ON SAINT PONTIUS THE DEACON, AT CARTHAGE IN AFRICA
AFTER THE YEAR 260.
Historical Summary.
Pontius, Deacon, at Carthage in Africa (Saint)
[1] The most celebrated Bishop of the Carthaginians, and Doctor of the Catholic Church, and likewise most valiant Martyr, was Cyprian; whose deacon was Saint Pontius, who was both his companion in exile and the herald of his deeds, and who was a Christian even before Cyprian himself (if we correctly understand his writing). For he speaks thus: Saint Pontius, Deacon of Saint Cyprian, "Indeed he also had from among our number the companionship of a righteous man of laudable memory, Caecilius, at that time a presbyter both in age and in honor, who had corrected him from secular error to the knowledge of the true divinity." What does that phrase "from among our number" mean, except "from among the Christians"? This Caecilius is venerated on June 3. When the Bishop was then banished by Aspasius Paternus, the Proconsul, to a place called Curubis, Pontius accompanied him. and companion of his exile; "For on that day," he says, "on which we first remained in the place of exile — for the gracious kindness of his charity had chosen me too among his household companions as a voluntary exile — they wish that they might share also in his martyrdom, would that it had been permitted also at his passion!"
[2] But he was not the only one who wished this; rather the entire congregation of the faithful did so, as he testifies near the end: "O blessed people of the Church," he says, just as the rest of the Christians also, "who suffered together with such a Bishop, both with eyes and with feelings alike, and, what is more, with their voices publicly declared; and who, as they had always heard when he himself was teaching, were crowned with God as judge. For although it could not come to pass, as their common prayers wished, that the whole people should suffer together in the fellowship of equal glory, yet whoever under the eyes of Christ watching, having testified to their desire with their voices, and in the hearing of the Priest, wished to suffer from the heart, sent as it were letters of embassy to God through a fitting witness of their vow." Thus when his passion was completed, it was accomplished that Cyprian, while Cyprian himself listened, who had been an example of all good things, should also be the first in Africa to inaugurate priestly crowns with his blood; because he had also been the first after the Apostles to begin to be such a person. For from the time that the order of the episcopate is reckoned at Carthage, no one, however good and priestly, is recorded to have come to martyrdom; who was the first Bishop-Martyr there: although devotion dedicated to God is always reckoned to consecrated men as equivalent to martyrdom. Yet Cyprian, with the Lord bringing things to completion, advanced even to the perfect crown, so that in the very city in which he had lived so nobly, and in which he had first accomplished many illustrious things, he might first adorn the insignia of heavenly priesthood with glorious blood. at whose victory Pontius rejoices, "What shall I do in this place, between the joy of his passion and the grief of being left behind? My mind is divided into parts, and a double set of emotions burdens my too-narrow breast. Shall I grieve that I was not his companion? But his victory must be celebrated in triumph. Shall I triumph at his victory? But I grieve that I am not his companion. Yet I must confess to you simply, he grieves that he was not struck down with him: what you also know, that I was of this mind. I rejoice exceedingly and more than exceedingly in his glory; but I grieve even more that I was left behind."
[3] This was the zeal of Pontius, this his desire for martyrdom; and in order to arouse the same in others, he says that he could not allow himself to let the passion of so great a Priest and so great a Martyr be passed over in silence, concerning his Acts, since "even without martyrdom he had things from which one might learn; and the deeds he accomplished while he lived were not publicly known." And a little later: "Though studies and good arts may have imbued his devoted breast, yet I pass over those things; for they did not yet pertain to any usefulness except that of the world. After he learned the sacred Scriptures and, the cloud of the world having been dispersed, emerged into the light of spiritual wisdom, if there are any of his deeds at which I was present, if there are any of his earlier works that I have learned of, I shall tell them: which he had both seen, yet asking this indulgence, that whatever I say too little (for I must necessarily say too little) be charged to my ignorance and received from others. rather than be taken as a detraction from his glory." This Pontius, then, the Deacon of Cyprian, as Saint Jerome relates in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 68, enduring exile with him up to the day of his passion, left behind an excellent volume on the life and passion of Cyprian. Honorius of Autun, who flourished more than five hundred years ago, in book 1 of On the Lights of the Church, chapter 68, likewise declares that Pontius left behind an excellent volume on the life and passion of Cyprian. he writes an excellent book, praised by Saint Jerome, Honorius, Usuard, Ado, Notker, and very many ancient Martyrologies, and with them the Roman Martyrology, say the same in nearly these words everywhere: "At Carthage, Saint Pontius, Deacon of Blessed Cyprian the Bishop, who enduring exile with him up to the day of his death, left behind an excellent volume on his life and passion, and always glorifying the Lord in his own sufferings, and in the Martyrologies, merited the crown of life." So much for that, which confers great authority upon the Acts themselves.
[4] These Acts, moreover, survive in manuscript hagiological collections of the highest quality, and about them Baronius writes thus in volume 2 of his Annals, at the year 261, number 39: "The same Acts," he says, "often cited and likewise recited by us above, highly approved by Cardinal Baronius, are equally supported by the testimony of Augustine, who weaves them into his own discourse on the birthday of Saint Cyprian, and confirms them as most faithful; which Paul the Deacon likewise reviewed." But even if no testimonies from others were available, "they themselves vindicate for themselves a certain and genuine trustworthiness by the candor of their every part." So says Cardinal Baronius, whose judgment on similar matters all learned men, especially Catholics, rightly hold in the highest esteem. Our Philippe Labbé holds a similar view about this book of Saint Pontius, in volume 2 of his Dissertation on Ecclesiastical Writers whom Cardinal Bellarmine discussed. For he writes that it is a most genuine little work, and of the first rank among the ancient Acts and by Philippe Labbé, S.J. — or rather Lives and Eulogies — of the early Martyrs. If this Life should come under suspicion to any sensible person, then equally suspect would be any other Acts whatsoever, and the very sermon of Saint Augustine on Cyprian, that treasure of venerable antiquity.
[5] Nicolaus Rigaltius, who in his apparatus to the works of Saint Cyprian published various Acts of his, annotated those which he had received from a manuscript of the monastery of Saint Victor, as follows: "Pontius, out of pious affection toward his Bishop, invented many things with rhetorical liberty. whom however Rigaltius criticizes as largely fabricated, Many others also, each according to his own understanding, added things foreign to the age and foreign to the persons; and some even removed things that were very good. So that now few things remain which we can present as genuine." The same Rigaltius, commenting on Epistle 83 of Cyprian, writes: "The Life of Cyprian, which is said to have been written by his Deacon Pontius, displays the grace of rhetorical diction more than the diligence of historical narration. To such a degree that concerning the deeds of the most holy man, which are contained in his own epistles, or corrupted, he touched upon nothing." And he especially complains that this was omitted, which Cyprian writes in Epistle 83 — that when he had learned (having already returned to his gardens at Curubis) that he was being sought by the grain-officers to be taken to Utica, he hid for a time. This is supposedly the great crime: to have kept silent about a few days' hiding. Yet he adds: "But neither does Augustine mention the grain-officers, having followed certain Martyrologies similar to those Acts." Nor is it sufficiently clear what the Critic chiefly aims at. Is it to assail with his pen and slander a Saint who from all past memory has been honored by the whole Church with prayers and supplications? He says that Pontius invented many things out of pious affection toward his Bishop. I think this Critic was well aware of that Presbyter whom he had read about in his Tertullian — who, having composed certain apocryphal tales under the title of the Journeys of Paul and Thecla, excusing himself by his love for Paul, was deposed from his office; which Saint Jerome also relates in chapter 7 of On Ecclesiastical Writers from the same Tertullian. Rigaltius criticizes him, I do not suspect, however, that his intent was entirely to erase Pontius from the rolls of the saints as convicted of falsehood; although a certain learned man maintains that Rigaltius, out of a perverse zeal for novelty to the detriment of Catholic truth, and perhaps to gratify Rivetus and similar Critics outside the Church, out of a perverse zeal for novelty, had cast doubt on the truth of that work. But the opening words of the Critique are not those of one who doubts, but of one who boldly affirms. "He invented," he says — truly, "out of pious affection toward his Bishop." For what piety can there be in a lie?
[6] Then, as if excusing the author, he asserts that his composition was interpolated: "Many others, each according to his own understanding, added things; and some even removed things that were very good." Did he then himself somewhere see the genuine work of Pontius? If he did, why did he not publish it in that form? If he did not, why cannot those things be considered to have been written by the author himself — whom he says used rhetorical liberty in composing that work — just as well as to have been added by interpolators? rashly indeed. As for his claim that what was added is "foreign to the age and foreign to the persons" — does he then think that he alone understands what befits the persons in question, and that so many most wise men who praised those Acts understood nothing? I grant that through his long study of Tertullian, Cyprian, and other African writers, he could have grasped the style of that age and to some extent the customs of the Africans; but no one else equally well, or perhaps better? And yet he should have produced these things "foreign to the age and to the persons," and confirmed that they were truly foreign. For as to what he judges to have been "very good things removed," he gives the reason elsewhere, as we have already reported: because he touched upon nothing of those things which are contained in Cyprian's own epistles, and arrogantly. and he proves it by the fact that when Cyprian had learned that he was being sought by the grain-officers to be taken to Utica, he hid for a time so as not to be snatched away from his Carthaginians, in whose sight he desired to undergo martyrdom.
he could have grasped the style of that age, and to some extent the customs of the Africans; but no one else equally well, or perhaps better? And yet he should have produced these things, "foreign to the age and to the persons," and confirmed that they were truly foreign. For as to what he judges to have been "very good things removed," he gives the reason elsewhere, as we have already reported: because he touched upon nothing of those things which are contained in Cyprian's own epistles, and arrogantly. and he proves it by the fact that when Cyprian had learned that he was being sought by the grain-officers to be taken to Utica, he hid for a time so as not to be snatched away from his Carthaginians, in whose sight he desired to undergo martyrdom.
[7] Why Pontius omitted that brief period of withdrawal — whether through forgetfulness, or ignorance (the fault of which he acknowledges above in number 3 is by no means foreign to him), or by deliberate design, or for some other reason — is hidden from us. Meanwhile (as he writes quite openly) many men of the most distinguished and illustrious rank and blood, and also noble by worldly standing, came together; Mention here of withdrawal offered by various persons: who, on account of their longstanding friendship with him, kept urging him to withdraw, and, lest bare persuasion be insufficient, even offered him places to which he might retire. But he by no means wished to avoid the danger of death and, that is, the occasion of triumph; rather, he was unwilling to be drawn away from that arena which, as he firmly believed, had been divinely appointed for him. Moreover, the same Rigaltius considers that Cyprian himself had prudently not said, in the cited epistle, where he had withdrawn; for it would not then have been safe for him. But concerning Pontius he judges thus: "After the contest and death, which he then entered upon for a brief time, Pontius the Deacon, who was also his companion and intimate in exile, when he transmitted the Life of his Bishop to posterity — who would think that he did this so meagerly and sparingly as not to indicate to what place he had withdrawn on the advice of his dearest friends?" To what do these remarks tend? Is it to prove once again that this entire work is supposititious? Or that someone else removed this from Pontius's narrative? To whose advantage would that have been? Or (which he does not conceal) is it to undermine the trustworthiness or diligence of the writer? If he believed him to be a Saint, he assailed him thus with little reverence.
[8] Finally he acknowledges that Augustine himself also did not mention the grain-officers, having followed certain Martyrologies. If in the Passionals or Martyrologies, even before Augustine — who was born approximately a hundred years after Cyprian's martyrdom — those details were already absent from these Acts, then one may surely suspect that they were never described in them. it neither ought to have been, nor could it have been, set forth: Nor is it uncommon in all history for certain events or circumstances to be omitted by some writers that are recorded by others. As for Pontius, had he indicated in what retreat Cyprian had hidden, I would judge that he would by no means have acted prudently; since, whether the same persecution was still raging, or was repeatedly flaring up again under other emperors or prefects, those hiding places ought not to have become publicly known, nor in whose estates they had been, nor by whom he had been led to them — lest an accusation of treason be brought against this person, whether Christian or Gentile, who had withdrawn from the Proconsul's authority an enemy of the gods and of the Caesars, as they then perversely judged.
[9] How long Pontius survived after the martyrdom of Saint Cyprian, we nowhere read, When or how Pontius died is unknown: nor by what kind of death he ended his life. No one, as far as we recall, records that he was perfected by martyrdom. For it is laughable what Jacobus Philippus Bergomensis writes in his Supplement to the Chronicles, book 8, at the year 259, in this manner: "Pontius, however, the Presbyter of this same Cyprian, a man sufficiently learned and excellently instructed in divine declamations, coming to Gaul in this storm after the death of Cyprian, at the city of Cimiez obtained the palm of martyrdom. For he himself by his preaching and effort had converted the two Emperors Philip to Christ; and among other things, as stated above, distinct from Saint Pontius the Martyr who converted the Emperors Philip, he left behind an excellent volume on the life and passion of his Master and Father Cyprian. And since he was held to be a Saint, his feast is celebrated on the second of the Ides of May." In this narrative, this Pontius the Deacon is confused with another Pontius the Martyr, whose memory is observed on May 14.