Agrippinus

Agrippinus

Bishop of Carthage at the close of the second and beginning of the third century. During his episcopacy the question arose in the African Church as to what should be done with regard to converts from schism or heresy. If they had previously been Catholics, ecclesiastical discipline held them subject to penance. But if it were a question of receiving those who had been baptized outside the Church, was their baptism to be regarded as valid? Agrippinus convoked the bishops of Numidia and Africa for the First Council of Africa (probably 215-217) which resolved the question negatively. He consequently decided that such persons should be baptized, not conditionally but absolutely. Heretics, it was argued, have not the true faith; they cannot absolve from sin; the water in their baptism cannot cleanse from sin. These reasons seemed to him to warrant the conclusion arrived at, but it was not the Roman usage. The point, however, had not yet been raised and definitely settled. But assuming their good faith, Agrippinus and the others were not excluded from the unity of the Church. Half a century later, St. Cyprian speaks of the continuous good repute of Agrippinus (bonæ memoriæ vir); and St. Augustine in writing against the Donatists defends Agrippinus and Cyprian by showing that, although they were mistaken, they had not broken the unity of the Church.

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BAREILLE in Dict. De théol. Cath., I, 637, 638;BENSON in Dict. Christ. Biog., I, 65; HEFELE, Conciliengesch., 2d ed., I, 104-125.

JOHN J. A’ BECKET Transcribed by Michael Christensen

The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia

Agrippinus

of Alexandria, is commemorated as a saint in some Roman martyrologies on July 15; in the Ethiopic on Jan. 30.

Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Agrippinus

a bishop of Carthage in the 3d century. He maintained, in opposition to Bishop Stephen of Rome, that apostates had to be baptized anew. His adherents were called AGRIPPINIANS SEE AGRIPPINIANS .

Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature