Priscillian

Priscillian led an ascetic movement in Spain that stressed Bible study, fasting, and prayer, and drew bishops and many lay people. His opponents accused him of Manichaean teaching and magic. He was beheaded at Trier in 385 by order of the usurper Maximus, over the protests of Martin of Tours and Pope Siricius. His surviving writings were rediscovered in 1885.

Dates

ca. 340–385 (approximate)

See or city

Avila

Region

Hispania

Also known as

Priscillianus

Notes

A Spanish layman and then bishop of Avila, accused of heresy and sorcery, condemned at Saragossa (380) and Bordeaux (384), and executed at Trier in 385, the first Christian put to death by the state for heresy.

Works

• Eleven TractatesTractatus undecim · ca. 380–385 · CPL 785 (not yet checked)
• Canons on the Letters of PaulCanones in Pauli apostoli epistulas (a Peregrino episcopo) · ca. 380–400