Vincentius' fame rests upon a treatise against heretics, composed, as we are told in the body of the work itself, three years after the council of Ephesus, that is, in A. D. 434. It commonly bears the title but according to Gennadius, when first published, it did not exhibit the name of the writer, and was designated Peregrinii. e. the Pilgrim adversus Haereticos. We are farther told that it was originally divided into two parts, but that the second of these having been stolen from the repositories of the author, he contented himself with briefly recapitulating the substance of what it had contained, and gave his work to the world in one book.

The great aim of this production, which is composed in a very lively and impressive style, is in the first place to collect the opinions of the early fathers on the points which had given rise to the most important doctrinal controversies ; and, in the second place, to establish some rule by which error may be detected and avoided, and the true faith maintained in purity. He determines that the means for accomplishing this object are two-fold : 1. The authority of Holy Scripture. 2. The tradition of the Catholic church, the latter being indispensable for the right understanding of the former. We are to hold that as a Catholic tradition, which has been believed in the Catholic church everywhere, always, and by all (quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est), thus obtaining universality, antiquity and consent.

The being the first work on which the proposition, which now forms the broad line of demarcation between the Protestant and Roman churches, is broadly and distinctly affirmed, it has always been regarded with great interest and studied with much care, while the opinions formed with regard to its merits have depended, in a great measure, on the theological predilections of its critics. The charge of Semi-Pelagianism frequently urged against Vincentius seems altogether unfounded, and indeed probably originated in the erroneous belief that Vincent of Lerins was the author of the tract first published by Sirmond (4to. Paris, 1643), entitled s. Praedestinatorum Haeresis et libri S. Augustino temere adscripti Refutatio, and also of the attack upon the tenets of Augustine known to us only from the reply of Prosper, Pro Augustini Doctrina Responsiones ad capitula objectionum Vincentianarum.