Verecundus
A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography [1]
Verecundus ( 2 ), d. 552, bp. of the Civitas Juncensis in Byzacena. He was summoned to Constantinople in 549, touching the question of the "Three Chapters." He died at Chalcedon the year before the second council of Constantinople. In the controversy on the "Three Chapters" he seems to have acted until his death with Virgilius, defending the works in question, and joining with Virgilius in his censure on Theodore of Caesarea and Menas of Constantinople. He is probably the presbyter Verecundus who composed a commentary on the ecclesiastical canticles, comprehending the songs of Miriam, Moses (from Deut.), Azariah, Hezekiah, Habakkuk, and Deborah, the prayer of Manasseh, and the thanksgiving of Jonah. The commentary is printed in vol. iv. of the Spicilegium Solesmense , with other works attributed to Verecendus. It shews some philosophical learning and historical knowledge, and some illustrations are drawn from his own experience. His manner of referring to the Vandal persecution in Africa and the unsettled state of affairs seems to fix its date before 534, when the persecution ended. The poems attributed to him, and also published in the Spicilegium , are (1) "Exhortatio Poenitendi," (2) "de Satisfactione Poenitentiae," (3) "Crisias."
The spirit of the first two poems is alike: both express a strong sense of the need of repentance and an earnest anticipation of the Judgment. The poems are hortatory rather than penitential. The third poem, concerning the signs of the Judgment, is probably not by the same hand. It has much more artificiality and much less earnestness.
A Breviarium Concilii Chalcedonensis , drawn up so as to favour the supporters of the "Three Chapters," is attributed to Verecundus. It is very possibly his, but may have been composed by a more extreme partisan and issued under his name by one who regarded him as a confessor and wished to obtain the influence of his reputation. Pitra prints this also in the Spicilegium .
[H.A.W.]
