Chromatius

Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia (after 388), a distinguished theological writer of the Latin Church, The place and date of his birth are not known. He was a friend of Jerome, Ambrose, Rufinus, and other distinguished men of that period. It was Chromatius who induced Jerome to translate the Old Testament into Latin, and Jerome dedicated to him the commentary on Habakkuk. When the controversy on the writings of Origen broke out between Jerome and Rufinus, Chromatius in vain endeavored to reconcile the former friends. He disapproved of the writings of Origen, but opposed the exclusion from the church of Rufinus, whom he had baptized, and who had dedicated to him several works. When bishop Anastasius of Rome condemned Rufinus, and communicated the sentence to Chromatius, the latter deemed it his right to dissent from the Roman bishop, and received Rufinus into the communion of his church. Chromatius was a warm defender of Chrysostom, and the latter wrote him a letter of thanks. Most of the works of Chromatius are lost, among others his Letter to Jerome (on Rufinus), and his Letter to the Emperor Honorius (in defense of Chrysostom); but there are still extant Discourses on the Eight Beatitudes, treatises On the Fifth and Sixth Chapters of St. Matthew and On Baptism, and a small number of Letters. These works have been edited at Basle (1528 and 1551), Louvain (1646), in Galland's Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. vii, and by Pietro Braida, at Udine (Sancti Chromatii episcopi Aquilejensis Scripta, sive Opuscula, etc., Utini. 1816, 4to). Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen-Lexikon, 2:526; Cave, Script. Ecclesiastes Hist. Liter. 1:378 sq.