[P. 38.]—Island monasteries: Gallinaria, Gorgon, Capraria, Palmaria. See Ambrose, Hexaem. 3, c. 5, insulas uelut monilia; Jerome, Epist. 73 § 6 (Migne, 22, 694) [c. 400 A.D.]; Sulp. Severus, V. Mart. 6, 5 (Gallinaria). For Capraria, see Rutilius Namatianus, De reditu suo [c. A.D. 417], i., 439 sqq.—
squalet lucifugis insula plena uiris,
and for Gorgon ib. 517 sqq. For cloisters in the Dalmatian Islands see Jerome, Epist. 92. For the Stoechades: Cassian, Coll. 18, Praef. (Migne, 49, p. 1089); Ennodius, v. Epiphanii, 93, medianas insulas Stoechadas (so Sirmond and Vogel; cycladas, MSS.) Lerum ipsamque nutricem summorum montium planam Lerinum, described as sanctarum habitationum loca.
[P. 38.]—Monastery of Lérins. For the names Lero, Lerina (Lirinus is the form in the best MSS. of Sidonius), see Pliny, Nat. Hist. 3, 5. Strabo, 4, 1, 10 gives the names Planasia and Leron.
The exact date of the foundation of the monastery by Honoratus is unknown, but it cannot have been later than the first years of the fifth century. The earliest reference seems to be in a letter of Paulinus of Nola in A.D. 410, or a few years later (Ep. 51 to Eucherius and Galla in island of Lero; this letter seems to show that the foundation was recent). Tillemont in his note on the question (Mém. ecc. xii. p. 675) quotes and contests the statement of Baronius and Barralis, that the monastery was founded in A.D. 375 (so Alliez), but he does not give the source for this statement. So far as I can discover, the only foundation for it is indicated by Barralis (Chronologia sanctorum ... monasterii sacrae insulae Lerinensis, 1613), p. 190, where he says he found it in quodam membr. codice perantiquo Lerin. MS. We cannot attach any importance to this. Tillemont points out the objections to this date, and founds one of his arguments on the age of Saint Caprasius.
The chief sources for the history of the monastery during the first forty years of its existence are: Hilary, Sermo de vita s. Honorati; Eucherius, De laude eremi, cp. also his other writings; Vincentius, Commonitorium primum et secundum; Honoratus, Vita s. Hilarii. All these works will be found in Migne, P.L. vol. l. Further information is to be gathered in Paulinus, Ep. 51; Faustus, Epp. ed. Krusch (M.G.H.), and ed. Engelbrecht (Vienna Corp. Scr. Ecc.); Homilia de S. Maximo in Eusebii Emiseni ep. homeliae, p. 84, vᵒ sqq. (ed. Gagneius, 1589); Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmen, 16.
Consult Barralis, op. cit.; Silfverberg, Hist. Mon. Lerinensis usque ad ann. 731 (Copenhagen, 1834); Tillemont, Mém. eccl. (xii. art. on Saint Honoratus, with notes; ib. xv. arts. on Hilary, Eucherius, Vincentius, Maximus of Riez; ib. xvi. art. on Faustus); Alliez, Les îles de Lérins, Cannes, et rivages (1860), and Histoire du monastère de Lérins, vol. i. 1862; the articles on Honoratus, Hilary, etc. in the Dict. of Christian Biography; Krusch’s and Engelbrecht’s prefaces to their editions of Faustus.
[Pp. 38-9.]—Snakes at Lerinus: Hilary, Sermo, c. 3 (1257, ed. Migne).—Fresh water flows in media maris amaritudine, ib. 1258.—In mare magnum recedentia: Eucherius, De laude eremi, c. 1 (701 ed. Migne).—Vines, etc., ib. c. 42.—Anecdote of the tablet of Honoratus: Hilary, Sermo, c. 4, 1261 (mel suum ceris reddidisti).—“Break through the wall of the passions.” etc.: Eucherius, Hom. ii. 836.—Venire ad eremum, etc., Id., Hom. iv. 842.—Manual work was practised at Lérins, Gennadius, de scr. ecc. lxix.
[P. 40.]—Faustus. Engelbrecht (preface to his ed.) gives reasons for placing the birth of Faustus not long before 410; but they are not absolutely decisive.