Bishop of Carthage in the context of Christianity in the Roman Africa province

The Plague of Cyprian was a pandemic which afflicted the Roman Empire from about AD 249 to 262, or 251/2 to 270. The plague is thought to have caused widespread manpower shortages for food production and the Roman army, severely weakening the empire during the Crisis of the Third Century. Its modern name commemorates St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, an early Christian writer who witnessed and described the plague, in his treatise On the Plague. The agent of the plague is highly speculative due to sparse sourcing, but suspects have included smallpox, measles, and viral hemorrhagic fever (filoviruses like the Ebola virus). The pandemic attacked everyone, "just and unjust", and the response to it has strong ties to Christian beliefs and religion.

Cyprian (/ˈsɪpriən/; Latin: Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus; c. 210 to 14 September 258 AD) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Christian writer of Berber descent, many of whose Latin works are extant. He is recognized as a saint in the Western and Eastern churches.

He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education. Soon after converting to Christianity, he became a bishop in 249. A controversial figure during his lifetime, his strong pastoral skills, firm conduct during the Novatianist controversy and outbreak of the Plague of Cyprian (named for his description of it), and eventual martyrdom at Carthage established his reputation and proved his sanctity in the eyes of the Church.

Agrippinus was one of the earliest known bishops of Carthage around the 230s. During his episcopacy, he dealt with the issue of how to treat Christian converts from schism or heresy. According to St. Vincent of Lérins, Agrippinius held that "Baptism ought to be repeated" [1], which St. Vincent said that such a doctrine was "contrary to the divine canon, contrary to the rule of the universal church, contrary to the customs and institutions of our ancestors." [2] He called a synod of bishops of Numidia and Africa, probably around 230–235, which decided that such converts should be fully baptized.

Subsequently, St. Cyprian would mention the positive reputation of Agrippinus (bonæ memoriæ vir).