The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Philastrius of Brescia
d. c. AD 397 · Bishop of Brescia · Cataloguer of heresies · Brescia
The Nicene Age
Who Philastrius of Brescia was
Bishop of Brescia and author of the Diversarum Hereseon Liber, a sprawling and none-too-critical catalogue of 156 heresies that Augustine mined and gently corrected. His successor Gaudentius preached his funeral panegyric; Augustine, who had met him at Milan, remembered him in Epistle 222.
Also listed in bishops beyond the great sees.
Common questions
When did Philastrius die?
Philastrius of Brescia is dated d. c. AD 397 in the archive, which places Philastrius 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 Philastrius write?
Philastrius of Brescia has 2 catalogued writings in the archive: The Book of Diverse Heresies and The Gesta of the Council of Aquileia against Palladius and Secundianus.
Which early sources mention Philastrius?
Philastrius of Brescia is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from The Council of Aquileia, Gaudentius of Brescia and Augustine of Hippo. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Philastrius from?
The archive associates Philastrius of Brescia with Brescia.
Writings (2)
The Book of Diverse Heresies
One hundred fifty-six heresies, twenty-eight of them before Christ — a net, not a scale[Even naming the weekdays after planets is entered as heresy — the catalogue that counts everything]Read the interlinear source text →
The Gesta of the Council of Aquileia against Palladius and Secundianus
3 September 381The verbatim stenographic minutes of the council.Read the interlinear source text →
Primary-source mentions (3)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Gesta Concilii Aquileiensis — the opening protocol and roll of the thirty-two bishops
c. AD 381In the consulship of the illustrious Syagrius and Eucherius, on the 3rd day of September, the undermentioned Bishops, sitting in council in the church at Aquileia, namely, Valerian, Bishop of Aquileia, Ambrose, Eusebius, Limenius, Anemius, Sabinus, Abundantius, Artemius, Constantius, Justus, Philaster…The Council of Aquileia · Gesta Concilii Aquileiensis §1 · source text
Gaudentius of Brescia, Sermon 21, on the anniversary of his predecessor (c. AD 400s; original Latin, summarized)
c. AD 405[His successor's memorial panegyric preaches him as a wandering athlete of Christ before ever he came to Brescia — contending across Italy against pagans, Jews, and every heresy; gentle with men, implacable only toward error.]Gaudentius of Brescia · source text
Augustine, Letter 222 (c. AD 428; original Latin, working translation)
c. AD 410For I myself once saw, with the holy Ambrose at Milan, the most blessed Filastrius, bishop of Brescia — who gathered up the heresies past counting.Augustine of Hippo · source text
Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside Philastrius in the sources
These figures are placed with Philastrius by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without Philastrius naming them in return.
- Abundantius
- Almachius
- Amantius
- Anemius
- Artemius
- Bassianus
- Cassianus
- Constantius (first of the name at Aquileia)
- Constantius (second of the name at Aquileia)
- Diogenes
- Domninus (bishop at Aquileia)
- Eusebius
- Eustathius
- Exuperantius
- Felix of Jadera
- Felix (second of the name at Aquileia)
- Heliodorus
- Januarius (bishop at Aquileia)
- Jovinus
- Limenius
- Macedonius
- Marcellus (bishop at Aquileia)
- Maximus (first of the name at Aquileia)
- Maximus (second of the name at Aquileia)
- Numidius
- Proculus
- Sabinus of Placentia
- Theodorus (bishop at Aquileia)
Events in this lifetime
- 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
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
- AD 397 · Carthage confirms the canon, AD 397
Place
Places served
The one place the sources put Philastrius.