The exact date of the foundation of the monastery by Honoratus is unknown, but it cannot have been later than the first years of the fifth century. The earliest reference seems to be in a letter of Paulinus of Nola in A.D. 410, or a few years later (_Ep._ 51 to Eucherius and Galla in island of Lero; this letter seems to show that the foundation was recent). Tillemont in his note on the question (_Mém. ecc._ xii. p. 675) quotes and contests the statement of Baronius and Barralis, that the monastery was founded in A.D. 375 (so Alliez), but he does not give the source for this statement. So far as I can discover, the only foundation for it is indicated by Barralis (_Chronologia sanctorum ... monasterii sacrae insulae Lerinensis_, 1613), p. 190, where he says he found it _in quodam membr. codice perantiquo Lerin. MS._ We cannot attach any importance to this. Tillemont points out the objections to this date, and founds one of his arguments on the age of Saint Caprasius. The chief sources for the history of the monastery during the first forty years of its existence are: Hilary, _Sermo de vita s. Honorati_; Eucherius, _De laude eremi_, cp. also his other writings; Vincentius, _Commonitorium primum et secundum_; Honoratus, _Vita s. Hilarii_. All these works will be found in Migne, _P.L._ vol. l. Further information is to be gathered in Paulinus, _Ep._ 51; Faustus, _Epp._ ed. Krusch (M.G.H.), and ed. Engelbrecht (_Vienna Corp. Scr. Ecc._); _Homilia de S. Maximo_ in _Eusebii Emiseni ep. homeliae_, p. 84, vᵒ _sqq._ (ed. Gagneius, 1589); Sidonius Apollinaris, _Carmen_, 16. Consult Barralis, _op. cit._; Silfverberg, _Hist. Mon. Lerinensis usque ad ann._ 731 (Copenhagen, 1834); Tillemont, _Mém. eccl._ (xii. art. on Saint Honoratus, with notes; _ib._ xv. arts. on Hilary, Eucherius, Vincentius, Maximus of Riez; _ib._ xvi. art. on Faustus); Alliez, _Les îles de Lérins, Cannes, et rivages_ (1860), and _Histoire du monastère de Lérins_, vol. i. 1862; the articles on Honoratus, Hilary, etc. in the _Dict. of Christian Biography_; Krusch’s and Engelbrecht’s prefaces to their editions of Faustus. Pp. 38-9.—Snakes at Lerinus: Hilary, _Sermo_, c. 3 (1257, ed. Migne).—Fresh water flows _in media maris amaritudine_, _ib._ 1258.—_In mare magnum recedentia_: Eucherius, _De laude eremi_, c. 1 (701 ed. Migne).—Vines, etc., _ib._ c. 42.—Anecdote of the tablet of Honoratus: Hilary, _Sermo_, c. 4, 1261 (_mel suum ceris reddidisti_).—“Break through the wall of the passions.” etc.: Eucherius, _Hom._ ii. 836.—_Venire ad eremum_, etc., _Id._, _Hom._ iv. 842.—Manual work was practised at Lérins, Gennadius, _de scr. ecc._ lxix. P. 40.—Faustus. Engelbrecht (preface to his ed.) gives reasons for placing the birth of Faustus _not long_ before 410; but they are not absolutely decisive.