Tertullian

The main ancient account of Tertullian’s life is Jerome’s notice, written about 393. It says that he came from Carthage, that his father was a centurion, that he was a presbyter, that he flourished under Severus and Caracalla and lived to a great age, and that in middle life, provoked by the Roman clergy, he “lapsed to the doctrine of Montanus”. Jerome adds a story he heard from an old man: Cyprian, bishop of Carthage a generation later, read Tertullian every day and would ask for him with the words “Give me the master” (Jerome, On Illustrious Men 53).

Tertullian’s own writings confirm two points. He was writing the first book of Against Marcion in the fifteenth year of Severus, AD 207–208 (Tertullian, Against Marcion 1.15), and in his later works he sides openly with the New Prophecy, saying that he “withdrew” from its opponents (Tertullian, Against Praxeas 1). Neither his birth nor his death can be dated. See Tertullian Writes Christian Theology in Latin and the New Prophecy of Montanus.