Saint Prosper of Aquitaine

Saint Prosper (Prosper Tiro), "The Eradicator of Heresies," as Saint Photios (February 6) calls him, was born in the Aquitaine around the year 390. He was a renowned lay theologian, although few details of his life are known.

We know Saint Prosper chiefly from his writings. A contemporary writer described him as "a holy and venerable man." Many of Saint Prosper's writings echo the teaching of Saint Augustine (June 15) on grace. Like Saint Augustine, Saint Prosper was also an opponent of the Pelagian heresy. This wise man seems to have spent his life embroiled in controversies with heretics. For the semi-Pelagians in particular, Saint Prosper was one of their most fearsome adversaries.

In Saint Prosper, science was joined to virtue. It is evident that he applied himself to literature, and especially to acquiring knowledge of Holy Scripture. He was no less an expert in human sciences than he was in theology. He excelled particularly in mathematics, astronomy, and chronology. His great learning and holiness made him well known throughout the entire Church.

Saint Prosper has sometimes been identified, mistakenly, with Saint Paulinus of Reggio (June 25), who was a bishop. Everything we know about him leads us to believe that Saint Prosper was not a bishop, nor even a priest. In a poem to his wife he wrote: "Lift me up again if I fall; correct yourself if I point out some fault. Let it never be sufficient for us to be one body, let us also be one soul." By 428, Saint Prosper persuaded his wife to become a nun, and he entered a monastery at Marseilles. When Saint Leo the Great was chosen as the Bishop of Rome in 440, he sent for Prosper to become his secretary. Many historians believe that the admirable treatise "On the Incarnation of the Word," which is ascribed to Saint Leo, is actually the work of Saint Prosper. It is possible, however, that Saint Leo may have reworked it in his own style.

Saint Prosper reposed in Rome, sometime after 455.

The icon of Saint Prosper depicts him holding a scroll which reads: "The Orthodox Faith subdues the monster of heresy."