The Commonitorium or Commonitory is a 5th-century Christian treatise written after the council of Ephesus under the pseudonym "Peregrinus" and attributed to Vincent of Lérins.
[2][3] It is known for Vincent's famous maxim: "Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all.
"[3]: 132 [a] Charles Heurtley introduced the Commonitory, in his translation, as Vincent's personal reference to "distinguish Catholic truth from heresy" based on the authority of Holy Scripture by which "all questions must be tried in the first instance" and "supplemented by an appeal to that sense of Holy Scripture which is supported by universality, antiquity, and consent.
"[3] Thomas Guarino commented, in Vincent of Lérins and the Development of Christian Doctrine, that Vincent of Lérins' theology "is often reduced to a memorable slogan: 'We hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by everyone.
'"[4] Bernard Prusak explained in The Church Unfinished, that for Vincent, "the decrees of a universal council were to be preferred to the ignorance of a few" and the deposit of faith "did not exclude development or progress, as long as it was not an alteration" and accordingly, doctrines "could be taught in a new way.