{{Short description|Bischop of Calama and friend of Augustine}} {{Infobox saint |honorific_prefix = [[Saint]] |name = Possidius |birth_date = |death_date = c. 437 |feast_day = May 16 |venerated_in= [[Catholic Church]] |image = |imagesize = |caption = |birth_place= Northern Africa |death_place= [[Apulia]] |titles = Bishop of Calama |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= August 19, 1672 |canonized_place= |canonized_by= [[Pope Clement X]] |attributes= |patronage= |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= |prayer= }}

'''Possidius''' (5th century) was a friend of [[Augustine of Hippo]] who wrote a biography and an ''indiculus'' or list of his works. He was bishop of [[Calama (Numidia)|Calama]] in the [[Roman province]] of [[Numidia]].

==Biography== {{Augustine}} [[File:GM Guelma Theatre romain01.jpg|thumb|200px|left|Possidius was bishop of Calama, Numidia]] The dates of his birth and death are unknown. In the ''Vita S. Augustini'' (xxxi), after describing the death of Augustine, Possidius speaks of his unbroken friendship with him for forty years. He also, speaking of himself in the third person, lets it be known that he was one of the clergy of Augustine's monastery.<ref name=Bacchus>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12318a.htm Bacchus, Francis Joseph. "St. Possidius." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 10 January 2020{{PD-notice}}</ref>

The date of his promotion to the episcopate was, according to [[Tillemont]], about 397. He followed Augustine's example and established a monastery at Calama, an area much disturbed by factions. At a council held at [[Carthage]], Possidius challenged Crispinus, the [[Donatist]] Bishop of Calama, to a public discussion which the latter refused. In 404 a party of Donatists dragged Possidius out of his house, beat him, and threatened his life. Donatist extremists set fire to a house where Possidius was visiting.<ref name=midw>[https://www.midwestaugustinians.org/st-possidius "St. Possidius", Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel of the Augustinian Order/ Midwest Augustines]</ref> Legal proceedings were instituted against Crispinus, the bishop, who refused to punish the [[presbyter]] responsible. Crispinus was condemned for [[heresy]] and was heavily fined, but at the intercession of Possidius the fine was not exacted.

In 407, Possidius served, with Augustine and five other bishops, on a committee appointed to adjudicate upon some ecclesiastical matter, the particulars of which are not known. In 408 he nearly lost his life in a [[riot]] stirred up by the pagans at Calama (Augustine, "Epp.", xc, xci, xciii). In 409 he was one of four bishops deputed to go to Italy to obtain the protection of the emperor against the Donatists. He was one of the seven bishops chosen to represent the Catholic party at the ''collatio'' of 411.<ref name=Bacchus/>

In 416 he assisted at the [[Council of Milevum]], where fifty-nine Numidian bishops addressed a synodal letter to Innocent I, asking him to take action against [[Pelagianism]]. He joined with Augustine and three other bishops in a further letter to Innocent on the same subject, and was at the conference between Augustine and the Donatist Emeritus. When the Germanic [[Vandals]] invaded Africa, he fled to Hippo and was present at the death of Augustine (430).<ref>[https://catholicsaints.info/butlers-lives-of-the-saints-saint-possidius-bishop-and-confessor/ Butler, Alban. “Saint Possidius, Bishop and Confessor”. ''Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Principal Saints'', 1866. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 May 2012]{{PD-notice}}</ref>

In 437, according to [[Prosper of Aquitaine|Prosper]], who, in his ''Chronicle'', records that Possidius and two other bishops were persecuted and expelled from their sees by the [[Vandals|Vandal]] king, [[Gaiseric]], who was an [[Arianism|Arian]].<ref name=midw/> Possidius died in [[Apulia]]<ref>[https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-possidius/ Monks of Ramsgate. “Possidius”. ''Book of Saints'', 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 9 December 2016]{{PD-notice}}</ref> shortly thereafter.

==Works== *His ''Vita S. Augustini'', composed before the [[Battle of Carthage (439)|capture]] of [[Carthage]] (439), is included in all editions of the works of Augustine, and also printed in [[Hurter]]'s "Opusc. SS. Patr.". *His ''indiculus'' ('small index') will be found in the last volume of Migne's edition of the works of Augustine and in the tenth volume of the Benedictine edition.

==Canonization== [[Pope Clement X]] confirmed devotion to Possidius on August 19, 1672, along with his contemporary [[Alypius of Thagaste]], another North African bishop who was a friend of Saint Augustine.<ref>[https://www.augustinian.org/saints-1/may-16 Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova. “May 16 - Saints Alypius and Possidius”. augustinian.org. Accessed 12 Aug 2020]</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{Catholic|wstitle=St. Possidius}}

==Sources== * {{cite book |author=Weiskotten, Herbert T. |title=The Life of Saint Augustine: A Translation of the Sancti Augustini Vita by Possidius, Bishop of Calama |publisher= Evolution Publishing, Merchantville NJ, U.S.A.|year=2008}} {{ISBN|1-889758-90-6}} {{ISBN|9781889758909}} * {{cite book |author=Kuhn, Moritz |title=Philologischer Kommentar zur Vita Augustini des Possidius von Calama. [Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, Ergänzungsband Kleine Reihe 17] (Latin text, German translation, philological commentary) |publisher=Aschendorff, Münster, Germany|year=2023}} {{ISBN|978-3-402-10929-8}}

{{Portal|Saints}}

==External links== *[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/possidius_life_of_augustine_02_text.htm English translation of the "Life of St. Augustine"] at the [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers Tertullian Project] *[https://archive.org/details/sanctiaugustiniv00possrich Critical Latin text and English translation of the "Life of St. Augustine"] at Archive.org

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Possidius}} [[Category:Christian writers]] [[Category:Numidian saints]] [[Category:5th-century bishops in Roman North Africa]] [[Category:4th-century births]] [[Category:5th-century deaths]] [[Category:5th-century Christian saints]]