Letter from a council of African bishops at Carthage in 535, to Pope John II in Rome (Collectio Avellana 85), stating that the basilica of Faustus in Carthage (central North Africa) contains the bodies of many martyrs, whose intercession is aiding the bishops in council. Written in Latin.
E07071
Documentary texts - Letter
Collectio Avellana 85 (Council of Carthage to Pope John II; JH 1748)
The bishops begin by stating that this was the first time Catholic bishops had been able to meet freely in Carthage after a hundred years of violent captivity (uiolenta captiuitas per annos centum) under the Arian Vandal kings, and that they were meeting in a basilica from which their forefathers had been expelled by 'the tyrant Huneric' (Vandal king 477-484). They go on:
Haec basilica Fausti apud nos dicitur, multis martyrum corporibus insignita, quorum deus exaudiuit orationes, ut daret huius rei fiduciam sacerdotibus.
'Among us this is called the Basilica of Faustus, famous for [having] many bodies of the martyrs, whose prayers God has heard, that he should rely in this matter on the bishops.'
The letter goes on deal with the issue of former Arians who wish to become Catholic priests.
Text: Günther 1895, 328.
Translation and summary: David Lambert.
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Cult building - independent (church)
Activities accompanying CultMeetings and gatherings of the clergy
Source
The Collectio Avellana is a collection of 244 letters and other documents dating from 367 to 553, mostly correspondence between the papacy and the imperial authorities in Italy or in Constantinople. The date of its compilation is uncertain, but has most frequently been placed soon after 553.This letter was issued by Bishop Reparatus of Carthage and his colleagues, gathered in council in Carthage in the basilica of Faustus in 535, shortly after the reconquest of Africa by the Byzantines and the fall of the Vandal kingdom. The council was convened to discuss the question of former Arians, and especially former Arian priests. The emperor Justinian advocated an essentially lenient solution, allowing them to remain in office if they espoused Catholic doctrine, but this displeased the Catholic clergy, and they therefore decided to appeal to the Pope.
Discussion
Faustus was the founder of the basilica, not a saint.Bibliography
Edition:Günther, O. (ed.), Collectio Avellana. 2 vols (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35/1-2; Vienna, 1895-1898).
Further reading:
Adamiak, S., Carthage, Constantinople and Rome: Imperial and Papal Interventions in the Life of the Church in Byzantine Africa (533-698) (Rome: Gregorian & Biblical Press, 2016).
D. Lambert, S. Adamiak
09/09/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
D. Lambert, S. Adamiak, Cult of Saints, E07071 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07071