Auxentius | |
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| Other names | Mercurinus |
Offices held | Bishop of Milan |
Auxentius ofDurostorum, also probably known asMercurinus, was a bishop ofDurostorum. AnArian, he was prominent in conflict with StAmbrose.
Auxentius was the foster-son ofWulfila, the "apostle to theGoths". He is referred to by StAmbrose as "Mercurinus", but in an extravagant document written at the height of a bitter dispute with the Imperial court, apparently in order to accuse his rival with having changed his name from Mercurinus in order to curry favour with supporters ofanother Auxentius who had been Ambrose's predecessor; the robustness of this accusation is unknown.[1]
Auxentius was bishop of Durostorum on the lower Danube, but was expelled by an edict of Theodosius depriving Arian bishops in 383, and took refuge at Milan where he became embroiled in controversy with StAmbrose.[1]
In Milan, seat of the Western Imperial court, Nicene and Arian controversy flared high. In 386, Auxentius challengedAmbrose to a public disputation, in which the judges were to be the court favourites of the Arian empress; he also demanded for the Arians the use of the Basilica Portiana. Ambrose's refusal to surrender this church brought about a siege of the edifice, in which Ambrose and a multitude of his faithful Milanese had shut themselves up. The empress eventually abandoned herfavourite and made peace with Ambrose.[2]
He wrote an account of the life and death of Ulfilas that the Arian bishop Maximinus included (383) in a work directed againstSt. Ambrose and the Synod of Aquileia, 381. This favourite ofEmpress Justina was the anti-bishop set up inMilan by the Arians on the occasion of the election of Ambrose.
TheLetter of Auxentius (ca 400) was preserved in the margins of a manuscript ofDe fide of Ambrose. Along with theCreed of Ulfilas it is one of the chief witnesses to the credence of theArian Christians and the politics of the Church at the time whenNicene Christianity continued to be debated at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Shahan, Thomas Joseph (1907). "Auxentius". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company.| International | |
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