To Bishop Irenaeus of Tyre, for Celestinianus

You are known, my lord, for many forms of goodness, and your holiness is made beautiful above all by loving-kindness, by contempt for riches, and by a generosity that pours out to help those in need. I also know that you think those who were brought up in prosperity and have fallen from it into trouble deserve more than ordinary attention. [a]

Knowing this as well as I do, I venture to introduce to you the very admirable and excellent Celestinianus. He was once well known in Carthage for his wealth and position. Now, stripped of these, he is well thought of for his piety and his philosophy, for he bears what people call misfortune with resignation, because it has brought him to the salvation of his soul. He came to me with a letter describing his former prosperity, and after he had spent several days with me I found by experience that what was said of him was true. So I have no hesitation in commending him to your holiness, and in begging you to make him known to the well-to-do men of the city. It is likely that when they learn what has happened to him, they will fear that the same may happen to them, and will try to escape judgment by showing mercy.

He has no resource but to go about begging, and his expenses are the greater because he has with him his wife and children, and the household servants who escaped the violence of the barbarians with him.