Lucilla

fl. c. AD 311–320 (death unrecorded) · Wealthy laywoman of Carthage · Patroness of Majorinus · Carthage

The Nicene Age

Who Lucilla was

The Carthaginian noblewoman who paid four hundred folles towards the consecration of Majorinus against Caecilian — the money that made the Donatist schism possible. Optatus reports her earlier quarrel with Caecilian, then archdeacon, over her habit of kissing a martyr’s bone before communion. Three separate witnesses at the trial of 320 testified that not one coin of her gift ever reached the poor it was given for. She is one of the most consequential laywomen of the fourth century and the archive held nothing on her.

Verified single attestation

Named once, in the Gesta apud Zenophilum — the Cirta records of 19 May 303 and 13 December 320; no other ancient source names her.

Also listed in women.

Common questions

When was Lucilla active?

Lucilla is dated fl. c. AD 311–320 (death unrecorded) in the archive, which places Lucilla 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.

Which early sources mention Lucilla?

Lucilla is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Gesta apud Zenophilum. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Lucilla from?

The archive associates Lucilla with Carthage.

Who were Lucilla’s contemporaries?

The archive links Lucilla to 5 other figures, including Silvanus of Cirta, Majorinus of Carthage, Caecilian 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.

The trial before Domitius Zenophilus, 13 December 320

c. AD 320

‘…a thief of the goods of the poor — a thing which all of you Bishops, priests, deacons, elders, know to be true concerning the four hundred pieces of money, that were given by the noble woman Lucilla, for the sake of which you conspired together that Majorinus might be made Bishop, whence came the schism.’

Gesta apud Zenophilum · Gesta apud Zenophilum, trial of 13 December 320 · source text