Erasmus and Faustus of Riez's de Gratia

This article analyses Erasmus' editio princeps of Faustus of Riez's treaty On grace, which, addressed to Ferry Carondelet, a lay archdeacon of the cathedral of Besancon since 1504 was published in June 1528 by Johannes Faber Emmaeus. While Erasmus' other editions of patristic works - including that of Hilary of Poitiers, which Erasmus had addressed in 1523 to Ferry Carondelet's brother, Jean Carondelet - have already been studied, the small edition of Faustus of Riez has received relatively less attention. Yet close analysis of Erasmus' edition of Faustus' oeuvre and the dedicatory preface he authored for it can shed new light not only on Erasmus' network of Franc-comtois and Burgundian friends and on their common theological interests, but also on Erasmus' historical method. The article is divided in three parts. The first part examines the choice of Erasmus' dedication of the work to Ferry Carondelet, arguing on the basis of available evidence, including a novel reading of the iconography of the altarpiece commissioned by Carondelet to the Dominican painter fra' Bartolomeo for the Cathedral of Besancon that Erasmus and Ferry Carondelet likely shared a common interest in a theology able to stress the fundamental potential of fallen humanity to be good. The second part discusses in detail Erasmus' interest for Faustus's treaty and his positions on grace. The third part deals with Erasmus ' approach to Church history, as this emerges from both his prefaces to Hilary of Poitiers and Faustus of Riez.