Sedulius, Caius Coelius (or Caecilius)

Sedulius, Caius Coelius (Or Caecilius)

a priest and Christian poet in the reigns of Theodosius II and Valentinian III. Little is known respecting his parentage and life. He is said to have taught philosophy and rhetoric in Italy, and to have subsequently become a priest in Achaia, and ultimately a bishop. The year of his death is not known. He obtains recognition chiefly as the author of a number of religious writings, among them the hexameter poem Carmen Paschale, etc., in which Old Test. miracles, the miracles of Christ's life, and finally his death, resurrection, and ascension, are treated — the whole in opposition to the heretical views of Arius and Sabellius. Various editions of this poem have been published — by Cellarius (1704), Gallandi (1773), and others, the latest edition being by Arevalo, or Aurival (Rome, 1794). In response to the request of the priest Macedonius, Sedulius translated the work into prose, and called it Opus Paschale. Two other hymns are also attributed to him — namely, Elegia, or Collatio eteris et Novi Testamenti, and A Solis Ortus Ordine, an acrostic on the life of Christ which is sometimes called the Abecedarius.