The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Cantonius of Urci
fl. c. AD 300–324 (the council’s date is disputed; death unrecorded) · Bishop of Urci · Subscriber at Elvira · Urci, Baetica
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Cantonius of Urci was
One of the nineteen bishops who subscribed the canons of Elvira, the first council held in Spain and the earliest surviving conciliar legislation of the Western church. The council’s own date is unresolved — Duchesne put it at 300–303, Hefele at 305 or 306, Mansi at 309, Hardouin at 313, and some manuscripts of the acts imply 324 — so his floruit is given as a range. Twenty-four or twenty-six presbyters sat with the bishops but subscribed nothing and are not named. Hefele’s list gives Urci; one modern summary gives Urso. The archive records Urci with the variant noted.
Named once, in the subscription list of the Council of Elvira; no other ancient source names him.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees.
Common questions
When was Cantonius active?
Cantonius of Urci is dated fl. c. AD 300–324 (the council’s date is disputed; death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Cantonius in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Cantonius write?
Cantonius of Urci has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: The Canons of the Council of Elvira.
Which early sources mention Cantonius?
Cantonius of Urci is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from The Council of Elvira. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Cantonius from?
The archive associates Cantonius of Urci with Urci, Baetica. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (1)
The Canons of the Council of Elvira
c. AD 300–324 (the council’s date is disputed)Eighty-one canons, the earliest conciliar legislation of the Western church, subscribed by the nineteen bishops alone. Meigne argued only the first twenty-one are original to Elvira; the archive records the dispute.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The subscription list of the Council of Elvira (Codex Pithianus, as printed by Hefele)
c. AD 305Hosius of Corduba, Sabinus of Hispalis, Camerinus of Tucci, Sinaginus of Epagra (or Bigerra), Secundinus of Castulo, Pardus of Mentesa, Flavian of Eliberis, Cantonius of Urci, Liberius of Emerita, Valerius of Caesaraugusta, Decentius of Legio, Melantius of Toledo, Januarius of Fibularia, Vincent of Ossonoba, Quintianus of Elbora, Successus of Eliocroca, Eutychian of Basti, and Patricius of Malacca.The Council of Elvira · Subscriptions of the Council of Elvira · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
- AD 251 · The Novatianist schism, AD 251
- AD 257 · The Valerian persecution, AD 257
- AD 260 · Gallienus’ edict of toleration, AD 260
- AD 268 · Antioch deposes Paul of Samosata, AD 268
- AD 272 · Aurelian awards the Antioch church, AD 272
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put Cantonius, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.