Letter 195: At all times I have esteemed your Blessedness with becoming reverence and honour, and have loved the Lord and Saviour dwelling in you. But now we add, if possible, something to that which has already reached a climax, and we heap up what was already full, so that we do not suffer a single hour to pass without the mention of your name, because yo...

Augustine to Jerome, greetings. Good news at last: the Council of Carthage has formally condemned the Pelagian heresy. The African bishops have spoken with one voice, and their decrees have been sent to Rome for confirmation. The key points of the condemnation: - Adam's sin is transmitted to all his descendants, not merely as a bad example but as a genuine corruption of human nature. - Infants are baptized for the remission of sins — including the original sin they inherit. - The grace of God, through Jesus Christ, is necessary not only for the forgiveness of past sins but for the ongoing ability to avoid future ones. - No one in this life achieves perfect sinlessness, regardless of how advanced in holiness they may be. These are not innovations. They are the faith of the Church from the beginning. Pelagius's denial of them was the novelty, and it has been rightly rejected. I know you share this view, and I know you have fought the same battle from the East. Take heart, brother. The truth, though slow, is not silent. Farewell.

From Jerome to Augustine (A.D. 418) To His Holy Lord and Most Blessed Father, Augustine, Jerome Sends Greeting. At all times I have esteemed your Blessedness with becoming reverence and honour, and have loved the Lord and Saviour dwelling in you. But now we add, if possible, something to that which has already reached a climax, and we heap up what was already full, so that we do not suffer a single hour to pass without the mention of your name, because you have, with the ardour of unshaken faith, stood your ground against opposing storms, and preferred, so far as this was in your power, to be delivered from Sodom, though you should come forth alone, rather than linger behind with those who are doomed to perish. Your wisdom apprehends what I mean to say. Go on and prosper! You are renowned throughout the whole world; Catholics revere and look up to you as the restorer of the ancient faith, and — which is a token of yet more illustrious glory— all heretics abhor you. They persecute me also with equal hatred, seeking by imprecation to take away the life which they cannot reach with the sword. May the mercy of Christ the Lord preserve you in safety and mindful of me, my venerable lord and most blessed father. About this page Source. Translated by J.G. Cunningham. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102195.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.