The Ante-Nicene Church · AD 180–313
Donatus the friend of Cyprian
fl. c. AD 246 (death unrecorded) · Newly baptised layman of Carthage · Carthage
The Ante-Nicene Church
Who Donatus the friend of Cyprian was
The friend to whom Cyprian addressed Ad Donatum, written soon after his own baptism — the account of his conversion, and the earliest of his works. The whole treatise is a conversation in a garden with this man, which makes him the addressee of one of the most personal documents in Latin Christianity. He is emphatically not Donatus of Carthage the schismatic, who lived a century later and is already in the archive.
Named once, by a source inside the horizon, as the addressee or named party of a surviving work; no other ancient source names him.
Common questions
When was Donatus active?
Donatus the friend of Cyprian is dated fl. c. AD 246 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Donatus 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.
Which early sources mention Donatus?
Donatus the friend of Cyprian is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Cyprian of Carthage. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Donatus from?
The archive associates Donatus the friend of Cyprian with Carthage.
Who were Donatus’ contemporaries?
The archive links Donatus the friend of Cyprian to 2 other figures, including Cyprian of Carthage and Donatus of Carthage. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Ad Donatum — the treatise is addressed to him throughout
c. AD 246[Cyprian describes his own conversion to Donatus, seated with him in a garden, in the earliest of his writings.]Cyprian of Carthage · Ad Donatum · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 180 · The Scillitan martyrs, AD 180
- AD 190 · The Quartodeciman controversy, AD 190
- AD 202 · Perpetua and Felicity martyred, AD 202
- AD 235 · Maximinus Thrax targets the clergy, AD 235
- AD 250 · The Decian persecution, AD 250
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Donatus.