Français – عربي – ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ – English
In the 3rd Century, bishop Firmus of Thagaste welcomed a man in his house who was wanted by Roman Emperor Maximian. When the Emperor sent his troops to arrest the man, Firmus refused to deliver him to them, despite the risk for himself. The Emperor was so impressed by his courage that he pardoned the man. This episode inspired the modern-day principle of right of asylum.
Firmus was the first know bishop of Thagaste (Souk Ahras), a Numidian city that would later become famous as the birthplace of Augustine of Hippo. He welcomed this refugee in 289, during the reign of Emperor Maximian. At this time, Christianity was probably the majority religion in large parts of Roman Africa, but the new faith was not yet recognized, and Christians were still regularly persecuted. Firmus himself died as a martyr several years later.
Augustine of Hippo tells us: “This is what a bishop of Thagaste – Firmus was his name, and he was even more firm in his will – did a long time ago: when the bailiffs gave him the imperial order to deliver a man they were looking for and who was hiding in his house, where he had fled; then the bishop, with all the restraint he was able of, answered those who were asking for the man that he could not lie or deliver this man to them, and whatever torture he might suffer (as the Emperors were not yet Christian), he persisted in his resolution. He was then led before the Emperor, and seemed so worthy of admiration that he easily obtained the pardon of the man he had welcomed in his house.”
Nothing more is known about this fugitive or the reasons why the Emperor wanted to capture him. The fact that he fled to a bishop shows that he was probably Christian, but this does not necessarily mean that he was persecuted for his faith. Firmus may also be inspired by a tradition of asylum in Amazigh customary law.
In the following centuries, this episode became a source of inspiration for the Christian tradition of asylum, especially the inviolability of places of worship.
