POSSIDIO, saint. — Biographer of s. Agostino, he was among the first disciples who gathered around the Saint in the monastery founded by him at Hippo shortly after his priestly ordination, which took place in 391, and he remained bound to his master by profound veneration and friendship until his death (Vita Aug., 31, 1).
In 397 or shortly thereafter he was elected bishop of Calama, in proconsular Numidia. He took part in the Eighth Council of Carthage on 25 August 403 (Mansi, III, 790), in the Eleventh in 407 (ibid., 806), in the Fifteenth on 14 June 410 (ibid., 810), and in the great Conference between Catholics and Donatists held at Carthage in May and June 411, where P. was one of the representatives of the Catholic bishops and spoke several times (ibid., IV, 8 ff.); he also attended the Council of Milevis in 416 against Pelagianism (ibid., 335; s. Agostino, Ep. 137; 176), and the Council of Carthage in 419 (Mansi, IV, 433). In 404, while on a pastoral visit, he was attacked by the Donatists (Vita Aug., 12; s. Agostino, Ep. 105, 4; Contro Crescon., III, 50-52); in 408 he only narrowly escaped the fanaticism of the pagans of Calama (s. Agostino, Ep. 90-91; 103-104). In that year or the following one he came to Italy as ambassador of the African bishops to the imperial authorities and visited Paolino di Nola (s. Agostino, Ep. 95, 1; 101, 1; 104, 1); he returned there in 410 (Mansi, III, 810). When his episcopal see was invaded by the Vandals in 428, he took refuge in besieged Hippo, where he witnessed the death of Agostino and remained until the end of the siege (Vita Aug., 28-29; 31). He had to return to Calama in 435; in 437 he was expelled, together with other bishops, by Genseric, who wished to impose Arianism in his domains (Prospero, Chron., in MGH, Auct. ant., I, p. 475).
P. is known above all for the biography of s. Agostino, which he most probably wrote between 432 and 437. The biographer’s relations with Agostino, the tone of candid simplicity, the author’s character, and the complete agreement with the other sources attest to the reliability of this work, which is of considerable interest for knowledge of Agostino’s milieu and of the judgment formed of him by those close to him. As a literary work it is modest, the product of a man of mediocre education; its language here and there betrays the influence of Vulgar Latin. P. also left a list (Indiculus) of Agostino’s works, of exceptional documentary value.