Sancti Cypriani - Opera - 1666

Sancti Cæcilii Cypriani Opera
Paris, Ioannes du Puis (sub signo Coronæ aureæ), 1666.

Edition curated by Nicolas Rigault (Nic. Rigaltii I.C.), with his full annotations and those of Pamelius and other commentators.

The volume brings together the complete works of Saint Cyprian of Carthage, corrected “ad vetustissimorum exemplarium fidem,” and adds, for the first time in this collection:
• Marci Minucii Felicis Octavius (De Idolorum vanitate);
• Arnobii Afri Adversus Gentes libri VII;
• Iulii Firmici Materni De Errore Profanarum Religionum;
• Commodiani Instructiones adversus Gentium Deos (first edition printed, edited by Rigault).

Format in folio (cm 34 × 25).
Collation: pp. 38 [i.e. 83], [1], 453, [11], 36, [16], 108, [32], 60.

Frontispiece in red and black with a large printer’s device (gold crown sustained by two children), head-pieces, initial capitals and woodcut tailpieces.

Contemporary full vellum binding, spine with raised bands and gilt ornamentation and title («SCYPRIA. OPERA»), boards smooth.
Conditions: Lax, headbands slightly worn (see photo), loss at the rear board edge.

This is the so-called “Priorian” edition (named after Philippe Le Prieur/Priorius who contributed to it), based on Nicolas Rigault’s critical text (1577-1654), one of the most complete and philologically accurate of the Seicento.

It reunites in one volume the works of Saint Cyprian of Carthage (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus, c. 200–258), bishop and martyr, one of the most influential Fathers of the Latin Church. Cyprian, converted from paganism and ordained bishop of Carthage around 248–249, faced the great crises of the African Church: the Decian persecutions and the problem of the lapsi (Christians who had apostatized), the question of baptism of heretics, and church unity.

Among his main works included here:
• De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate (fundamental for the theology of unity and primacy);
• De Lapsis;
• De Dominica Oratione;
• De Mortalitate;
• De Opere et Eleemosynis;
• De Bono Patientiae;
• De Zelo et Livore;
• the numerous Epistles (over 80);
• and the spurious or traditionally doubtful writings attributed to him (including Sodoma and others).

The volume is enriched by four important apologetic texts of ancient Christianity, which make it a corpus of great value:
1. Minucius Felix – Octavius: One of the most elegant Latin dialogue-forms of the II–III centuries, in which the Christian Octavius refutes pagan accusations of superstition and immorality.
2. Arnobius of Sicca – Adversus Gentes (books VII): A vigorous refutation of paganism, written around 300 by an African rhetorist who converted.
3. Julius Firmicus Maternus – De Errore Profanarum Religionum: A fourth-century work addressed to emperors Constantius and Constans, attacking the mysteries of paganism and urging their complete destruction.
4. Commodian – Instructiones adversus Gentium Deos: A collection of 80 acrostics (first and second parts) by a Christian poet of the III century (perhaps African or Gazaean).

The text, long left in manuscript, constitutes one of the oldest testimonies of Latin Christian poetry in acrostic form.

Rigault’s apparatus (with his Observationes) and Pamelius’s notes (Jacobus Pamelius, 1536-1587) and those of other commentators make this edition still today a reference point for patristic studies.

Complete copies in contemporary bindings are rather sought after on the antiquarian market.