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“Vetus Superstitio et Nova Religio” the Problem of Refrigerium in the Ancient Church of North Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 August 2011

Johannes Quasten
Johannes Quasten
Affiliation:
Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C.
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Extract

The history of the Church in North Africa, so far at least as the sources are concerned, begins for us in the year 180, and it begins with martyrdoms. At Carthage on July 17, Namphano of Madaura, called “Protomartyr” by Augustine, Miggin, Sanam, and six other Christians from Scili in Numidia were sentenced to death by the proconsul Saturninus and beheaded. The official record of their trial has been preserved to us in Greek and Latin and constitutes the oldest document in Africa's Church History.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , October 1940 , pp. 253 - 266
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1940

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References

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11 Augustinus, Sermo 260 (PL, 38, 1201).

12 Augustinus, Sermo 356, 10 (PL, 39, 1578).

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14 Augustinus, Sermo 273, 7 (PL, 38, 1251).

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16 Augustinus, Sermo 319, 8 (PL, 38, 1442): Legite quattuor versus, quos in cella scripsimus, legite, tenete, in corde habete.

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19 Augustine remarks in his Epistula 29, 10, that such excesses either had never existed in Italy or had ceased to exist.

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30 Augustinus, Enarratio, II in Psalm. XXXII, 5 (PL, 36, 279): Nonne id egit institutio in nomine Christi Vigiliarum istarum, ut ex isto loco citharae pellerentur?

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32 CSEL, 34, 54–62.

33 Epistularum, XXII, 4 (CSEL, 34, p. 58, Goldbacher).

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36 Ibid., p. 58.

37 Ibid., p. 57.

38 Ibid., XXII, 5, p. 58.

39 Epistularum, XXII, 6 (CSEL, 34, p. 58, Goldbacher).

40 Constitutiones Apostolorum, 8, 42 (I, p. 552, Funk).

41 Eusebius, Ad coetum Sanctorum (GCS, Eusebius, I, p. 171, Heikel).

42 Cf. the title of the Acts in Codex canonum ecclesiae africanae (Mansi, III, 732): gloriosissimo imperatore Theodosio Augusto III et Abundantio viris clarissimis consulibus VIII Idus Octobris Hippone regio in secretario basilicae pacis.

43 Possidius, Vita Augustini, 7.

44 Mansi, III, 923.

45 Augustinus, Epistularum, XXII, 5 (CSEL, 34, p. 58, Goldbacher).

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49 Augustinus, loc. cit., 7, p. 118.

50 Ibid., 8, p. 119.

51 See Quasten, J., Musik und Gesang in den Kulten der heidnischen Antike und christlichen Frühzeit, Münster, 1930, pp. 232–247: Heidnische Pannychis und christliche Vigil.Google Scholar

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53 Augustinus, loc. cit., 11, p. 121.

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55 Frangip. serm., 8, 5 (Morin, G., Miscellanea Augustiniana, I, Rome, 1980, p. 231).Google Scholar