Saint Speratus
Source: Web (santodelgiorno.it)
Religious Figures & Theologians • Historical Archive • 🇹🇳 Tunisia • 14 views

Saint Speratus 🇹🇳

Speratus Africanus (Known as "Speratus of Scillium")
Leader of the Scillitan Martyrs, Speaker of the Earliest Dated Latin Christian Text
Born c. 140 CE 🇹🇳 Scillium (Kasserine), Tunisia
Passed Away 180 CE Carthage, Tunisia
Lifespan ~40 years old
14 views
Notice / Correction
"I honor Caesar as Caesar, but I worship only God who reigns over all emperors."

Archival Overview

Leader of the twelve Scillitan Martyrs from central Tunisia whose trial before Roman Proconsul Vigellius Saturninus in Carthage on July 17, 180 CE produced the oldest dated Latin Christian document in history.

Biographical Record

Speratus was an elder of the Christian community of Scillium (near modern Kasserine in west-central Tunisia). Arrested with eleven companions and brought before Roman Proconsul Saturninus in Carthage, he carried a leather satchel containing 'books, and letters of Paul, a just man'.

Asked to swear by the genius of Emperor Commodus, Speratus replied: 'I recognize no empire of this world; rather I serve that God whom no man has seen.' Condemned to death by sword, their court transcripts (*Acta Scillitanorum*) mark the foundational dawn of Latin Christian literature.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Basilica Scillitanorum
Carthage, Tunisia
GPS: 36.8550, 10.3300
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