QUIRINUS (Κυρίνιος, Κυρίνιος), PUBLIUS SULPICIUS. – Imperial legate in Syria in the time of Augustus, also known from Lk 2:2: “this census (ordered by Augustus) [which was the] first, took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.” He came from a modest family of Lanuvium and died in Rome in AD 21.
His military qualities (Tacitus, Ann., III, 48), above all, opened the way to the consulship for him in 742 AUC (= 12 BC). Strabo (XII, 6, 3) recalls him in connection with the king Amyntas of Galatia, killed by the Homonadensians, who were then subdued by Quirinius, who for this reason obtained the triumphal ornaments (Tacitus, loc. cit.). Flavius Josephus (Antiq. Iud., XIII, 13, 5; XVIII, 1, 1; 2, 1; Bell. Iud., II, 8, 1) specifies that Quirinius was legate in Syria after the deposition of Archelaus, from 6 to 12 AD; and that he conducted a census 37 years after the Battle of Actium, i.e., in 759 AUC (= 6 AD).
Quirinius is connected with evangelical chronology by reason of the census mentioned by St Luke (2:2) as the date of the birth of Jesus. But this synchronistic indication is of little value, owing to the uncertainty surrounding the circumstances of the census; so much so that it is rather from the approximate data regarding the birth of Christ that one sets out to establish the time of the census. Indeed, the legation during which Quirinius conducted the census of Palestine (cf. Acts 5:37) is too late (AD 6), since Jesus was undoubtedly born several years before the death of Herod the Great (750 AUC).
This does not mean that one can deny the historical value of the notice transmitted by Lk 2:2. It is very probable, in fact, that there was a census of the whole Empire, including the allied or client kingdoms: in order to compile the Breviarium or Rationes Imperii, Augustus certainly needed, in addition to the censuses of Roman citizens conducted in the years 726, 746, and 767 AUC, other operations of the same kind; and there is positive evidence of censuses conducted in Gaul, Spain, and Egypt. Nor does the fact that Jewish customs were followed (Lk 2:3) in a census imposed by the Romans create serious difficulty; nor that such a census was conducted in the kingdom of Herod the Great, since there are other examples of censuses conducted in the territory of allied kings; all the more so since, in the last years of his reign, Herod no longer enjoyed Augustus’ trust. The question here is solely whether a census can be attributed to Quirinius, in his capacity as legate of Syria, which, in order not to conflict with the certain data of the chronology of Jesus’ life, must have taken place before 749 AUC.
It seems necessary to suppose that Quirinius at that time had authority over Syria only by reason of the war against the Homonadensians, which gave him the right to levy soldiers from that province. It was in fact Sanius Saturninus who carried out the census, as Tertullian explicitly affirms (Adv. Marc., IV, 19), but on Quirinius’ orders. The fact of a dual authority in the province (civil and military government) is not unique; and it is very probable in the present case, given that the campaign against the Homonadensians would have long absorbed the legate’s activity, preventing him from attending to the province. In this way one also avoids supposing for Quirinius a fact more unique than rare: the assignment of a province twice to the same governor by the same emperor.
In conclusion: the edict of Augustus for a census of the whole world would be nothing other than the will expressed by him on various occasions to take stock of all his subjects, all the resources, and all the property of the Empire and of the “allied” kingdoms, or even the order issued by a representative of imperial power. Quirinius is named in Lk 2:2 by reason of the special power with which he was invested, so that the propraetorian legate of Syria, probably Sentius Saturninus, did no more than execute his will.
QUIRINUS, Saint, Martyr
Altar of the “Platonic” style built above the tomb of St Quirinus, with Cosmatesque and Cardinal Scipione Borghese restorations (early 17th century) – Rome, Cemetery of St Sebastian.