Faustus of Riez

Faustus of Riez (c. 405–c. 490) was a Gallic bishop and theologian who served first as abbot of the celebrated monastery of Lérins and then as bishop of Riez in southern Gaul for several decades. He is the principal systematic voice of what later scholars call Semi-Pelagianism: in his major treatise De gratia Dei he argued that divine grace and a residual human capacity for faith must cooperate in salvation, navigating between what he saw as the determinism of strict Augustinianism and the self-sufficiency of Pelagianism. A strong defender of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism, he was expelled from his see by the Visigoth king Euric around 477 and lived in exile for roughly eight years before returning to Riez. His theology was condemned by the Synod of Orange in 529, yet his writings remained influential and his standing as a saint in local Gallic tradition was never formally revoked.