Quodvultdeus

Saint Quodvultdeus

Portrait of Quodvultdeus, 5th-century mosaic, Catacombs of San Gennaro
Died ~450 AD
Naples
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast 26 October (Roman calendar); 8 January (calendar of Carthage); 19 February (calendar of Naples)

Quodvultdeus (Latin for "what God wills", died c. 450 AD) was a fifth-century church father and bishop of Carthage who was exiled to Naples. He was known to have been living in Carthage around 407 and became a deacon in 421 AD. He corresponded with Augustine of Hippo, who served as Quodvultdeus' spiritual teacher.[1] Augustine also dedicated some of his writings to Quodvultdeus.[1]

Quodvultdeus was exiled when Carthage was captured by the Vandals led by King Genseric, who followed Arianism. Tradition states that he and other churchmen (such as Gaudiosus of Naples) were loaded onto leaky ships that landed at Naples around 439 AD and Quodvultdeus established himself in Italy.[1] He would go on to convert dozens of Arian Goths to Orthodoxy in his lifetime.

One of the mosaic burial portraits in the Galleria dei Vescovi in the Catacombs of San Gennaro depicts Quodvultdeus.[2]

Writings

Opening page of a 9th-century manuscript of the Sermon against Jews, Pagans and Aryans by Quodvultdeus, erroneously attributed to Augustine of Hippo (Bavarian State Library Clm 14098, f. 61v)

Some of his writings have survived, including On the Symbol, a book that has been translated into English.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Patron Saints Index: Saint Quodvultdeus Archived April 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. Gillian MacKie, Early Christian Chapels in the West (University of Toronto Press, 2003), 31.

Bibliography

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