Quodvultdeus (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "what God wills", died 450 AD) was a fifth-century

Church Father The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

and Bishop of Carthage who was exiled to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. He was known to have been living in

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

around 407 and became a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

in 421 AD. He corresponded with

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

, who served as Quodvultdeus' spiritual teacher.Patron Saints Index: Saint Quodvultdeus
Augustine also dedicated some of his writings to Quodvultdeus. Quodvultdeus was exiled when

was captured by the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

led by King

Gaiseric Gaiseric ( – 25 January 477), also known as Geiseric or Genseric (; reconstructed Vandalic: ) was king of the Vandals and Alans from 428 to 477. He ruled over a kingdom and played a key role in the decline of the Western Roman Empire during ...

, who followed

Arianism Arianism (, ) is a Christology, Christological doctrine which rejects the traditional notion of the Trinity and considers Jesus to be a creation of God, and therefore distinct from God. It is named after its major proponent, Arius (). It is co ...

. 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 Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He would go on to convert dozens of Arian

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

to the orthodox Christian faith during his lifetime. One of the mosaic burial portraits in the Galleria dei Vescovi in the Catacombs of San Gennaro depicts Quodvultdeus.

Writings

None of the surviving writings by Quodvultdeus were transmitted under his name. While ''Liber promissionum et praedicatorum Dei'' was attributed to

Prosper of Aquitaine Prosper of Aquitaine (; – AD), also called ''Prosper Tiro'', was a Christian writer and disciple of Augustine of Hippo, and the first continuator of Jerome's Universal Chronicle. Particularly, Prosper is identified with the (later) axiom ''� ...

already in the 6th century, Quodvultdeus's sermons came down to us in Augustinian collections. In 1914 Germain Morin was the first to suppose that 12 sermons by Pseudo-Augustine were actually written by Quodvultdeus. In 1920 Desiderius Franses showed this hypothesis to be highly plausible.D. Franses. ''Die Werke des hl. Quodvultdeus''. Munich, 1920.

List of writings

*''Liber promissionum et praedicatorum Dei'' ("Book of promises and predictions of God") *Thirteen sermons: #''Contra iudaeos, paganos et arrianos'' ("Against Jews, Pagans and Arians") #''Adversus quinque haereses'' ("On five heresies") #''De symbolo I'' ("On the creed I") #''De symbolo II'' ("On the creed II") #''De symbolo III'' ("On the creed III") #''De quattuor virtutibus caritatis'' ("On the four virtues of love") #''De cantico novo'' ("On the new song") #''De ultima quarta feria'' ("On the last Wednesday") #''De cataclismo'' ("On the cataclysm") #''De tempore barbarico I'' ("On barbaric times I") #''De accedentibus ad gratiam I'' ("On the approach to grace I") #''De accedentibus ad gratiam II'' ("On the approach to grace II") #''De tempore barbarico II'' ("On barbaric times II") *Two letters to Augustine (Ep. CCXXI and CCXXIII)

Editions and Translations

* René Braun: ''Opera Quodvultdeo Carthagiensi Episcopo Tributa'' ( CCSL 60). Brepols, Turnhout 1976. * René Braun: Quodvultdeus. ''Livre des promesses et des prédictions de Dieu'' ( SC 101-102). Éditions du Cerf, Paris 1964. *Quodvultdeus of Carthage. ''The Creedal Homilies'', translation and commentary by Thomas Macy Finn, 2004 ( ACW 60).

References

Bibliography

* Quodvultdeus of Carthage : ''The Creedal Homilies : conversion in fifth-century North Africa'', Thomas Macy Finn (translation and commentary), New York : Newman Press, 2004, p. 137.

External links

*
Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Latina with analytical indexes

{{Authority control Saints from the Vandal Kingdom Italian Roman Catholic saints 450 deaths 5th-century Christian saints Year of birth unknown 5th-century writers in Latin 5th-century bishops of Carthage