The Presbyters Project

Letter 134

2. [...] Hi [circumcelliones] cum audirentur a uiro clarissimo et spectabili tribuno et notario fratre tuo, filio meo Marcellino, non tormentis ungularum atque flammarum sed uirgarum coherciti horrenda facinora in fratres et conpresbyteros meos a se perpetrata confessi sunt, quod scilicet unum eorum exceptum insidiis trucidauerint, alterum e domo raptum oculo effosso digitoque amputato truncauerint. [...]

(ed. Goldbacher 1898: 85)

Letter 133

2. [...] When these [Circumcellions] were tried by the most illustrious and admirable tribune and notary, your brother and my son, Marcellinus, after they were coerced, not by the torments of iron claws and of flames, but of rods, they confessed to terrible crimes that they committed against my brothers and fellow presbyters, namely, that they slew one of them who was taken by ambush and mutilated another who was taken from his home, by tearing out an eye and cutting off a finger. [...]

(trans. R. Teske, slighlty altered)

Discussion:

The letter refers to the events described in Letter 133 [550], where the names of the Catholic presbyters assaulted by the circumcellions are also given.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

The letters of Augustine of Hippo cover a wide range of topics: Holy Scripture, dogma and liturgy, philosophy, religious practice and everyday life. They range from full-scale theological treatises to small notes asking someone for a favour. The preserved corpus includes 308 letters, 252 written by Augustine, 49 that others sent to him and seven exchanged between third parties. 29 of letters have been discovered only in the 20th century and edited in 1981 by Johannes Divjak; they are distinguished by the asterisk (*) after their number.

The preserved letters of Augustine extend over the period from his stay at Cassiciacum in 386 to his death in Hippo in 430.

Edition:

Edition:

A. Goldbacher ed., S. Augustini Hipponiensis Episcopi Epistulae, Pars 3, Ep. 124-184A, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 44, Vienna-Leipzig 1904.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, Letters 100-155, trans. R. Teske, New York 2003.

Categories:

Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic

Described by a title - Conpresbyter

Conflict - Violence

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER556, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=556