Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/873

 this occasion Possidius conveyed a letter from Augustine to Paulinus of Nola, but nothing more is known as to the journey of the deputation or their interview, if any, with the emperor, who was then at Ravenna. In 410, however, an edict was issued by Honorius on or about the day on which Rome was taken by Alaric, viz. Aug. 26, to Heraclian, count of Africa, to restrain by penalties all enemies of the Christian faith, and another of a similar nature on Oct. 14, 410, to Marcellinus, the president of the conference in 411 (Aug. Ep. 95, i.; 105, i.; Cod. Theod. xvi. 5, 51, and ii. 3; Baron. 410, 48, 49). At the conference Possidius was one of the seven Catholic managers (Coll. Carth. ap. Mon. Vet. Don. liii. 1; ii. 29; iii. 29, 148, 168, ed. Oberthür). He was with Augustine at Hippo in 412 (Aug. Ep. 137, 20) and in 416 signed at the council of Mileum the letter sent to pope Innocent concerning the Pelagian heresy (Aug. Ep. 176). He also joined with Augustine, Aurelius, Alypius, and Evodius in a letter to the same on the same subject (ib. 181, 182, 183). He was at the meeting or council of bishops held at Caesarea on Sept. 29, 418. St. Augustine mentions that Possidius (c. 425) brought to Calama and placed in a memorial building there some relics of St. Stephen, by which many cures were wrought (Civ. D. xii..8, 312, 20). When the Vandals invaded Africa, he took refuge in Hippo with other bishops, and there attended on St. Augustine in his last illness until his death, 430, in the third month of the siege. He has left a biographical sketch of Augustine, whose unbroken friendship he enjoyed for 40 years, being his faithful ally and devoted admirer. This sketch gives many particulars of great interest as to Augustine's mode of life, and a description, simple but deeply pathetic and impressive, of his last days and death. Though few men's lives are written in their own works more fully than that of Augustine, yet history and the church would have greatly missed the simple, modest, and trustworthy narrative, gathered in great measure from Augustine himself, which Possidius has left us. It was apparent ly published, not immediately after the death of Augustine, but before 439, as he speaks of Carthage and Cirta as still exempt from capture by the barbarians, and in Oct. 439 Carthage was taken by Genseric (Possid. c. 28; Clinton, F. R.). Possidius has also left a list of Augustine's works which, though very full and compiled with great care, does not pretend to be complete and of which some have not yet been discovered. It is given in the last vol. of Migne's ed. of Augustine's works. Prosper relates in his Chronicle that Possidius, together with Novatus, Severianus, and other bishops of less note, resisted the attempts of Genseric to establish Arian doctrine in Africa, and was driven with them from his see 437. Baron. 437, i.; Morcelli, ''Afr. Chr.'' iii. 140; Ceillier, ix. 564; Tillem. vol. xiii. 354.

[H.W.P.]

Posthumianus (2), a friend of Sulpicius Severus of Gaul and Paulinus of Nola, was a native of Aquitania, and made at least two journeys to the East. After the first, when he made the acquaintance of Jerome at Bethlehem, he appears to have visited Campania to see Paulinus (S. Paulini, Epp. 16 in Migne. Patr. Lat. lxi. 227). He sailed from Narbonne in 401 or 402 on his second voyage, of which a full and interesting account is in bk. i. of the Dialogues of Sulpicius Severus (Patr. Lat. xx. 183), in which Posthumianus with Severus and Gallus are the speakers. In five days he reached Carthage, where he visited the tomb of St. Cyprian. Detained between Africa and Cyrene by bad weather, he landed to explore the country, which was inhabited by a very primitive tribe, who, however, were Christians, and was hospitably entertained by a priest. Alexandria was then convulsed by the quarrel between the patriarch Theophilus and the monks about the writings of Origen, and Posthumianus went on by land to Bethlehem, where he spent six months with Jerome, whom he praises highly both for virtue and learning. Posthumianus then returned to Alexandria, and thence went to the Thebaid, spending a year and seven months visiting its monasteries and hermitages. He penetrated into the Sinaitic peninsula, saw the Red Sea, and ascended Mount Sinai. After three years' absence he returned, taking 30 days from Alexandria to Marseilles. He may have been the priest of that name who was present at the death of Paulinus (Uranius, Ep. in Patr. Lat. liii. 861).

[F.D.]

Potimiaena (June 28), one of the most celebrated martyrs at Alexandria in the persecution of Severus, being a virgin distinguished alike for her beauty, chastity, and courage. Eusebius (H. E. vi. 5) relates how she was cruelly tortured, and death finally inflicted by burning pitch poured slowly about her from feet to head. Her story is also given by Palladius (Hist. Laus. 3).

[G.T.S.]

Pothinus (Photinus, Greg. Tur. Fotinus), martyr, first bp. of Lyons in the 2nd cent. Who consecrated him, and in what year, is unknown, though a desire to find an apostolic foundation has suggested to different writers the names of SS. Peter, John, and Polycarp His name suggests that he was a Greek. Of his episcopate we have no record beyond the account of his martyrdom by pagans, with 47 others, contained in the letter of the Christians of Lyons and Vienne to the churches of Asia and Phrygia, which Eusebius preserves. Oppressed with infirmities and more than go years old, he was dragged by soldiers before the tribunal, where he comported himself with dignity. To the question of the president what the Christians' God might be, he replied, "If thou wert worthy, thou shouldst know." The blows and ill-usage of the crowd as he was carried back to prison caused his death two days later. His successor was St. Irenaeus. Eus. H. E. v. x; Greg. Tur. ''Hist. Franc. i. 27; Mirac.'' lib. i.; ''de Glor. Mart. 49, 50 sqq.; Gall. Christ.'' iv. 4.

[S.A.B.]

Praedestinatus. The author known by this name wrote an anonymous work, first pub. in 1643 from a MS. in the Cathedral Library of Rheims by Sirmond, who somewhat inappropriately gave it its title from those against whom it was directed, and several times reprinted, e.g. by Migne (Patr. Lat. liii.), and bk. i. by Oehler in his Corpus Haeresiologicum.

The author complains that men were passing themselves off as of the household of