He was of a consular Roman family, then settled in Gaul, and was well
versed in the liberal arts. In his youth he renounced the worship of
idols, and gained his elder brother, Venantius, to Christ, whom he also
inspired with a contempt of the world. They desired to renounce it
entirely, but a {163} fond Pagan father put continual obstacles in their
way: at length they took with them St. Caprais, a holy hermit, for their
director, and sailed from Marseilles to Greece, with the design to live
there unknown, in some desert. Venantius soon died happily at Methone;
and Honoratus, being also sick, was obliged to return with his
conductor. He first led an eremitical life in the mountains, near
Frejus. Two small islands lie in the sea near that coast, one larger, at
a nearer distance from the continent, called Lero, now St. Margaret's;
the other smaller and more remote, two leagues from Antibes, named
Lerins, at present St. Honore, from our saint, where he settled; and
being followed by others, he there founded the famous monastery of
Lerins, about the year 400. Some he appointed to live in community;
others, who seemed more perfect, in separate cells, as anchorets. His
rule was chiefly borrowed from that of St. Pachomius. Nothing can be
more amiable than the description St. Hilary has given of the excellent
virtues of this company of saints, especially of the charity, concord,
humility, compunction, and devotion which reigned among them, under the
conduct of our holy abbot. He was, by compulsion, consecrated archbishop
of Arles in 426, and died, exhausted with austerities and apostolical
labors, in 429. The style of his letters was clear and affecting: they
were penned with an admirable delicacy, elegance, and sweetness, as St.
Hilary assures. The loss of all these precious monuments is much
regretted. His tomb is shown empty under the high altar of the church
which bears his name at Arles; his body having been translated to Lerins
in 1391, where the greatest part remains. See his panegyric by his
disciple, kinsman, and successor, St. Hilary of Arles; one of the most
finished pieces extant in this kind. Dom Rivet, Hist. Lit. t. 2, p. 156.