Saint Possidius of Calama

Possidius (5th century) was a friend of Augustine of Hippo who wrote a biography and an indiculus or list of his works. He was bishop of Calama in the Roman province of Numidia. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. In the Vita S. Augustini (xxxi), after describing the death of Augustine, Possidius speaks of his unbroken friendship with him for forty years. He also, speaking of himself in the third person, lets it be known that he was one of the clergy of Augustine's monastery. The date of his promotion to the episcopate was, according to Tillemont, about 397. He followed Augustine's example and established a monastery at Calama, an area much disturbed by factions. At a council held at Carthage, Possidius challenged Crispinus, the Donatist Bishop of Calama, to a public discussion which the latter refused. In 404 a party of Donatists dragged Possidius out of his house, beat him, and threatened his life. Donatist extremists set fire to a house where Possidius was visiting. Legal proceedings were instituted against Crispinus, the bishop, who refused to punish the presbyter responsible. Crispinus was condemned for heresy and was heavily fined, but at the intercession of Possidius the fine was not exacted. In 407, Possidius served, with Augustine and five other bishops, on a committee appointed to adjudicate upon some ecclesiastical matter, the particulars of which are not known. In 408 he nearly lost his life in a riot stirred up by the pagans at Calama (Augustine, "Epp.", xc, xci, xciii). In 409 he was one of four bishops deputed to go to Italy to obtain the protection of the emperor against the Donatists. He was one of the seven bishops chosen to represent the Catholic party at the collatio of 411. In 416 he assisted at the Council of Milevum, where fifty-nine Numidian bishops addressed a synodal letter to Innocent I, asking him to take action against Pelagianism.