Cyprian the Bishop

Cyprian of Africa was at first famous as a teacher of rhetoric. Afterward, persuaded by the presbyter Caecilius, from whom he took his surname, he became a Christian and gave all his property to the poor. Not long after, he was received into the body of presbyters, and he was also made bishop of Carthage. There is no need to make a catalog of the works of his genius, since they are plainer to see than the sun. [a] He was put to death under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, in the eighth persecution, on the same day on which Cornelius was put to death at Rome, but not in the same year.