Listed 6 sub titles with search on: Religious figures biography for wider area of: "SARDINIA Island ITALY" .
d.c. 303, feastday: August 21 (Catholic). Martyr of Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, with Camerinus and Cisellus. They were beheaded. Luxorius was a soldier. Camerinus and Cisellus were newly baptized youths.
d.c. 304, feastday: February 12 (Catholic). Martyred deacon of Sardinia. His relics were translated to Benevento, Italy, around 785. He suffered under Emperor Diocletian.
CAGLIARI (Town) SARDINIA
Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, hence surnamed Calaritanus, first appears in ecclesiastical
history as joint legate with Eusebius of Vercelli from pope Liberius to the council
of Milan (A. D. 354), where, along with his colleague, he displayed such determined
firmness in withstanding the demands of the Arian emperor, that he was first cast
into prison, and then transported from place to place as an exile. every where
enduring hardships and cruelty. While residing at Eleutheropolis in Syria he composed
in vigorous but coarse and unpolished style his chief work, entitled Ad Constanetium
Augustum pro Saneto Athanasio Libri II., which, although containing forcible arguments
in favour of the truth, is characterised by such outrageous intemperance of expression,
that many passages bear more resemblance to the ravings of a furious madman than
to the calm reasoning which would become a Christian minister. Constantius, either
in anger or contempt, inquired of Lucifer, through Florentius, the magister officiorum,
whether he was really the author of this invective, but no immediate punishment
appears to have followed the bold acknowledgment, and any scheme of vengeance
which might have been meditated was frustrated by the death of the tyrant. The
violent and ungovernable temper of the Sardinian prelate, who was now restored
to freedom, along with other victims of religious persecution, soon began to introduce
confusion and discord among his own friends. He increased the disorders which
agitated the church at Antioch by interfering in their disputes, and ordaining
Paulinus bishop, in opposition to Meletius; and when his proceedings were censured
by Eusebius, who had been despatched to Antioch by the Alexandrian synod to quell
these tumults, he did not hesitate to anathematise his old tried friend, so long
the companion of his dangers and misfortunes. Finding that his extreme opinions
received no sanction from the ecclesiastical authorities either in the East or
West, and that he was disclaimed even by Athanasius, who at one time had spoken
of his writings in terms of the warmest admiration, he retired to his native island,
and there founded the small sect of the Luciferiani. The distinguishing tenet
of these schismatics was, that no Arian bishop, and no bishop who had in any measure
yielded to the Arians, even although he repented and confessed his errors, could
enter the bosom of the church without forfeiting his ecclesiastical rank, and
that all bishops and others who admitted the claims of such persons to a full
restoration of their privileges became themselves tainted and outcasts -- a doctrine
which, had it been acknowledged at this period in its full extent, would have
had the effect of excommunicating nearly the whole Christian world. Lucifer died
during the reign of Valentinian, pro-bably about A. D. 370.
The works of this fierce polemic, which, although all alike deformed
by the same unseemly harshness and passion, are extremely valuable, on account
of the numerous quotations from Scripture every where introduced, may be arranged
in the following order:
I. Epistola ad Eusebium, written in the month of March or April, 355.
II. De non conveniendo cum Haereticis, written between 356 and 358, at Germanica,
while suffering under the persecution of Eudoxius, the Arian. bishop of that place.
III. De Regibus Apostolicis, written at Eleutheropolis in 358. IV. Ad Constantium
Augustuum pro Sanclo Athanasio, Libri II., written at the same place, about 360.
V. De non parcendo in Deum delinquentibus, written about the same time with the
preceding. VI. Moriendum pro Filio Dei, written about the beginning of 361, on
being interrogated respecting the authorship of the tract Ad Conestantium. VII.
Epistola ad Florentium Magistirum Officiorum, written at the same time with the
preceding. An Epistola ad Catholicos, written while imprisoned at Milan, is lost.
The Editio Princeps of the works of Lucifer appeared at Paris, 8vo.
1568, superintended by Joannes Tillius, bishop of Meaux (Meldensis), and dedicated
to pope Pius the Fifth. Although in many respects very imperfect, it was reprinted
without alteration in the Magna Bibliotheca Patrum, fol. Colon. 1618, vol. iv.
p. 121, and also in the Paris collection. But even these are superior to the text
exhibited in the Biblioth. Patrum Max. fol. Lugdun. 1687, vol. iv. p. 181, since
here we find not only many changes introduced without MS. authority, but all the
scriptural quotations accommodated to the vulgate version. Much better than any
of the preceding is the edition contained in the Bibliotheca Patrum of Galland,
vol. vi. p. 115 (fol. Venet. 1770), but by far the best is that published by the
brothers Coleti (fol. Venet. 1778), whose labours presented this father for the
first time in a satisfactory form. (Hieronym. de Viris III. 95, Advers. Luciferian.
Dial.; Rufin. H. E. i. 30; Sulp. Sever. H. S. ii. 48; Socrat. H. E. iii. 5; Sozomen.
H. E. v. 12; Theodoret. H. E. iii. 4; Schenemann, Biblioth. Patr. Lat. i. Β§ 8,
where very full information concerning the different editions will be found.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SARDINIA (Island) ITALY
Eusebius Vercellensis, an active champion of orthodoxy during the troubles which agitated the church
in the middle of the fourth century, was a native of Sardinia, passed his early
life as an ecclesiastical reader at Rome, and in A. D. 340 was, by Pope Julius,
ordained bishop of Vercelli, where, although an utter stranger, he in a very brief
space acquired the love and respect of all by the simplicity of his life, and
by the interest Which he manifested in the spiritual welfare of his flock and
his clergy. The latter he was wont to assemble in his house and retain for long
periods, living with them in common, and stimulating them by his example to acts
of devotion and self-denial. This is said to be the first instance upon record
of an attempt to combine the duties of an active priesthood with monastic observances,
and is belived to have led the way to the institution of regular canons, and to
have suggested many of the principles upon which cathedral establishments were
formed and regulated. Eusebius, in A. D. 354, at the request of Liberius, undertook,
in company with Lucifer of Cagliari and the deacon Hilarius, an embassy to Constantius,
by whom the persecution of Athanasius had been sanctioned. In consequence of their
urgent representations the council of Milan was summoned the following year, where
Eusebius pleaded the cause of the true faith with so much freedom and energy,
that the Arian emperor, we are told, in a transport of rage drew his sword upon
the orator, whom he banished on the spot to Scythopolis, a city in the Decapolis
of Syria. From thence he was transported into Cappadocia, and afterwards to the
Thebaid, where he remained until restored to liberty by the edict of Julian, published
in A. D. 362, pronouncing the recall of the exiled prelates. Repairing to Alexandria,
in compliance with the request of Athanasius, he was present at the great council
(of 362), and his name is appended to the proceedings, being the only signature
expressed in Latin characters. From Alexandria, Eusebius proceeded to Antioch,
where he attempted in vain to heal the dissensions excited by the election of
Paulinus; and after visiting many churches in the East, returned at length to
his own diocese, where he died, according to St. Jerome, in A. D. 370.
We possess three Epistolae of this father:
1. Ad Constantium Augustum.
2. Ad presbyteros et plebes Italiae, written on the occasion of his banishment,
to which is attached Libellus facti, a sort of protest against the violent conduct
of the Arian bishop Patrophilus, who was in some sort his jailor during his residence
at Scythopolis.
3. Ad Gregorium Episc. Hisp., found among the fragments of Hilarius (xi. § 5).
He executed also a translation of the commentary drawn up by his namesake, Eusebius
of Caesareia, on the Psalms; and an edition of the Evangelists, from a copy said
to be transcribed by his own hand, preserved at Vercelli, was published at Milan,
1748, by J. A. Irico.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hilarius, surnamed Diaconus, a native of Sardinia, a deacon of the church at Rome in the
middle of the fourth century, and hence designated Hilarius Diaconus, to distinguish
him from others of the same name, was deputed by Pope Liberius, along with Lucifer
of Cagliari, Eusebius of Vercclli, and Pancratius, to plead the cause of the orthodox
faith before Constantius at the council of Milan. Upon this occasion he defended
the principles of Athanasius with so much offensive boldness, that he was scourged
by order of the emperor, and condemned to banishment, along with his companions.
Of his subsequent history we know little, except that he adopted the violent opinions
of Lucifer to their full extent, maintaining that not only Arians, but all who
had held any intercourse with them, as well as heretics of every description,
must, even after an acknowledgment of error, be re-baptized before they could
be admitted into the communion of the Catholic church, and from this doctrine
he was sarcastically styled by Jerome a second Deucalion.
Two treatises are sometimes ascribed to this Hilarius, both of very
doubtful authenticity. One of these, Commentarius in Epistolas Pauli, has frequently
been published along with the writings of Ambrosius; the other, Quaestiones Veteris
et Novi Testamenti, among the works of Augustin.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Jan 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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