Cypriānus

, a native of Carthage, who, though born of heathen parents, became a convert to christianity, and the bishop of his countrymen. To be more devoted to purity and study, he abandoned his wife; and as a proof of his charity, he distributed his goods to the poor. He wrote 81 letters, besides several treatises, De Dei grat iâ , De virginum habitu , . , and rendered his compositions valuable by the information which he conveys of the discipline of the ancient church, and by the soundne and purity of his theology. He died a martyr, A.D. 258. The best editions of Cyprian are that of Fell, folio, Oxford, 1682, and that reprinted Amsterdam, 1700.