Author

Saint Prosper of Aquitaine

390–455

St. Prosper of Aquitaine (c. 390–c. 455) was a Latin Christian theologian, polemicist, and defender of St. Augustine’s teaching on grace and predestination. Probably born in Aquitaine, he became one of the most important representatives of the Augustinian tradition in fifth-century Gaul, particularly during the controversies that followed the Pelagian debates. Prosper opposed theological positions that, in his judgment, gave too much initiative to unaided human freedom in the work of salvation, and he repeatedly appealed to Scripture, ecclesiastical authority, and Augustine’s writings in defense of the priority and necessity of divine grace. His works include doctrinal treatises, polemical writings, poetry, and a historical chronicle, and they played a significant role in transmitting and clarifying Augustinian theology in the Latin West. He was later associated with the papal circle in Rome and is traditionally venerated as a saint.

Works

Texts currently available in the library.

De Vocatione Omnium Gentium

1846

*De Vocatione Omnium Gentium* is a theological treatise devoted to the difficult relationship between divine grace, human freedom, election, and God’s will that all men should be saved. Beginning from the controversy over whether the primacy of grace abolishes free will, the work argues that grace does not destroy human volition but heals, directs, and perfects it, while every genuinely salvific good ultimately originates in God. Through sustained engagement with Scripture, it examines the meaning of universal biblical expressions concerning salvation, the distinction between general and special gifts of grace, the mysterious diversity of God’s dealings with peoples and individuals, and the gradual calling of the nations into the Church. Particular attention is given to the history of salvation, from the earliest ages and Israel’s election to the worldwide preaching of the Gospel, while repeatedly insisting that the hidden reasons for divine election and the differing times of vocation remain beyond human scrutiny. The result is a careful attempt to uphold simultaneously the universality of God’s saving goodness, the necessity and gratuity of grace, human responsibility, and reverence before the inscrutable judgments of divine providence.

Liber contra Collatorem

1846

Liber contra Collatorem is a theological treatise by St. Prosper of Aquitaine written in defense of St. Augustine’s doctrine of grace against the views associated with John Cassian’s thirteenth Conference. Prosper examines a series of propositions concerning grace, free will, the origin of good intentions, merit, perseverance, and human cooperation with divine assistance, arguing that Cassian’s position departs from Catholic teaching whenever it attributes the beginnings of saving willing or action to unaided human nature. Throughout the work, he appeals extensively to Scripture, ecclesiastical authority, conciliar decisions, and earlier anti-Pelagian controversies, presenting Augustine’s theology as continuous with the doctrinal judgments of the Church. The treatise culminates in a systematic recapitulation of Cassian’s principal definitions and a broader defense of the primacy of divine grace in every stage of the Christian life, while affirming that grace does not abolish human freedom but restores, directs, and strengthens it.