CYPRIAN, Bishop of Carthage, Saint. - In the history of the ancient Church of the West he is one of the most prominent figures, certainly the first, in common estimation, until the rise of the great men of the 4th century: Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine. The fortune of his works has no equal in the early centuries, as appears from the number of manuscripts, inferior only to those of the Latin Bible.
I. LIFE
Sources for the biography of C. are: 1) the Life written by the deacon Pontius, his companion in exile and eyewitness of the martyrdom; a life which, although it has a manifest intent of exaltation and edification, is a historical document of full reliability; 2) the Proconsular Acts, that is, the record of the interrogations that took place before the proconsuls Paternus and Galerius Maximus, followed by the sentence of death, and finally, improperly placed under this title, the account of the martyrdom; the three documents were all drawn up by eyewitnesses immediately after the events; 3) the notice of Jerome (De viris illustribus, 67); 4) the works of C. himself, in the first place the letters.
Caecilius C., also called Thascius, was born in Africa at the beginning of the 3rd century to pagan parents who provided him with a careful literary education; he taught rhetoric and allowed himself to be contaminated by the vices of paganism. Helped by the Carthaginian presbyter Caecilianus, he was converted to Christianity, beginning already as a catechumen a new life, in the practice of continence and charity, so much so as to distribute his goods to the poor. A short time after Baptism he was ordained presbyter and then, in 248 or 249, bishop of Carthage, by popular acclamation. When the persecution of Decius broke out, C. considered it his duty to hide, so as not to deprive his Church of a guide then more than ever necessary; and from his retreat, not far from Carthage, he governed it from the beginning of 250 to the spring of 251, maintaining an intense epistolary exchange. He played a principal part in the question of the lapsi (v.), and had to check the laxism advocated by that party of the clergy which had already opposed his election (among whom the priest Novatus stood out), and by a wealthy layman, Felicissimus, and to maintain the episcopal authority intact, even in the face of the confessors. In this he had the support of the Roman clergy (the see being vacant), and thus prepared the decisions of the Carthaginian Council of Apr. 251, which distinguished between the sacrificati, admitting them to reconciliation only at the point of death, and the libellatici (v. LAPSI), to whom Communion could be given after a period of trial. The laxists, strange to say, would find support in the rigorist faction of the Roman clergy, led by Novatian, who succeeded in having himself elected antipope against Cornelius, provoking a schism that was to spread and last a long time (v. NOVATIAN). In fact the movement spread also in Africa, where C. fought it energetically, supporting the election of Cornelius. A new wave of persecution, under Gallus and Tribonianus (251-53), did not last long. Most serious was the controversy over the Baptism of heretics, in which C., supported by the bishops of Africa and by some of Asia Minor, decisively took sides against Pope Stephen (254-57), who affirmed, with the others, that the Baptism administered by heretics must not be renewed. The death of Stephen (Aug. 2, 257), the intervention of St. Dionysius of Alexandria with Pope Stephen and the persecution of Valerian put an end to the controversy, which threatened to provoke a schism. On Aug. 30, 257 C. was brought before the proconsul Paternus and, having confessed his faith, was exiled to Curubis.
At the order of the new proconsul, Galerius Maximus, to present himself at Utica, the residence of the magistrate, he refused and hid, because he wished to die in the midst of his people: he returned to Carthage when the proconsul returned there, by whom, on Sept. 13, 258, he was condemned to death; the next day, before a crowd of Christians, he was beheaded.
II. WORKS
In the writings of C. his activity as a pastor is reflected: no purely literary digression, no properly speculative intent; only the concerns of the bishop who wishes to enlighten, correct, pacify, guide, encourage dominate. Already the manuscript tradition distinguishes them into two categories: 13 treatises (sermones, libelli), and 81 letters (litterae, epistolae). Two ancient precious documents give a list of them: chap. 7 of the aforementioned Life of Pontius, which alludes in rhetorical form to 11 treatises, in chronological order, corresponds
