The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Lucifer of Cagliari
d. c. 370 · Bishop of Cagliari · Rigorist schismatic · Sardinia
The Nicene Age
Who Lucifer of Cagliari was
Bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, a ferocious champion of Athanasius and Nicaea who was exiled by Constantius and wrote violent pamphlets against the emperor from banishment. But his rigor curdled into schism: when the church sought to reconcile bishops who had wavered under Arian pressure, Lucifer refused all leniency, broke communion over the reconciliation of the lapsed at Antioch, and founded the short-lived rigorist sect of the Luciferians. A confessor whose zeal for orthodoxy hardened into an uncharitable schism — the mirror-image of the earlier laxist quarrels.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees and heretics & schismatics.
Common questions
When did Lucifer die?
Lucifer of Cagliari is dated d. c. 370 in the archive, which places Lucifer in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Lucifer write?
Lucifer of Cagliari has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: The pamphlets (On Apostate Kings · That One Must Die for the Son of God · and three more).
Which early sources mention Lucifer?
Lucifer of Cagliari is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Athanasius of Alexandria, Jerome and Augustine of Hippo. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Lucifer from?
The archive associates Lucifer of Cagliari with Sardinia.
Writings (1)
The pamphlets (On Apostate Kings · That One Must Die for the Son of God · and three more)
Five treatises of magnificent invective addressed to Constantius himselfDo you think, Constantius, that we fear your sword? We must die for the Son of God rather than betray the faith of Nicaea.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
History of the Arians 33 (among the confessor-exiles)
c. AD 358On Illustrious Men 95 (Jerome); Altercatio Luciferiani
c. AD 393Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari… persevered in his zeal to such a degree that he separated himself from communion with those who, in the reconciliation of the lapsed, showed any indulgence.Jerome · source text
On Heresies 81 (the Luciferians)
c. AD 428Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- 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
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Lucifer.
- 1Sardiniaprovince only