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The Acta Martyrum Scillitanorum, also known as Passio Martyrum Scillitanorum, is the earliest extant non-biblical Christian Latin text, composed in Carthage and dating from the early 2nd century CE.The short text (counting merely 360 words) records the interrogation by the Roman proconsul Saturninus of a group of Christians from the African town of Scilli, apparently accused of adhering to the Christian religion. It ends with the formal death sentence as pronounced by the proconsul, a public announcement of this death sentence, and a succinct description of the actual execution.Bei…

Ausonius (c. 310–c. 395 CE) was a Roman poet and professor of rhetoric from Burdigala (modern Bordeaux in France). His learned works, firmly rooted in pagan Greco-Roman culture, also show various traces of Christian concepts. However, there is discussion about the extent and depth of his Christian beliefs. By all means, Ausonius is a representative of the Roman cultural elite in the age between the Edict of Milan (313 CE) and the reign of Theodosius I (379–395 CE).BiographyAusonius’ life is relatively well known, mostly on account of his works, of which many have been t…

Felicity (Felicitas; c. 181–203 CE) was a young martyr (Martyrs) of the early North African church. She died in Carthage on Mar 7, 203 CE, along with a group of other young Christians, the most famous of whom was Perpetua. Felicity’s memory was recorded in the Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis ( Passion of Perpetua and Felicity), one of the earliest Christian texts written in Latin (see Amat, 1996; Heffernan, 2012).Name and LifeThe name Felicitas was fairly common in Roman Africa, both for freeborn women and for slaves (see Bremmer, 2012, 36). In later times, Chri…