Jerome, Letters 79.2.1-3
created: This entry is taken from Letters 79.2.1-3 written by Jerome in 400 C.E.. This wo
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: la; la
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/296

and

Caesarea

is directly attested at Jerome, Letters 79.2.1-3. This passage was written ca. 400 C.E. possibly in Bethlehem. Among the voluminous correspondence of St. Jerome is this letter, which he wrote to console Salvina, the widow of Nebridius, whom he had never met. Nebridius, son of a prominent commander and the empress’s sister and prefect of Constantinople under Theodosius I, had suffered an untimely death. Jerome praised his devotion, chastity, and charity, comparing him to Cornelius, the famous centurion at Caesarea whom St. Peter converted.

(1) Alius forsitan laudet Nebridium, quod de sorore generatus Augustae et in materterae nutritus sinu invictissimo principi ita carus fuit, ut ei coniugem nobilissimam quaereret et bellis civilibus Africam dissidentem hac velut obside sibi fidam redderet. mihi a principio statim illud est praedicandum, quod quasi vicinae mortis praescius inter fulgorem palatii et honorum culmina, quae aetatem anteibant, sic vixit, ut se ad Christum crederet profecturum. (2) sacra narrat historia Cornelium, centurionem cohortis Italicae, in tantum acceptum Deo, ut angelum ad eum mitteret et omne mysterium, quo Petrus de circumcisionis angustiis transferebatur ad praeputii latitudinem, ad illius merita pertineret, qui primus ab apostolo baptizatus salutem gentium dedicavit. scriptum que est de eo: “erat vir quidam in Caesarea nomine Cornelius, centurio cohortis, quae dicitur Italica, religiosus et timens deum cum omni domo sua, faciens elemosynas multas plebi et orans deum semper.” (3) quidquid de illo dicitur hoc nomine commutato in Nebridio meo vindico.

[Ed. Hilberg and Slovak 1996]

(1) Perhaps another would praise Nebridius because, born to the sister of the Empress and brought up in the bosom of his aunt, he was so dear to the unconquered emperor (Theodosius) that he sought out for (Nebridius) a wife of the highest rank, who, as Africa (her homeland) was disrupted by civil wars, became a kind of hostage for its loyalty. I must say at the very outset that Nebridius seems to have been prescient of his coming death. For amid the splendor of the palace and the professional heights that surpassed his natural age, he lived as one who believed he was going to meet Christ. (2) Sacred scripture tells the story that Cornelius, centurion of the Italian cohort, was so well received by God that he sent an angel to him; and (this angel told him) that to his merit was due every rite by which Peter was conveyed from the narrow confines of the circumcised to the wide world of the uncircumcised. As the first (gentile) baptized by the apostle, he guaranteed the salvation of the gentiles. And about him it is written: “There was a certain man in Caesarea by the name of Cornelius, a centurion of the cohort named the Italian, a devote man and god-fearing, along with his whole house, who gave much alms to the poor and always prayed to God.” (3) All this that is said of him I claim—with a change of name only—for my dear Nebridius.

[Adapted from Fremantle 1893]

Works Cited

[...] 79 2.1-3
[...]

[Acts 10:1-2]

[Africa

Constantinople

Ιtaly]

[Cornelius, early Christian at Caesarea

Nebridius

Peter the Apostle

Theodosius I, emperor]

[Christian Bible

Christianity

Family

Government and Law

Military

Roman History

Society and Culture]