Paulinus the Deacon, also Paulinus of Milan was the notary of Ambrose of Milan, and his biographer. His work is the only life of Ambrose based on a contemporary account, and was written at the request of Augustine of Hippo; it is dated to 422 AD.
Against the Pelagians
In Carthage in 411 he had opposed Caelestius, a Pelagian. The formal proceedings were described by Augustine in On Original Sin. Paulinus set up six theses defining Pelagian views as heresy; Caelestius gave up on becoming a presbyter in Carthage, instead he moved to Ephesus
Paulinus was summoned to Rome in 417, to justify himself. With local backing, he declined to appear before Pope Zosimus; in 418 the Pope took into account the measure of support for the anti-Pelagian position, and condemned both Caelestus and Pelagius.
Notes
- Ambrose of Milan: Keeper of the boundaries | Theology Today | Find Articles at BNET.com
- Craig Alan Satterlee, Ambrose of Milan's Method of Mystagogical Preaching (2002), p. 33.
- Serge Lancel, Saint Augustine (2002), p. 327.
- CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pelagius and Pelagianism.
- M. Lamberigts, The Condemnation of the Pelagians, p. 365, in Theo L. Hettema, Arie van der Kooij (editors), Religious Polemics in Context (2004).
- Philippe Levillain, The Papacy: An Encyclopedia (2002), p. 1641.
References
- Mary Simplicia Kaniecka (1928), Vita sancti Ambrosii, mediolanensis episcopi, a Paulino eius notario ad beatum Augustinum conscripta
- M. Pellegrino (editor) (1961), Paolino di Milano, Vita di S. Ambrogio
- Émilien Lamirande, Paulin de Milan et la "Vita Ambrosii": Aspects de la religion sous le Bas-Empire