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E00119: Optatus, bishop of Milevis (North Africa), writing in Latin in Africa c. 364/384, states that a rich Carthaginian woman in c. AD 300 used to kiss a bone of a supposed martyr before receiving the Eucharist. From Optatus' polemical treatise Against Parmenianus.
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posted on 2014-10-31, 00:00 authored by robertOptatus of Milevis, Against Parmenianus 1.16.1
Hoc apud Carthaginem post ordinationem Caeciliani factum esse nemo qui nesciat, per Lucillam scilicet, nescio quam feminam factiosam quae ante concussam persecutionis turbinibus pacem, dum adhuc in tranquillo esset ecclesia, cum correptionem archidiaconi Caeciliani ferre non posset, quae ante spiritalem cibum et potum os nescio cuius martyris, si tamen martyris, libare dicebatur, et cum praeponeret calici salutari os nescio cuius hominis mortui, et si martyris sed necdum uindicati, correpta cum confusione irata discessit
'No-one is unaware that this took place in Carthage after the ordination of Caecilian, and indeed through some factious woman or other called Lucilla, who, while the Church was still tranquil and the peace had not yet been shattered by the whirlwinds of persecution, was unable to bear the rebuke of the archdeacon Caecilian. She was said to kiss the bone of some martyr or other – if, that is, he was a martyr – before the spiritual food and drink, and, since she preferred to the saving cup the bone of some dead man, who if he was a martyr had not yet been confirmed as one, she was rebuked, and went away in angry humiliation.'
Text: Labrousse 1995. Translation: Edwards 1997, 15-16.
Hoc apud Carthaginem post ordinationem Caeciliani factum esse nemo qui nesciat, per Lucillam scilicet, nescio quam feminam factiosam quae ante concussam persecutionis turbinibus pacem, dum adhuc in tranquillo esset ecclesia, cum correptionem archidiaconi Caeciliani ferre non posset, quae ante spiritalem cibum et potum os nescio cuius martyris, si tamen martyris, libare dicebatur, et cum praeponeret calici salutari os nescio cuius hominis mortui, et si martyris sed necdum uindicati, correpta cum confusione irata discessit
'No-one is unaware that this took place in Carthage after the ordination of Caecilian, and indeed through some factious woman or other called Lucilla, who, while the Church was still tranquil and the peace had not yet been shattered by the whirlwinds of persecution, was unable to bear the rebuke of the archdeacon Caecilian. She was said to kiss the bone of some martyr or other – if, that is, he was a martyr – before the spiritual food and drink, and, since she preferred to the saving cup the bone of some dead man, who if he was a martyr had not yet been confirmed as one, she was rebuked, and went away in angry humiliation.'
Text: Labrousse 1995. Translation: Edwards 1997, 15-16.
History
Evidence ID
E00119Saint Name
Anonymous Martyrs : S00060Related Saint Records
Type of Evidence
Literary - OtherLanguage
- Latin