The Presbyters Project

Letter 20*

3. ...pertractato cum fratribus consilio uisum mihi est, ut in quodam Fussalensi castello quod Hipponiensi cathedrae subiacebat aliquis ordinaretur episcopus, ad quem cura regionis illius pertineret. Misi ad primae sedis episcopum; uenire dignatus est; ad horam nos deseruit presbyter quem mihi habere paratum uidebar. [...]

(ed. Divjak 1981: 95)

Letter 20*

3. [...] I decided, after having consulted with the brothers, that in a certain town called Fussala, which is subject to the see of Hippo, someone should be ordained as bishop, to whom the care of the region would fall. I sent a request to the bishop of the primatial see. He agreed to come. At the last moment the presbyter whom I thought I had ready disappeared.

(trans. R. Teske, slightly altered)

Discussion:

Fussala used to be Donatist, so the date of the event is between 411 (the conference of Carthage which forced the Donatists into union) and 419 (the recourse of Antoninus, who was eventually ordained as the bishop of Fussala, to Rome). Augustine repeats the same information in Letter 209,3 (to Pope Celestine).

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Hippo Regius
Fussala

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 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:

J. Divjak ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini Epistolae ex duobus codicibus nuper in lucem prolatae, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, v. 88, Wien, 1981.

J. Divjak ed., Saint Augustin. Lettres 1*-29*, Bibliothèque Augustinienne 46B. Paris 1987.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, Letters 211–270, 1*–29*, trans. R. Teske. New York 2005.

Categories:

Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Act of ordination

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER399, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=399