Candidus

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

is the name of numerous persons in early Christian history, besides the Arian noted in vol. ii.

1. Surnamed THEBaEUS. a martyr, commemorated, according to the Martyrologies of Bede and Usuard, Sept. 22.

There are two others of uncertain date, named simply Candidus, and commemorated as martyrs at Rome in Usuard's Martyrology, under Feb. 2 and Oct. 3 respectively..

2. VESPRONIUS, mentioned by Tertullian (Ad. Scap. 4), with other examples of humane governors, such as Cincius Severus, Asper, and Pudens, as having resisted the clamors of persecuting mobs. He excused himself from delivering up a certain Christian to death on the plea that it might cause a riot (Cir. A.D. 190).

3. The author of a work on the Hexameron, of which mention is made by Eusebius ''(F. E'' v, 27). He is classed by him among orthodox Church. writers, and placed under the reign of Severus, A.D. 193-211.

4. A Valentinian, who held a disputation with Origen, about A.D. 228, the result of which was that Origen fell into disgrace. This disputation is not extant, and is only known by the references made to it in the controversy between Jerome (Apologia Adv. Rufinum, ii, 512) and Rtlfinus (De Adulteratione. Librorumn Origenis).

5. Donatist bishop of Villa Regia, who returned.to -the Church, and was continued in his office (August. Contra Crescon. ii, 10). Tillemont fixes the time at A.D. 348. He was probably deceased when Augustine wrote, A.D. 402, as Cresconius was then Catholic bishop of Villa Regia.

6. A bishop of the Anomoean party, who was consecrated, together with Arrianus, by Aietius and Eunomius at Constantinople, A.D. 363, to superintend, the one the churches of Lydia, and the other those of Ionia. This ordination displeased the Eunomians, who, headed by Theodosius, appealed to Eudoxius.' He supported them in their opposition to the newly appointed prelates. Candidus and Arrianus used their influence with Jovian, their kinsman, against Athanasius, but ineffectually.

7. Archimandrite, to whom, in A.D. 449 (or 450), Theodoret wrote (Epist. 128), telling him to get coadjutors against heretics, heathens, and Jews.

8. ISAURUS, an orthodox Christian historian, in the reign of Anastasius, A.D. 491-513, was a native of Isauria Tracheia, and by profession a notary, Photius (Codex, p. 79) informs us that he wrote a history of his own times, from the' accession of Leo the Thracian, in 457, to the death of Zeno the Isaurian, in 491. He commends Candidus as a zealous maintainer of the faith as set forth at Chalcedon, and an 'pponent of all innovators. This history is lost, with the exception of the few extracts given by Photius, and a small fragment in Suidas. These are printed in the Coputs Hist. Byzant. (ed, Labbe), i, 154 sq.

9. Bishop of Sergiopolis, A.D. 544, who died before 554.

10. One of the more distinguished (Nobiliores) of the forty soldiers martyred at Sebaste, in Armenia Minor, in the time of king Licinius, under the phrases Agricolaus. Bede and Usuard, in their Martyrologies,, Both mention him, but give the days respectively March 9 and 11.

11. Bishop of Civita Vecchia, who was directed, A.D. 592, not to deprive a man of his-pay because of sickness; and was allowed, in 596, to ordain some monks of monasteries in his diocese to serve as presbyters under him.

12. A presbyter sent by Gregory the Great into Gaul, A.D. 595, with letters to queen Brunchilda and king Childebert, charged with the administration of the little patrimony of St. Peter there. He was commended, along with St. Augustine, to Pelagius of Tours and Serenus of Marseilles. In June, 597, he was sent to redeem four Christian captives whom a Jew held in slavery at Narbonne. He had, in 593, been "defender of the Church" in Rome. In 601 we find him seeking to excuse bishop Desiderius for teaching grammar '(Epist. 54, lib. xi).

13. An Episcopus Dulcimensis, or Fulginlensis, at the third Roman council under Gregory, July, 596.

14. Gregory's successor, as abbot of the monastery of St. Andrew, was warned, A.D. 598, not 'further to molest Maurentius, brother and heir of a deceased monk in his monastery, as the suit between them had been settled once by the pope in the brother's favor. In February, 601, he was sent by Marinianus to Gregory for relics.

15. Wizo (Witto, Witso, or Wiso), a presbyter and disciple of Alcuin, in whose writings his name appears for about ten years, ending A.D. 802. He was a resident of the monastery of St. Martin of Tours, He is first mentioned as bringing to his master accounts of king Charles, about 793. In 800 he is the bearer of Alcuin's work, Adversus Felicen, to Charles; and in 801, just after the great coronation, he brought good news from Rome and the imperial court. In the same year, on the emperor's return, he had the honor to convey his master's congratulations. This was followed, 802, by his establishment at court. Candidus is frequently mentioned in the epistles of Alcuin, 793-802, and always in language of fatherly regard. According to Leland, Candidus was an alumnus of Lindisfarne, under Higebald, and was sent by him to France to finish his studies under Alcuin; and in due time returned home. Pitsius (Illust. Angl. Script. i, 828) adds that Candidus went to the continent because of the destruction of the Lindisfarne library by the Danes, in 793.

16. Surnamed BRAUN, a monk of the abbey of Fulda, was born near the close of the 8th century, and educated at Fulda, where he embraced a monastic life under the rule of abbot Bangulph, by whom he was sent to France to complete his studies under Clemens Scotus. On his return he was advanced to the priesthood. He endured the maladministration of abbot Ratgar, 802-817; was taken into the confidence of his successor, St. Eigil; and, by his successor, Raban (822), was placed at the head of the conventual schools. By the latter's advice he undertook his literary works, the principal of which is The Life Of St. Eigil (2 vols., one in prose, the other in hexameter); The Life Of Abbot Bangulph (not known to exist); and, probably, Opusculum de Passione Domini and Responsio ad Monachum.