Saint Gregory of Elvira
Feast day: April 24
400 – 400
Gregory Bæticus, Bishop of Elvira, in the province of Baetica, Spain, from which he derived his surname; d. about 392. Gregory is first met with as Bishop of Elvira (Illiberis) in 375; he is mentioned in the luciferian "Libellus precum ad Imperatores" (Migne, P.L., XIII, 89 sq.) as the defender of Nicean creed, after Bishop Hosius of Cordova had given his assent in Sirmium to the second Sirmian formulation of doctrine, in the year 357. He proved himself at any rate an ardent opponent of Arianism, stood for the Nicean creed at the Council of Rimini, and refused to enter into ecclesiatical intercourse with the Arian Bishops Ursacius and Valens. He took, in fact, the extreme view, in common with Bishop Lucifer of Calaris (Cagliari), that it was unlawful to make advances to bishops or priests who at any time had been tainted with the Arian heresy, or to hold any religious communion with them. This Luciferian party found adherents in Spain, and on the death of Lucifer (370 or 371) Gregory of Elvira became the head and front of the movement. Such at least is the mention found of him in the "Libellus precum" above referred to, as well as in St. Jerome's chronicle (Migne, P.L. XXVII, 659). However, the progress made in Spain was by no means considerable.
Text from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Gregory Bæticus”, public domain
