അനുദിന വിശുദ്ധർ (Saint of the Day) June 25th – St. Prosper of Aquitaine & St. William of Vercelli

അനുദിന വിശുദ്ധർ (Saint of the Day) June 25th – St. Prosper of Aquitaine & St. William of Vercelli

അനുദിന വിശുദ്ധർ (Saint of the Day) June 25th – St. Prosper of Aquitaine & St. William of Vercelli

St. Posper of Aquitane
Called “the best disciple of Augustine,” St. Prosper of Aquitaine (c. 370-c. 463/465) devoted his life to defending Augustine’s doctrines of grace and predestination against those who opposed it. Prosper may have been born at Limoges; he may have been married. By 428, he was a layman living with monks at Marseilles, who disagreed with Augustine’s theology of grace and predestination. To strengthen his arguments, Prosper wrote to Augustine, who responded with letters that are now known as “On the Predestination of the Saints” and “On the Gift of Perserverance.” Prosper seems to have labelled anyone who disagrees with Augustine “semi-Pelagian,” and the list includes John Cassian, Hilary of Arles, and Vincent of Lérins. In 431, the year after Augustine’s death, Proper and a friend named Hilary travelled to Rome to ask Celestine I, who had praised Augustine, to proclaim the truth of his teachings. Prosper later became secretary to Leo the Great, whom he aided in the pope’s correspondence against the Nestorians. Prosper wrote theological poems and authored a chronicle of world history that incoroporated the histories of Jerome, Sulpicius Severus, and Orosius. Prosper’s history ends with the Vandal sack of Rome (455). The work is now a valuable source for the theological history of the V Century. Cassiodorus and Paul the Deacon edited and rewrote Prosper’s work. Prosper’s selections from the writings of Augustine were the basis of the decrees of the 529 Council of Orange.

St. William of Vercelli
William of Vercelli, Saint 1085-1142. founder of the Congregation of Monte Vergine, or “Williamites”, born in Vercelli Italy he was brought up as an orphan became a hermit on Monte Vergine, Italy after a pilgrimage to Compostella and attracted so many followers that a monastery was buillt. By 1119 his followers were united in the Benedictine congregation, the Hermits of Monte Vergine (Williamites) which he headed. The austerity of his rule led to dissension among his monks to restore peace he left and was taken under the protection of Roger I of Naples who built a monastery for him in Salerno. He founded monasteries through out Naples, and died at the Guglielmo monastery near Nusco Italy. He is also called William of Monte Vergine. Feast day June 25.