EARLY CHRISTIAN

BIOGRAPHIES

LIVES OF

St. Cyprian, by Pontius; St. Ambrose, by Paulinus; St. Augustine, by Possidius; St. Anthony, by St. Athanasius; St. Paul the First Hermit, St. Hilarion, and Malchus, by St. Jerome; St. Epiphanius, by Ennodius; with a Sermon on the Life of St. Honoratus, by St. Hilary.

Translated by

Roy J. Deferrari, John A. Lacy, Sister Mary Magdeleine Müller, O.S.F., Sister Mary Emily Keenan, S.C.N., Sister Marie Liguori Ewald, I.H.M., and Sister Genevieve Marie Cook, R.S.M.

Edited by

roy j. deferrari

the catholic university of america press

Washington, D.C.

Nihil Obstat:

JOHN M. A. FEARNS, S.T.D.

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur:

X FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN

Archbishop of New York

May 28, 1952

The Nihil obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication, is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 64-19949

Copyright © 1952, by

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, INC.

All rights reserved

Second Printing 1964

Third Printing 1981

First short-run reprint 2001

ISBN 0-8132-1309-6 (pbk)

THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

A NEW TRANSLATION

VOLUME 15

EDITORIAL BOARD

Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M.

Quincy College

Editorial Director

Robert P. Russell, O.S.A.	Thomas P. Halton
Villanova University	The Catholic University of America
Robert Sider	Sister M. Josephine Brennan, I.H.M.
Dickinson College	Marywood College

Richard Talaska

Editorial Assistant

FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS

Ludwig Schopp, Roy. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles

contents

THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY

PONTIUS

Introduction

Life of St. Cyprian

PAULINUS

Introduction

Life of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

POSSIDIUS

Introduction

Life of St. Augustine

ST. ATHANASIUS

Introduction

Life of St. Anthony

ST. JEROME

Life of St. Paul, the First Hermit

Life of St. Hilarion

Life of Malchus, the Captive Monk

ENNODIUS

Introduction

Life of St. Epiphanius

ST. HILARY

Introduction

A Sermon on the Life of St. Honoratus

INDEX

the beginnings of christian biography

Christian biography, like most forms of Christian literature, went to the Classical Period of antiquity for its models. On the Latin side, the best from the point of view of modern literary criticism is probably Tacitus’ Life of Agricola, but even this leaves much to be desired. It resembles the Lives of Plutarch in its general plan and in the topics emphasized, showing a weakness for the picturesque and the dramatic and a tendency to moralize. On the Latin side, also, the Lives of Suetonius have been popular down the ages to our own time, but they are quite uncritical, seeking to entertain by anecdotes of doubtful authenticity. With such works as models, we probably expect too much when we hold Christian biography up to the strictly scientific interpretation of the term as established by modern literary critics.

Most of the ‘Lives’ of the early ...