E01757: Augustine, in his treatise On the Soul and its Origin, refers to the Martyrdom of *Perpetua (martyr of Carthage, S00009), emphasising that it is not a canonical text. Written in Latin in Hippo Regius (North Africa), c. 421.

Augustine, of Hippo, On the Soul and its Origin 1.10/12

De fratre autem sanctae Perpetuae Dinocrate nec scriptura ipsa canonica est nec illa sic scripsit uel quicumque illud scripsit, ut illum puerum, qui septennis mortuus fuit, sine baptismo diceret fuisse defunctum, pro quo illa imminente martyrio creditur exaudita, ut a poenis transferretur ad requiem.

'Concerning Dinocrates, however, the brother of St Perpetua, neither is that writing [which talks of him] canonical ; nor does the saint herself, or whoever it was that wrote the account, say that the boy, who had died at the age of seven years, died without baptism; on his behalf she is believed to have had, when her martyrdom was imminent, her prayers heard that he should be removed from suffering to a place of rest.'

Text: Vrba and Zycha 1913, 312. Translation: Holmes et al. 1887.