Fulgenzio was born in Thelepte (currently Medinet-el Kedima, in Tunisia) perhaps in 467. He belonged to a rich Roman family, the Gordiani family, that were settled in Carthage. As a young man, thanks to his intelligence and preparation, he was appointed as tax collector for his province. He was raised by his mother in the Christian faith and dedicated himself to religious life, inspired by the reading of a sermon by Sant’Agostino. After becoming a monk, he spent some time in Sicily and Rome, and then returned to his homeland where he founded a monastery and became the abbot. In 507 or 508 he was appointed Bishop of Ruspe (fig. 1).

Fig. 1 - Augustinian Africa: print from 1659 by Lubin; in red, the Ruspe site (from http://www.cassiciaco.it/navigazione/monachesimo/historia_ordinis/medioevo/alto_medioevo.html).

The Vandal king Trasamondo, who was of Aryan religion (Aryanism was a trinity doctrine, considered heretic, that spread around 320, according to which Christ was inferior by authority and dignity to the Father), exiled him together with another 60 catholic bishops in Sardinia. In Cagliari, Fulgenzio founded a monastery at the church of San Saturnino. He was recalled by Trasamondo in 515, for a dispute with the Aryans. He was exiled again in 517 circa, and returned to his homeland in 523, during the reign of the Vandal king Ilderico. He died in Ruspe in 527.

Fulgenzio (figs. 2-3) was a follower and defender of the Augustinian doctrines of grace and, as a theologian, wrote trinitarian-Christological content in defence of Aryan heresy.

His life was described in a work dated around 533, which was anonymous, but attributed to the Deacon Ferrando, his pupil, who followed him into exile in Cagliari. Ferrando returned to Africa in 523, and became the deacon of Carthage, and perhaps also the bishop.

Fig. 2 - Fulgenzio of Ruspe in a print by I. Sadeler, 1600 (From http://www.cassiciaco.it/navigazione/monachesimo/monaci/medioevo/ruspe.html).

Fig. 3 - Fulgenzio of Ruspe (from https://unaltrasestu.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/fulgentius_von_ruspe_17jh1.jpg).