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Reigned 425-55, b. atRavenna, 3 July, 419; d. atRome, 16 March, 455; son of Constantius III and Galla Placidia, daughter ofTheodosius, succeededEmperor Honorius. In 437 he married his cousin Eudoxia at Constantinople. During his reign the Western Empire hastened to decay. Britain was abandoned in 446, Ætius failed to hold Gaul against theFranks,Burgundians, and Huns, while Africa was lost in 439 by Boniface, who was defeated by theVandals under Huneric, later married to Valetinian's daughter Eudoxia. On 17 July, 425, all schismatics were ordered to leaveRome; in the same year the immunity of theclergy fromcivil jurisdiction was reaffirmed, though Valentinian abrogated this privilege later in 452; on 8 April, 4236, theJews were forbidden to disinherit their children who becameChristians. Valentinian was a strong adversary of theManichæans and in 445 declared them guilty of sacrilege, forbade them to reside in cities, and pronounced them incapable of performing any judicial acts. When appealed to byLeo I in the dispute withSt. Hilary of Poitiers concerning the latter'smetropolitanrights, he addressed a constitution to Ætius, Governor of Gaul, strongly supporting Leo. In it he emphasized thepapal supremacy, founded on the position of St. Peter as head of theepiscopacy, and pointed out the necessity of one supreme head for the spiritual kingdom, and ordered thecivil authorities to bring toRome anybishop who refused to come there when called by thepope. In 447 he issued an edict to prevent the violation of sepulchres. He was atRome, with his wife and mother, in February, 450, for the celebration of the feast of the Chair of St. Peter, and after consultation with Pope Leo took active steps for the calling of a general Council, which met at Chalcedon in October, 451. Valentinian presentedXystus III with 2000 lbs. of silver to construct a tabernacle in theLateran basilica, and in addition with a large golden ornament representingChrist and his Apostles, for the Confessio of St. Peter. As he grew older Valentinian displayed a vindictive, feeble, hesitating character; his training seems to have been purposely neglected by his mother, the real ruler. On the approach ofAttila he fled fromRavenna, his imperial residence, toRome, which was saved later, as is known byPope St. Leo. After his mother's death (450), he gave way to his passions. In 454 he caused Ætius and his friends to bemurdered; at last he was assassinated while attending the chariot races in the Via Labicana,Rome, near thetomb of St. Helena, at the instigation, it is said, of a Roman senator, Petronius Maximus, whose wife he had wronged.
GRISAR, Gesch. Roms und der Papste im Mittelalter, I (Freiburg, 1901), tr. Hist. of Rome and the Popes in the Middle Ages (London, 1911); TILLEMONT, Hist. des empereurs, VI (Paris, 1738); BURY, Later Roman Empire, II (London, 1889).
APA citation.MacErlean, A.(1912).Valentinian III. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15255b.htm
MLA citation.MacErlean, Andrew."Valentinian III."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 15.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15255b.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett.Dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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