Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/294

 VALENTINUS

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VALIDATION

the calling of a general Council, which met at Chal- cedon in October, 451. Valentinian presented Xys- tus III with 2000 lbs. of silver to construct a taber- nacle in the Lateran basilica, and in addition with a large golden ornament representing Christ and His Apostles, for the Confessio of St. Peter. As he grew older Valentinian displayed a vindictive, feeble, hesi- tating character; his training seems to have been pur- posely ncgleoted by his mother, the real ruler. On the approach of Attila he fled from Ravenna, his irn- perial residence, to Rome, which was saved later, as is known by Pope St. Leo. After his mother's death (450), he gave way to his passions. In 454 he caused .^tius and his friends to be murdered; at last he was assassinated while attending the chariot races in the Via Labicana, Rome, near the tomb of St. Helena, at the instigation, it is said, of a Roman senator, Petro- nius Maximus, whose wife he had wronged.

Grisar, Gesch. Roma und der Pdpste im Mitulalter, I (Freiburg. 1901), tr. Hist, of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages (London, 1911); TiLLEMONT, Ilisl. di's empereurs. VI (Paris, 1738); Bury, Later Roman Empire, U (London, 18S9).

A. A. MacErlean.

Valentinus and Valentinians. — Valentinus, the best known and most influential of the Gnostic heretics, was born according to Epiphanius (Haer., XXXI) on the coast of Egypt. He was trained in Hellenistic science in Alexandria. Like many other heretical teachers he went to Rome the better, per- haps, to disseminate his views. He arrived there during the pontificate of Hyginus and remained until the pontificate of Anicetus. During a sojourn of perhaps fifteen years, though he had in the beginning allied himself with the orthodox community in Rome, he was guilty of attempting to establish his heretical system. His errors led to his excommunication, after which he repaired to Cyprus where he resumed his activities as a teacher and where he died probably about 160 or 161. Valentinus professed to have de- rived his ideas from Theodas or Theudas, a disciple of St. Paul, but his system is obviously an attempt to amalgamate Greek and Oriental speculations of the most fantastic kind with Christian ideas. He was especially indebted to Plato. From him was derived the parallel between the ideal world (the trXripuna) and the lower world of phenomena (the Kivuixa). Valen- tinus drew freely on some books of the New Testa- ment, but used a strange system of interpretation by which the sacred authors were made responsible for his own cosmological and pantheistic views. In working out his system he was thoroughly dominated by dualistic fancies.

He assumed, as the beginning of aU things, the Primal Being or Bythos, who after ages of silence and contemplation, gave rise to other beings by a process of emanation. The first series of beings, the a;ons, were thirty in number, representing fifteen syzygies or pairs sexually complementary. Through the weak- ness and sin of Soi)hia, one of the lowest seous, the lower world with its subjection to matter is brought into existence. Man, the liighest being in the lower world, participates in l)citli tln' psychic and the hylic (material) nature, and the work of redemption con- sists in freeing the higher, the spiritual, from its servitude to the lower. This was the work and mis- sion of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Christology of Valentinus is confusing in tlie extreme. He seems to have maintained I lie exist enc(! of three redeeming beings, but Christ the Son of Mary did not have a real body and did not suffer. The system of Valentinus was extremely comprehensive, and was worked out to cover all phases of thought and action. While Valentinus was alive he made many disciples, and his system was the most widely diffused of all the forms of Gnosticism. His school was divided into two branches, the Oriental and the Italian. The former was spread through Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor,

the latter in Rome, Italy, and Southern Gaul. Among the more prominent disciples of Valentinus, who, however, did not .slavishly follow their master in all his views, were Heracleon, Ptolemy, Marcos, and Bardesanes. Many of the writings of these Gnostics, and a large number of excerpts from the writings of Valentinus, are still in existence. Tertullian ascribes to him the apocryphal Gospel of Valentinus, which, according to Irenaeus. was the same as the " Gospel of Truth".

Iren*:tj3, Adv. Hctr., I, 1 aeq,, IH, 4; HiPPOLYTrs, Philoso- phumena. VL 20-37; Tertullian, Adv. Valentin.: Epiphanios, Har. XXXI; Theodoret, Har. Fab.. I, 7; Heinrici, Die Valentin. Gnosis u. die heilige Schrift (Berlin, 1871). See bibliography to Gnosticism.

Patrick J. Healy.

Valerian (Pdblius Aurelius Licinids Valeri- anus), Roman emperor (253-60). Member of a dis- tinguished family, he had held several offices before the army proclaimed him emperor in 253 at Rhsetia. Weak and irresolute, his abihties were unequal to the difficulties of the times; his son and coregent, Gal- lienus, was lacking also in force. Christian tradition regards him as the originator of the persecution of the Christians under Decius. Though kindly disposed towards the Christians as emperor he was driven to severe measures by the hostile party, whose leader, the general Macriauus, aimed only to gain advantages for himself through the difficulties internal disturb- ances would cause the emperor. In 257 Valerian is- sued a rescript, in kindly language, taking from Chris- tians the right to hold assemblies or to enter the subterranean places of burial, and sending the clergy into exile. In 258, by a new and absolutely merciless edict, bishops, priests, and deacons were executed im- mediately, men of senatorial and equestrian rank were punished with degradation and confiscation of goods, to be followed by death if they refused to offer heathen sacrifice, women were threatened with confiscation of their property and exile, and Christians in the im- perial household were sent in chains to perform forced labour on the imperial domains. In this persecution Christian Rome and Carthage lost their leaders: Pope Sixtus was seized on 6 August, 258, in one of the Cata- combs and was put to death; Cyprian of Carthage suffered martyrdom on 14 September. Another cele- brated martyr was the Roman deacon, St. Lawrence. In Spain Bishop Fructuosus of Tarragona and his two deacons were put to death on 21 January, 259. There were also executions in the eastern provinces (Euse- bius, VII, xii). Taken altogether, however, the re- pressions were limited to scattered spots and had no great success. Valerian was finally captured by the Persians and died a prisoner. Macrianus and his two sons were killed in the struggle for the throne. Gal- lienus, who became Valerian's successor, annulled at once all his father's laws hostile to Christianhy.

TiLLEMONT, Histoire des empereurs. III (Brussels, 1707-39); Schiller, Gcschichte der rdmischen Kaiserzeit, I (Gotha, 1883), ii, 811-23; Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of tht Roman Empire (London, 1S54), ch. x; Linsenmayer, Die Be- kdmpfung der Christen durch den rSmischen Stoat (Munich, 1905), 146-58; Healt, The Valerian Persecution (Boston. 1903).

Klemens Loffler.

Valerianus, Saint. See Cecilia, Saint.

Validation of Marriage may be effected by a simple renewal of cdiiscnt when its nullity arises only from a defcclivc consent in one or both parties. When, however, matrimony is invalid on account of the existence of some ecclesiastical impediment, it may be revalid;itcd by simpU' clispen.sation or by that known as .S'(n(ri((n i'l kmlice. (1) In the first method, as soon as a siinpU' dispensation from the im]nMiiment has been obtained, a renovation of consiMit of both parties wilt validate the marriage. When the im- pediment had affected only one of the parties and the other was unaware of the impediment, it is probable