Today is the feast of St. Vincent of Lérins (died c. 445). His fame rests almost entirely upon one book ( his Commonitorium) and interestingly, upon one sentence in that one book: that the way to test a dogma as true or not is that it was "quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est" -- which means "held as true everywhere, always, and by all." He did not look upon Scripture as the sole rule of faith because even in those days the heretics and unorthodox quoted Scripture to their advantage. St. Vincent, ex soldier, now monk and priest on the island of Lérins off the coast of Cannes (must be nice), wrote down his Commonitorium mostly as an aid to his own poor memory to help him distinguish truth from heresy. He did further explain that the development of doctrine must be recognizable from even the earliest times, as an oak from an acorn (as opposed to something entirely different) or a man from a child. The triple test of "universality, antiquity and consent" implies the authority of all or nearly all bishops and doctors, but also, notably: "If the error is one which had its counterpart in primitive times, then the final court of appeal would be the faith of the majority." - Butler's Lives. But that does not mean he denied the authority -- the ultimate, behind-it-all authority -- of the Holy See.
A lot of ink has been spilled over his doctrine, and many have seen therein a refutation of predestination as Augustine saw it. Maybe so, maybe not. His test stands as a viable one today. And his orthodoxy is not in question, wherever he weighed in on the eternal free will versus grace controversy. Not controversy, then; free will versus grace continuum. Perhaps it's a mystery. Anyway, St. Vincent is no Pelagian and he even used many exact words from the Athanasian Creed. His clear mind is helpful to us still today.
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