St Cyprian
| Cyprian | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Carthage | |
 |
|
| See | Carthage |
| Appointed | 248 or 249 AD |
| Term ended | September 14, 258 AD |
| Predecessor | Donatus I |
| Successor | Carpophorus |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 210 AD Carthage (present-day Tunisia) |
| Died | September 14, 258 AD Carthage (present-day Tunisia) |
| Sainthood | |
| Feast day | 16 September (Roman Catholic Church) and (Lutheran) |
| Venerated in |
Eastern Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church |
| Title as Saint | Bishop and martyr |
Cyprian (Latin: Thaschus Cæcilius Cyprianus; c. 200 – September 14, 258 AD) was bishop of Carthage and a notable Early Christian writer, many of whose Latin works are extant. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education. Soon after converting to Christianity, he became a bishop in 249. A controversial figure during his lifetime, his strong pastoral skills, firm conduct during the Novatianist heresy and outbreak of the plague, and eventual martyrdom at Carthage vindicated his reputation and proved his sanctity in the eyes of the Church. His skillful Latin rhetoric led to his being considered the pre-eminent Latin writer of Western Christianity until Jerome and Augustine. The Plague of Cyprian is named after him, owing to his description of it.
Cyprian was born into a rich, pagan, Carthage family sometime during the early third century. His original name was Thascius; he took the additional name Caecilius in memory of the priest to whom he owed his conversion. Before his conversion, he was a leading member of a legal fraternity in Carthage, an orator, a "pleader in the courts", and a teacher of rhetoric. After a "dissipated youth", Cyprian was baptised when he was thirty-five years old, c. 245 AD. After his baptism, he gave away a portion of his wealth to the poor of Carthage, as befitted a man of his status.
In the early days of his conversion he wrote an Epistola ad Donatum de gratia Dei and the Testimoniorum Libri III that adhere closely to the models of Tertullian, who influenced his style and thinking. Cyprian described his own conversion and baptism in the following words:
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