Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/472

 VICTORINUS

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VICTOR

20 phurches or chapels; 15 stations; 85 schools with 3900 pupils; 190 oatechists; 4 orphanages and 5 dis- pensaries; and a meteorological station belonging to the missionaries. Current details of the missions in German Africa are given in "Gott will es" (Maria- Gladbach), pubUshed by the "Afrikaverein deutscher katholiken".

Le Roy in Piolet, Les missions cath. Sranc. au xixe si^cU-, V (Paris, 1902), 458-66.

A. A. MacEblean.

Victorinus, Saint, an ecclesiastical wi'iter who flourished about 270, and who suffered martyrdom probably in 303, under Diocletian. He was Bishop of the City of Pettau (Petabium, Poetovio), on the Drave, in Styria (Austria); hence his surname of Petavionensis or sometimes Pictaviensis, e. g. in the Roman Martyrology, where he is registered under 2 November, which long caused it to be thought that he belonged to the Diocese of Poitiers (France). Until the seventeenth century he was hkewise con- founded with the Latin rhetorician, Victorinus .\fer. According to St. Jerome, who gives him an honourable place in his catalogue of ecclesiastical wTiters, Vic- torinus composed commentaries on various books of Holy Scripture, such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaias, Ezechiel, Habacuc, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, St. Matthew, and the Apocalypse, be- sides treatises against the heresies of his time. All his works have disappeared save extracts from his commentaries on Genesis and the Apocalypse, if indeed these texts are really a remnant of his works, concerning which opinions differ. These latter with a critical annotation are pubhshed in IMigne's P. L., V (1844) 301-44. It is certainly incorrect to regard him as the author of two poems, "De Jesu Christo" and "De Pascha", which are included in the collection of Fabricius. Born onthe confines of the Eastern and Western Empires, Victorinus spoke Greek better than Latin, which explains why, in St. Jerome's opinion, his works WTitten in the latter tongue were more re- markaljle for their matter than for their style. Like many of his contemporaries he shared the errors of the Millenarians, and for this reason his works were ranked with the apocrypha by Pope Gelasius.

BiRONius. Ann. (1589). 303, 126-7; Cave, Script, ecdes. hist, litt I (1741), 147-51; Ceillieb, Hist, des aut. sacr.. Ill (1732), 245-48; Fabricids, Bib. lat. med. mv., VI (1746), 822-23; Har- NACK, ChTon. altchristl. Litt., II (Leipzig. 1904), 426-32; Hjerokv- MCS, De rrir. ill., 7i: Act. SS. Boll. Nov. 1 (1887). 432^3; LacnOT, De Victorino episc. et mart, dissert. (Paris. 1664); Pbileszkt, Act. et Script. SS. Com. Firmil., Pont, et Victonm suo ord. digesta Cassovia (1765); Tillemont, Mim. pour sen. a Vhist. ecdes., V (1698), 311-3, 707-9.

Leon Clugnet.

Victorinus, Caius Marius (called also Victori- nus Marius, or Marius Fabius Victorinus, and frequently referred to as Victorinus Afer), a fourth- century grammarian, rhetorician, philosopher, and theologian, b. in Africa about the year 300. In pursuance of his profession as teacher of rhetoric lie migrated to Rome where he attained such fame and popularity that in 353 a statue Wixs erected in his honour in the Forum Romanum (Aug.. "Conf." VII, 2, 3), or the Forum of Trajiui (.Jerome, 'Chron." ad an. 2.370). Details regiirding his life come almost entirely from Jerome or Augustine, the latter of whom calls him a man of the highest learning and thoroughly skilled in the liberal arts. In addition to his activities as a teacher he was a copious author and wTote or translated many works. Three works written before his conversion still exist: "Liber de Definitionibus"; a commentary on the "De inventione" of Cicero; and a trealise on grammar, "Ars grammatica". Works from the same period which have perished an': a treatise on logic, "De syllogismis hypotheticis"; commentaries on the "Topica" and the "Dialogues' of Cicero; a translation and commentary of Aristotle's "Categories"; a translation of the same author's

"Interpretation"; translations of Porphyry's "Isagoge", and works of other Neo-Platonists. The conversion of Victorinus, which took place before 361, was brought about, according to Augustine, through study of the Bible. A seeming reluctance at first to enroll himself in the Christian community was com- pensated for afterwai-ds by his insistence on making his profession of faith as pubhcly as possible. His accession to the Church, which was received with joy by the Christians of Rome, did not cause Victorinus to abandon his profession, and he continued to teach until the edict of Julian in 362, closing the teaching profession to Christians, caused him to retire.

Nothing more is knowTi of his subsecjuent career except what can be gleaned from his writings. The range and fulness of these manifest his diligence and zeal in defence of his faith. Most of the writings of his Christian days have perished. Those which sur- vive are an anti-Arian treatise, "Liber de generatione divini Verbi"; a work "Adversus Arium" in four books, a tract "De Homoousio Recipiendo"; three hymns "De Trinitate"; commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians. Other works of doubtful authen- ticity are "Liber ad Justinum manichseum"; "De verbis scripturje: Factum est vespere et mane dies unus"; "Liber de physicis". Many references in his own WTitings show that Victorinus was the author of many other works of a theological, exegetical, or polemical character. He is also credited with the translation of some of Origen's works and the author- ship of other Christian hymns. Though a man of varied books and great erudition Victorinus is httle studied. This neglect is largely attributed to the fact that his style is obscure and burdensome in the extreme. Recent study of his works tends to enhance his position in the history of pedagogy, letters, and theology, and above all as a potent influence in dis- seminating Neo-Platonic doctrines in the West.

There is no critical edition of the works of Victorinus. P. L., VIII, is the most accessible. Koffmann', De Mario Viaorino philosopho christiano (Breslau, 1880); Moxceaux. Hisloire litliraire de I'A/rique chrUienne, 111 (Paris, 1905), 373-422.

Patrick Healy.

Victor of Capua, a sixth-century bishop about whose life nothing is known except what is found in his epitaph (C. I. L., 4503), which has been preser\'ed, though the tomb itself has disappeared. This inscrip- tion simply states that his episcopate of thirteen years ended in April, 554. The authenticity of the inscription and its chronological data admit of no doubt. Victor is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on 17 Oct., as "eruditione et sanctitate conspicuus". His original writings, preserved only in fragments, show him to have been a devoted stii- dent and a man of wide and varied learning. His best known work is the "Codex fuldensis", one of the most ancient MSS. of the \'ulgate, prepared under his direction, and which he himself revised and corrected. In this codex the place of the Four Gos- pels is taken by a harmony of the Gospels, or as he himself terms it in the preface, a single Gospel com- posed from the four. \'ictor was not certain that the harmony he used was identical with the "Diatcs- seron" of Tatian. The discovery of the text of the latter work and recent investigation have made it clear that this Latin harmony used by Victor was drawn up about a. d. 500. The anonymous author of this work simplv substituted the L.atin of St. Jerome's Vulg;vte for the Greek of Tatian, and at times changed the order or inserted additional passages. Many of the discrepancies may be due however to subsequent changes. Other \vorks by Victor were: "De cycle paschali" written about 550 in refutation of the "Cursua paschalis" of Victorius. Only a few frag- ments of this work have survived (P. L., LXVIII, 1097-98; Pitra, "Spic. Solesm.", I, 296); com-