To Domnus, Bishop of Antioch, for Celestinianus

The most admirable and honorable Celestinianus is a native of the famous Carthage and comes from a distinguished family of that city. Now he has been driven out of it. He wanders in foreign lands and has to look to the kindness of those who love God. He carries with him a burden he cannot escape, which adds to his cares: I mean his wife, his children and his servants, on whom he spends a great deal. I wonder at his spirit. He praises the great Pilot as though he were being carried along by favorable breezes, and cares nothing for the terrible storm. From his calamity he has reaped the fruit of piety, and his misfortune has brought him this thrice-blessed gain. While he was prosperous he never accepted this teaching; but when the evil day stripped him bare, along with the rest of his losses he lost his impiety too. Now he possesses the wealth of the faith, and for its sake thinks little of his ruin. [a] So I beg Your Holiness to let him find a homeland in this foreign country, and to urge those who abound in riches to comfort one who was once as well off as they are, and to scatter the dark cloud of his calamity. It is only right and proper, among men who share the same nature, where all have gone astray, that those who have escaped chastisement should comfort those who have fallen on evil days, and by their sympathy for them win the mercy of God.