VIT ALIUS

laration of faith in which all crucial expressionswer e skilfully omitted he convinced Damasus ofliis orthodoxy. Pamasus did not, however, re-vive him into communion, but as if he suspectedthat he was being imposed on he sent Vita-lius back to Antioch with a letter to Paulinus,whom, during the Meletian schism, Rome and theWestern Church recognised as the orthodox andcanonical bishop of that see, remitting the wholematter to his decision, as one likely to be betterinformed on its true bearing than himself. Hepraised his caution, but recommended that itshould not lead him to postpone too long the re-admission of those of whose orthodoxy he badsufficient proof, on their signing the Nicenecreed, and also making a declaration that theSon of God took on Him “entire Adam” withtody, soul and sense. Those whom Paulinusadmitted to communion would be received intocommunion with Rome (Labbe, Concil. ii. 864).Both of these requirements were satisfied byVitalius, but with a secret reserve as to the in-terpretation of the words. Shortly after Vitaliushad left Rome, Damasus, not quite easy in hismind as to his orthodoxy, despatched a secondletter to Paulinus, containing a profession offaith, and a long string of anathematisms, which,without naming Apollinaris, condemned him andhis doctrines, desiring Paulinus to requiresignature to them as the terms of beingadmitted into communion (Labbe, ii. 900,sq.; Theod. H. E. v. 11). These termsVitalius refused to satisfy, and the breachbetween him and Paulinus became complete.Apollinaris ordained him bishop of his schismati-cal church, his holiness of life and pastoral zealgathering a large number of followers, the suc-cessors of whom were still existing at Antiochunder the name of Vitalians when Sozomenwrote (Soz. II. E. vi. 25). The unsoundness ofVitalius on the point on which Apoilinarisdiverged from the orthodox faith, did not pre-vent his being regarded with much esteem andaffection by leaders on the orthodox side, withwhom, this one point excepted, he completelyagreed. On his return from Rome to Antioch,A.D. 375, he visited Gregory Nazianzen, bywhom he was acknowledged as a belovedbrother, whose soundness in the faith heentirely accepted, though subsequently whenconvinced of the real meaning of his ambi-guous language he was forced to recall hisapproval (Greg. Naz. Ep. ad Cledon. ii. Or at.52, tom. i. p. 746). It must have been veryshortly after Vitalius’s return to Antioch thatbpiphanius, urged thereto by Basil (Bas. Ep.A>8 [325]) visited Antioch for the purpose ofealing the differences which were rending thatunhappy church. Among those he met there hespecially mentions “Vitalius the bishop,” whome speaks of in the highest terms as eoAajSetr-TaTo$ T( ? Ka\ rp Karaardaet Kal t p ttoAi-and earnestly besought him to reunitejnmself to the Catholic Church. Finding thate misunderstanding was chiefly a personal one,, e ," een him and Paulinus, each charging the• f r ' v ^h unsoundness in the faith, EpiphaniusV> r !^ em both to a conference. At first1 a iuss language appeared perfectly orthodox." e ac knowledged as fully as Paulinus that Christf^ aS 4 ^ Ct man VV ^ a human body and soul; but when pressed as to whether He also

VITUS

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had a human mind (i/oD$) he denied it, statingthat His divinity was to Him in its place!Neither party could persuade the other, andEpiphanius had to give up the hopeless attempt(Epiphan. lxxvii. c. 20-23). The schism of Vita-iius added a third, or counting the Arians afourth church at Antioch, each denouncing theothers. Meletius, Paulinus and Vitalius eachclaimed to be the orthodox bishop. The per-plexity they created is graphically described byJerome in his letters to pope Damasus (Hieron.Ep. 57, 58): “Whoever is united to the chairof Peter he regards as his own. But bieletius,Vitalius and Paulinus, each asserted that theyclave to Damasus. He could believe it if everyone said so. But now two must be liars, if notall three. He is equally ignorant of them all,‘non novi Vitalem; Meletium respuo, ignoroPaulinum,’ and he begs the pope for his soul’ssake to signify to him whom he is to communi-cate with ” (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. vii. 617-622 ; Dorner, Person of Christy Div. 1, vol. ii.p. 386 ff, Clark’s transl.). [E. V.]

"YITELLIUS, an African Donatist writermentioned by Gennadius (Scr. Eccl. 4). Heflourished in the time of the emperor Constans,and so eir. A.D. 344. His works De eo quod odiosint mundo servi Dei (written against the Catholicparty as persecutors). Adversus Gentes , adversusCatholicos (accusing them of being traditors) arenot extant. (Cave, i. 209; Ceill. v. 105.)

[C. H.]

VITONUS (Vitoxius), Nov. 9, bishop ofVerdun, succeeded Firmus A.D. 502. His Lifeis given by Surius (Vit. SS. xi. 236) and Mabillon(AA. SS. Ben. vi. i. 496). The modern interestin St. Vitonus centres in the connection of hisabbey with the Benedictines. He died A.D.525 (Ceillier, xii. 833, xiii. 119). [J. G.]

VITUS (1) (Guy), ST., June 15th, a youth-ful martyr in the persecution of Diocletian. Hewas the son of a pagan gentleman in Sicily, buthad been secretly trained in Christianity by hisnurse Crescentia and her husband Alodestus.After the boy had encountered much cruelsuffering they succeeded in carrying him overto Italy, where however they all three fellvictims, either in Lucania or at Rome. (Boll.Acta SS. 15 Jun. iii. 491, ed. 1867.) Forreferences to the Martyrologies, see D. C. A.Vitus (2). His Bassio , composed in the sixthor the seventh century, was discovered at Romein the ninth, and is of no authority. His relicsare reputed to be at Corbey and at Prague. Heis invoked against sudden death and hydrophobia(Acta SS. 15 Jun. iii. App. p. 21*), as well asagainst prolonged sleep and the complaint knownas the Chorea or Dance of St. 1 itus (Guerin,les Pet. Boll. vii. 30). He is also, says Guerin,the patron of comedians and dancers. TwoGerman medical writers, Gregory Horst andJohn Juncker, of the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturies respectively, relate how the maladycame to take the name of St. Vitus, and thesubstance of their remarks, with references,may be read in Rees’s Encyclopedia , s.v. Chorea.There sprang up, they say, in Germany in theseventeenth century, a superstitious belief thatby presenting gifts to the image of St. Vitus,