Possidius is mainly known for his description of the life of Augustine. Details of his own life are not plentiful.
Possidius was a convert from paganism.
It would seem that the association of Possidius with Augustine began about the year 390 in the monastery for men that Augustine established in Hippo.
In his Life of Augustine, Possidius wrote, "I lived in close friendship with him for forty years."
He attended the African church councils of his day, and twice travelled to Italy to defend the church.
Along with Augustine and Alypius, Possidius was among the seven Catholic bishops chosen to represent the 266 Catholic bishops of the region at the famous debate in Carthage.
The debate was between the Catholics and Donatist heretical church in the year 411 A.D.
Possidius became Bishop of Calama (a town later renamed Guelma) in Numidia, North Africa, in or about the year 397, and remained there until the invasion of the Vandals in 437.
He seems to have established a monastery there, after the example of Augustine. In about the year 401, Augustine wrote his Letter 245 to Possidius, in reply to questions from Possidius about morality and church law.
The contemporary Donatist bishop of Calama was Crispinus. Among the heathens there was a certain Nectarius, with was a correspondent with Augustine.
At a council of bishops, held at Carthage, Possidius challenged Crispinus, the Donatist Bishop of Calama, to a public discussion which the latter declined.
Shortly afterwards one of Crispinus's clergy, bearing the same name as his bishop, attempted to assassinate Possidius. For his safety he was obliged to leave his city for some time.
Legal proceedings were instituted against Bishop Crispinus, who refused to punish his presbyter. He was proved to be a heretic and was heavily fined, but at the intercession of Possidius the fine was not exacted. Possidius successfully disarmed some of his enemies by his charity.
In 407, Possidius served, with Augustine and five other bishops, on a committee appointed to adjudicate upon some ecclesiastical matter, the particulars of which are not known. In 408 he nearly lost his life in a riot stirred up by the pagans at Calama.
In 409 he was one of four bishops deputed to go to Italy to obtain the protection of the emperor against the Donatists. He was one of the seven bishops chosen to represent the Catholic party at the "Collatio" of 411.
In 416 he assisted at the Council of Milevum, where fifty-nine Numidian bishops addressed a synodal letter to Pope Innocent I, asking him to take action against Pelagianism.
He joined with Augustine and three other bishops in a further letter to Innocent on the same subject, and was at the conference between Augustine and the Donatist Emeritus.
After the destruction of the town of Calama by the Vandals, Possidius moved to Hippo.
(Continued on the next page.)
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