MARISTS. See Society of Mary.

MARIUS: Bishop of Aventicum 574-94. In the process of Frankish conquest between 530 and 540, a considerable part of what is now Switzerland was incorporated, and with it the old Roman col ony of Aventicum Helvetiorum. Toward the end of the sixth century it was made the seat of a bish opric, and Marius is the first well-attested bishop. He was born in the diocese of Autun in 530 or 531, probably of Gallio-Roman blood,.and received an excellent education with a view to the priesthood. In 585 he took part as bishop of Aventicum in the Frankish Synod of Macon. He died in 594, on Dec. 31, according to a necrology of the church of Lau sanne, where he was buried. The chronicle written by him, the manuscript of which is in the British Museum, is a continuation, without separate title, of that of Prosper, covering the years 455-581, and contains scanty but useful contributions to the his tory of Valais and Burgundy. The saintly life at tributed to him by his epitaph is one of the bright spots in a dark period.

(Emil Egli†.)

Bibliography: The Chronicon, e d. J. Rickly, is in Mémoires et documents de la aociW de Phial. de la Suisse Romande, xiii. 19-56, Lausanne, 1853; MPL, lxxii. 793802, and in W. Arndt, below. The chief source for a life is the Cartuiarium Lawannenae reproduced in full in Mémoires et documents de la aocUt6 de l'hist. de la Suiaas Romande v ol. vi., Lausanne, 1851; cf. MGM, Script., xxiv (1880), 794 sqq., and GH, Aud. ant., xi (1893), 227 sqq. Consult: J. D(ey), in M6morial de Fribourg, i (1854), 49-55; W. Arndt, Bischof Afarinus von Aventicum, Leipsic, 1875; Holder-Egger, in NA, 1876, p. 254; KL, viii. 868-869. The very scattered references are well collected in Potthast, Wepweiaer, p. 768.

MARIUS MERCATOR: Ecclesiastical writer of the fifth century; d. after 451. But little is known of his life. His cast of thought, dogmatic views, style, acquaintance with Augustine, and knowledge of African affairs, point to North Africa as his birthplace. He appears to have been a cultivated layman, with a lively interest in theology, well read in Scripture, and able in polemics. What is known of him rests wholly on his writings, on a mention of him by Possidius, in Index hbrorum Augustini, iv.; and on a letter to Marius from Augustine, who thanks him for two tracts against the Pelagians, which the "young" author in 418 (hence he was hardly born prior to 390) had sent over to him from Rome (NPL, xlviii. 193). It is possible that he then followed, at Rome, the vocation of a public teacher; at all events, Augustine styles him doctor. He must have removed to Constantinople before 429, where he took part in the last stage of the Pelagian agitations and in the Nestorian dispute. In these matters he so keenly advocated the interests of Rome that he gives the impression of having served the Roman see in some official capacity. He vigorously urged the condemnation of Julian of Eclanum and his companions, and to this end in 429 he addressed a memorial in Greek to the congregation in Constantinople, submitting a copy to the Emperor Theodosius II. and translating the same into Latin (Commonitorium super nomine Calestii). As a result the Pelagians were banished from the capital, and their ecclesiastical condemnation followed at the Council of Ephesus of 431. In the same year Marius issued a second and ampler tract against the Pelagians (Cammonitorium adveraus hwresin Pelagii et Ccelestii vel etiam ecripta Juliani; also under the title Subnotationes in dicta qumdam Juliani ad Pientium presbyterum, with extracts from Julian's writings). His remaining literary activity is confined to translation from Greek into Latin of documents bearing upon the Pelagian and Nestorian controversies. Of particular importance in this regard, especially in view of the meager transmission of the original texts, are his translations from writings of Nestorius (e.g., Sermones V. adversus Dei genetricem Mariam).

Marius is not to be rated very highly as an au thor. As exhibited in his writings, he was a close adherent of orthodox doctrine and an ardent admirer of Augustine and Cyril. His polemics included not only Pelagianism and Nestorianism, but also the theology of the Antiochian school. His dogmatic position is that of a rather nar row orthodoxy; his judgment is borrowed, his polemics is impassioned; he is often unjust, at times coarse and vulgar. His style is harsh and frequently ignoble. Nevertheless, his writings and literal translations are of permanent value for the history of the Pelagian and Nestorian controver. sies, inasmuch as not a few of the weightiest of the original documents are preserved exclusively through him.

G. Krüger.

Bibliography: The first collected edition of Marius' works was by J. Gamier, Paris, 1673; the best is by S. Baines, ib. 1684, reproduced in Gallandi, Bibliotheca vaterum pa, trum, viii. 613-768, Venice, 1772; MPL, xlvi. repro. ducea in the main the poorer text of Gamier. Consult: F. Loofs, Neatoriana, Halle, 1905; J: Feasler, lnetitutiottes patrologia, ii. 2, pp. 151-165, Innsbruck, 1896; O. Bardenhewer, Patrologie, pp. 447-449, Freiburg, 1901; DCB, iii. 834-835; KL, viii. 869-871; W. Smith, Dic tionary of Greek and Roman Biography, ii. 1045-46, London, 1890 (gives list of the writings); Ceillier, Auteurs sacrés, viii. 498-508.

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