CYPRIANUS


The Christian writer Caecilius Cyprianus (c. 200-258 AD) was born at Carthage. During the Decian persecution (250 AD) he went into hiding. In the persecution under Valerian he was beheaded. Meiggs (p. 403): "Already in the third century Cyprian writes of the many confessors of the faith who came from Africa, and of their reception at Portus".


Epistulae XX,4.
Peto ergo, domine charissime Luciane, memor sis mei, et petitioni meae annuas. Sic Christus coronam illam sanctam, quam tibi non tantum in confessione sed et in sanctimonio tradidit in qua semper cucurristi, exemplum sanctorum semper et testis fuisti, ut omnibus dominis meis, fratribus tuis confessoribus, referas de hoc facto, ut a vobis auxilium recipiant. Nam hoc, domine frater, scire debes, me non solum hoc pro eis petere, sed et Statium et Severianum et omnes confessores qui inde huc a vobis venerunt, ad quos ipsae in portum descenderunt, et in urbem levaverunt, quod sexaginta quinque ministraverunt et usque in hodiernum in omnibus foverunt. Sunt enim penes illas omnes. I entreat, therefore, beloved lord Lucian, be mindful of me, and acquiesce in my petition; so may Christ grant you that sacred crown which he has given you not only in confession but also in holiness, in which you have always walked and have always been an example to the saints as well as a witness, that you will relate to all my lords, your brethren the confessors, all about this matter, that they may receive help from you. For this, my lord and brother, you ought to know, that it is not I alone who ask this on their behalf, but also Statius and Severianus, and all the confessors who have come thence hither from you; to whom these very sisters went down to the harbour and took them up into the city, and they have ministered to sixty-five, and even to this day have tended them in all things, for all are with them.

Translation Robert Ernest Wallis.