, because they had never examined him, always censured the errors
condemned in him: for the divine predestination of the elect is an article of
faith; but such a grace and predestination as destroy free-will in the creature,
are a monstrous heresy. Neither did St. Remigius of Lyons, nor St. Prudentius,
interest themselves in the defence of Gotescalc, which shows the inconsistency
of those moderns, who, in our time, have undertaken his justification. 3 In
853, Hincmar and other bishops published, in a second assembly at Quiercy, four
Capitula, or assertions, to establish the doctrines of free-will, and of the
death of Christ for all men. To these St. Prudentius subscribed, as Hincmar and
the annals of St. Bertin testify. The church of Lyons was alarmed at these
assertions, fearing they excluded the necessity of grace: and the council of
Valence, in 855, in which St. Remigius of Lyons presided, published six canons,
explaining, in very strong terms, the articles of the necessity of grace, and
of the predestination of God’s elect. St. Prudentius procured the confirmation
of these canons by Pope Nicholas I., in 859. Moreover, fearing the articles of
Quiercy might be abused in favour of Pelagianism; though he had before approved
them, he wrote his Tractatoria to confute the erroneous sense which they might
bear in a Pelagian mouth, and to give a full exposition of the doctrine of
divine grace. He had the greater reason to be upon his guard, seeing some, on the
occasion of those disputes, openly renewed the Pelagian errors. John Scotus
Erigena, an Irishman in the court of Charles the Bald, a subtle sophist,
infamous for many absurd errors, both in faith and in philosophy, 4 published
a book against Gotescalc, On Predestination, in which he openly advanced the
Semipelagian errors against grace, besides other monstrous heresies. Wenilo,
archbishop of Sens, having extracted nineteen articles out of this book, sent
them to his oracle St. Prudentius, who refuted the entire book of Scotus by a
treatise which is still extant. This saint, having exerted his zeal also for
the discipline of the church, and the reformation of manners among the
faithful, was named with Lupus abbot of Ferrieres, to superintend and reform
all the monasteries of France; of which commission he acquitted himself with
great vigour and prudence. He died on the 6th of April, 861, and is named in
the Galilean martyrologies, though not in the Roman. 5 At
Troyes he is honoured with an office of nine lessons, and his relics are
exposed in a shrine. 6 See
Ceillier, t. 19. p. 27. Clemencez, Hist. Liter. de la France, t. 5. p. 240.
Also Les Vies de S. Prudence de Troyes, et de S. Maure, Vierge, à Troyes,
1725. With an ample justification of this holy prelate: and Nicolas
Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispanica Vetus, l. 6. c. 1. an. 259. ad 279. which work
was published at Rome by the care of Card. D’Aguirre in 1696.
Note
1. Rabanus Maurus was archbishop of Mentz from the year 847 to 856, in
which he died, on the 4th of February, on which his name occurs in certain
private German Martyrologies, though he has never been publicly honoured among
the saints. See Bolland. Febr. t. 1. p. 511. and Mabillon, t. 6. Act. SS.
Bened. p. 37. His works were printed at Mentz, in 1626, in six tomes. They
consist of letters, comments on the holy scriptures, and several dogmatical and
pious treatises. The principal are his Institution of the Clergy, and On the
Ceremonies or Divine Offices, in three books; and his Martyrology, which he
compiled about the year 844. Dom. Bernard Pez published his pious discourse on
the Passion of Christ. Anecdot. t. 4. part. 2. p. 8. His poems, which fall
short of his prose writings, were published by F. Brower with those of
Fortunatus. The Veni Creator is found among his writings, and in none more
ancient; whence some ascribe to him that excellent hymn. He quotes the Gloria,
laus et honor; which is known to be the work of Theodulph, bishop of Orleans,
who died in 821, and left us Capitulars and other works in prose, and some in
verse, collected by F. Sirmond in 1646. See Opera P. Sirmundi. Venetiis, 1728.
t. 2.
Hincmar, a monk of St. Denis, chosen archbishop of Rheims in 845,
died in 882. His letters are much better written than his other works, nor is
the style so lax and diffusive. Sirmond published his works in two vols. folio,
in 1645. F. Cellot added a third volume in 1658.
Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres in Gatinois, (whom all now agree to have
been the same person with Lupus Servatus, as F. Sirmond and Baluze have
demonstrated against Mauguin,) died in 862. His letters and his famous treatise
on the Three Questions (relating to Predestination) are written in a nervous
and elegant style. The most accurate editions are those of Baluze, in 1664, at
Paris, and with additions at Leipsic in 1710 (the title page says falsely at Antwerp).
Amolon succeeded Agobard in the see of Lyons in 840, and died in 852. In the Library of the Fathers, t. 13 and 14. and in an appendix to the works of Agobard by Baluze, we have his works on Grace and Predestination, and his letter to Theutlaald, bishop of Langres, in which he orders him to remove out of the church, and bury decently certain doubtful relics, according to the practice of St. Martin, and the decree of pope Gelasius. As to certain pretended miracles of women falling into convulsions, and being seized with pains before them, he commands them to be rejected and despised: for true miracles restore often health, but never cause sickness in such circumstances.
St. Remigius of Lyons, Amolon’s successor, died on the 28th of
October, 875, and is named among the Saints in the private calendars of Ferrari
and Saussay. On his writings, on Grace and Predestination, see Mabillon, Suppl.
Diplom. p. 64. et in Analectis, p. 426. and F. Colonia, Hist. de Lyons, t. 2.
p. 139.
Florus, deacon of Lyons, and a learned professor, author of
additions to Bede’s Martyrology, wrote both against Gotescalc and John Scotus
Erigena. See t. 15. Bibl. Patr. and Baluze, t. 2. op. Agobardi. Append.
Note
2. T. 5. Concil. Harduin, p. 15, 16. Annal. Fuldens. ad. an.
848.
Note
3. Bishop Usher, Jansenius, and Mauguin are advocates for the
Predestinarians; consequently suspected persons in this history. Their
vindication of Gotescalc is confuted by the Cardinal de Laurea, Opusc. l. c.
7., Nat. Alexander, F. Honoratus of St. Mary, and Tournely, in accurate
dissertations on that subject. F. Ziegelbaver in the Hist. Liter. Ord. S.
Bened. t. 3. p. 105. gives us both Card. Noris’s Apology for Gotescalc, and the
Jesuit Du Mesnil’s history of his heresy.
Note
4. See a catalogue of some of his errors and absurdities in Witasse’s
Tr. de Euchar. t. 1. p. 414. and in Mu. Paris, Diss. at the end of the
Perpétuité de la Foi, art. 4. Had Dr. Cave lived to read these authors, or
Mabillon, sæc. 4. and 6. Bened. or Nat. Alexander, Hist. sæc. 9 and 10. Diss.
14. p. 359. t. 6. &c. he would not have confounded this John Scotus Erigena
with John Scotus, abbot of Ethelinge, king Alfred’s master, and one of the first
professors at Oxford: nor is it likely he would have suppressed his errors, or
the disgrace with which, by an express order of pope Nicholas I., he was
expelled France. Hist. Liter. t. 5. p. 36.
Note
5. It is strange that Baillet should imagine this to be the Prudentius
named in the Roman Martyrology, as bishop of Tarracona, on the 28th of April;
who, by the report of Tamayo and Lubin, was bishop of that see in 586, and his
relics are shown there to this day.
Note
6. The Bollandists, p. 531, on the 6th of April, with Lewis Cellot,
Hist. Gotescalci, l. 3. c. 9. charge Prudentius of Troyes with errors in
doctrine, and with opposing Hincmar out of jealousy and revenge, because the
archbishop had seemed to infringe the rights of his church, according to the
author of the Annales Britannici, who wrote within twenty years after his
death. But this seems only a slander propagated by some of his adversaries. His
writings, which are extant, t. 15. Bibl. Patr. p. 467. are understood in an
orthodox sense by most learned Catholic theologians: at least we cannot doubt
but he submitted them to the judgment of the Church. See Cacciari, Monitum in
S. Leonis, ep. 136. t. 2. p. 452.
The works of St.
Prudentius, see t. 15. Bibl. Patr. His letter to his brother, who was a bishop,
probably in Spain, is published by Mabillon, Analecta, p. 418. His panegyric on
St. Maura, a virgin at Troyes, is extant in Surius; and translated into French,
and defended against Daillé, by Abbé Breyer, canon at Troyes, at the end of his
Défense de l’Eglise de Troyes, at Paris, 1725.
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume IV: April. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/065.html
San Prudenzio di
Troyes Vescovo
m. 861
Martirologio Romano:
Nello stesso luogo, san Prudenzio, vescovo, che compilò un compendio del
Salterio per chi si metteva in viaggio, raccolse i precetti delle Sacre
Scritture per i candidati al sacerdozio e rinnovò la disciplina monastica.
Spagnolo d’origine,
Prudenzio (fr. Proliant, Pruiant, Prudence) portava originariamente il nome di
Gaindo, sembra sia stato imparentato con una famiglia di futura nobiltà
aragonese ed è verosimile che egli avesse un fratello rivestito della dignità
episcopale nella Marca di Spagna o in Navarra. Egli stesso, in gioventù,
raggiunse la corte imperiale, fu allievo della scuola palatina e adempì alle
funzioni di cappellano di Ludovico il Pio. Si fa anche intendere che fosse
incaricato di funzioni amministrative che gli furono gravose: si trattava forse
di "missatica".
E' certo, comunque, che egli ne fu incaricato prima del suo episcopato.
Poco dopo la sua elevazione alla sede di Troyes (844) ebbe, nell’aprile 845,
con Lupo, abate di Ferrières e Eribaldo, vescovo di Auxerre, la missione di
visitare le istituzioni religiose del Sémonais e del territorio di Troyes.
Quando ancora era presso
la corte, Prudenzio aveva compilato un Florilegium dei Salmi, opera di pietà
composta su richiesta di «una nobile dama» sventurata. E. Dummler ha avanzato
l’ipotesi attendibile che questa dama potesse essere l’imperatrice Giuditta e
che l’opera possa datarsi agli anni 830-833.
Divenuto vescovo,
Prudenzio avrebbe continuato a scrivere: dall’835 alla sua morte, nell’861,
egli avrebbe redatto con molta cura una continuazione degli Annales Berliniani,
fonte eccellente per lo storico della metà del IX secolo; si dedicò inoltre
all’istruzione del clero di Troyes, componendo un Florilegium ex sacra
Scriptura o Praecepta, che è insieme manuale di morale e di dogmatica. Si
esercitò anche nella poesia ma di lui ci rimane soltanto un poema sui Vangeli
che rivela la sua origine spagnola. Miglior misura di sé egli dà nel panegirico
di una vergine da lui condotta alla santità (morta il 21 settembre 850): costei
si chiamava Maura ed era sorella di Eutropio, prevosto della cattedrale.
Questo Sermo de vita et
morte gloriosae virginia Maurae rivela nel vescovo un uomo pieno di fede, di
pietà e di ardore apostolico, ma anche di fierezza e di un rigore che
indubbiamente provenivano dalla sua razza. Fu certamente un vescovo pieno di
zelo, oltre che un erudito e uno dei teologi maggiori del suo tempo. Della sua
attività in questo campo ci resta un’opera occasionale, ma considerevole, sul
delicato argomento della libertà e della grazia. Fu provocata dalla teoria
predestinazionista del monaco d’Orbais, Gotescalco (Gotischalk) il quale,
condannato nel concilio di Magonza nell’848 e poi nel sinodo di Quierzy nel
l’849, sosteneva la tesi di una doppia predestinazione, quella degli eletti
alla ricompensa eterna e quella dei peccatori alla loro perdita, e sosteneva
inoltre la tesi che il Cristo ha sparso il suo sangue per tutti i credenti (pro
omnibus credentibus).
La misura in cui
Gotescalco fu eretico rimane incerta. Secondo il giudizio di Prudenzio, egli
rimase sempre nella linea della dottrina di sant'Agostino, quale era stata
consacrata dal concilio di Orange nel 529: ma questa non era l’opinione
dell’arcivescovo di Reims, Incmaro, il quale aveva avuto un ruolo principale
nel sinodo di Quierzv e che deteneva Gotescalco nelle prigioni dell’abbazia di
Hautvilliers.
Il primo intervento di
Prudenzio nella questione fu provocato da una lettera di Incmaro in cui questi
domandava al vescovo di Troyes se si potesse ammettere Gotescalco alla
Comunione pasquale (849); non conosciamo la risposta, ma sembra che fosse
positiva. Gotescalco, tuttavia, nella prigione, poteva scrivere e la sua
attività spinse Incmaro a redigere una confutale ad redusos et simplices che si
allontanava dalla tradizione agostiniana tanto da preoccupare lupo di
Ferrières, Ratramno e lo stesso Prudenzio, il quale diresse una lettera
all’arcivescovo di Reims e al suo suffraganeo, Pardulus vescovo di Laon, che
aveva adottato le idee dell’arcivescovo. Questo scritto, che non fu sottoposto
al concilio di Parigi, come si presume) diede «fuoco alle polveri». Il suo tono
cordiale e conciliante non piacque a Incmaro, uomo assai litigioso, il quale si
confidò al vescovo di Magonza, l’illustre Rabano Mauro. Questo ammise con
Prudenzio che Dio non è autore del peccato, che non spinge le creature a
peccare e che odia sua immensa grazia accorda misericordiosamente la ricompensa
ai giusti e una pena adeguata per i malvagi, pena inflitta secondo giustizia
per le loro cattive opere; ma non fu dell’avviso del vedovo di Troyes, invece,
quando questi ammetteva che «Dio, come conduce gli eletti secondo la sua
predestinazione alla ricompensa eterna, spinge anche i peccatori nella sua
predestinazione ad andare verso la loro perdita»; censore troppo rigido, Rabano
confonde la prescienza con la predestinazione. Tale risposta è datata dalla
primavera dell’850.
Oltre quanto si è qui
esposto, Incmaro aveva effettuato una specie d'inchiesta sull’argomento presso
diversi teologi; un amico di Prudenzio che probabilmente lo aveva conosciuto
alla corte imperiale, Giovanni Scoto Eriugena, rispose nell’851 con un De
Praedestinatione in cui esce nettamente dalla dottrina cattolica; più filosofo
che teologo, Scoto scivola verso un certo panteismo. Wenilone, arcivescovo di
Sens, turbato dalla dottrina esposta in quel trattato, la riunì in diciannove
proposizioni che sottopose a Prudenzio perché le refutasse. Ma il vescovo di
Troyes riprese l’opera completa punto per punto facendone la critica; questo
scritto è conosciuto sotto il nome di De praedestinatione contra Joannem Scotum
(estate 852).
L’argomento ritornò nel sinodo tenuto a Quierzv nell’853, durante il quale
alcuni vescovi e alcuni abati sottoscrissero quattro articoli redatti da
Incmaro contro la dottrina di Gotescalco: in essi si affermava che vi è una
sola predestinazione, che la libertà è sanata dalla grazia, che Dio vuole salvare
tutti gli uomini, che Cristo ha sofferto per tutti. Prudenzio avrebbe
sottoscritto tali proposizioni, forse intimidito, almeno a quanto afferma
Incmaro, dalla presenza dell’imperatore Lotario, tuttavia, in una lettera
diretta a Wenilone egli oppose all’arcivescovo di Reims quattro
contro-proposizioni. Tale lettera fu redatta in occasione della consacrazione
episcopale di Enea, vescovo di Parigi e suffraganeo di Sens (febbraio 857).
Questo è l’ultimo intervento conosciuto di Prudenzio in una controversia che si
svilupperà ancora per quattro anni. Tuttavia, egli ha già visto l’arcivescovo
di Lione, Remigio, e il concilio di Valencia schierarsi a suo lato (854-855);
dall’859, a Langres, e poi a Savonnières, le proposizioni di Incmaro sarebbero
state scartate. Colpito nei suoi ultimi anni da una lunga malattia, pare
comunque che Prudenzio si sia ritirato dalla lotta.
«Prudenzio - ha potuto
scrivere di lui un teologo - ci appare come uno dei rappresentanti più decisi
nel secolo IX dell’agostiniano rigido. Ancora insufficientemente capace di
sfumature, ignorando le distinzioni che la teologia ulteriore finirà per
introdurre, il suo insegnamento si contenta di riprodurre con esattezza uno
degli aspetti della dottrina agostiniana, nelle formule della quale egli cala naturalmente.
La scienza teologica del vescovo di Troyes ha tuttavia suscitato grande
impressione nei suoi contemporanei».
L’attività di Prudenzio è
comunque nota anche per altre ragioni; egli assistette al concilio di Parigi
dell’846 o 847, in cui sottoscrisse un privilegio per l’abbazia di Corbie; al
concilio di Tours del febbraio 851, in cui firmò una lettera dell’episcopato
franco a Nominoè, re di Bretagna; al concilio di Soissons dell’853 e infine al
sinodo di Bonneuil nell’856. Nella propria diocesi Prudenzio consacrò i
monasteri di Montier-la-Celle (850) e di Montieramey.
Prudenzio morì il 6 aprile 861. Le sue reliquie furono in parte trasferite nel
monastero di St-Savin nel Poitou dove è rappresentato in uno dei celebri
affreschi della cripta (secolo XII). Un’altra parte delle sue spoglie è rimasta
a Troyes, nella cattedrale dove il suo culto è sconosciuto fino al XIII secolo.
Il suo nome si trova nelle aggiunte al Martirologio di Usuardo e in alcuni
altri ma non è stato ripreso dal Martirologio Romano. La festa si celebrava a
Troyes il 6 aprile, attualmente è fissata al 6 maggio.
Autore: Jean
Marilier
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/48620
Voir aussi : http://homepage.mac.com/thm72/orthodoxievco/ecrits/vies/synaxair/avril/prudence.pdf
