LUCIFER., bishop of Cagliari (hence called Calaritanns or rather Caralitanus), an ardent supporter of the cause of Athanasius, after the unfavourable result of the synod of Arles in 353 volunteered to go to the court and endeavour to obtain a new and impartial. council ; he was accordingly sent by Pope Liberius, along with Pancratius the presbyter and Hilarius the deacon, but did not succeed in preventing the condemnation of Athanasius, which was renewed at Milan in 355. For his own persistent adherence to the orthodox creed he was banished to Germanicia in Commagene ; he afterwards lived at Eleutheropolis in Palestine, and finally in the upper Thebaid. His exile came to an end with the publication of Julian's edict in 362. From 363 until his death in 371 he lived at Cagliari in a state of voluntary separation from ecclesiastical fellowship with his former friends Eusebius of Vercelli, Athanasius, and the rest, on account of their mild decision at the synod of Alexandria in 362 with reference to the treatment of those who had unwillingly Arianized under the persecutions of Constantius. The Luciferian sect thus founded did not continue to subsist long after the death of its leader. It is doubtful whether it ever formulated any distinctive doctrine ; certainly it developed none of any importance. The memory of Lucifer is still cherished in Sardinia ; but, althcugh popularly regarded there as a saint, he has never been canonized.

The controversial writings of Lucifer, dating from his exile, are chiefly remarkable for their passionate zeal and for the boldness and violence of the language addressed to the reigning emperor, whom he did not scruple to call the enemy of God and a second Saul, Ahab, and Jeroboam. Their titles, in the most probable chronological order, are De non parcendis in Dense delinguentibus, De regibus apostatieis, Ad Constantiunt Augustum, pro Atbanasio lilrl ii., De ROA eonveniendo eum ha:retieis, and Moriendum esse pie Filio Del. Their quotations of Scripture are of considerable value to the critical student of the Latin text before Jerome. They were first collected and edited by Tilius (Paris, 1586), and afterwards reprinted in the Bibliotheea Pagrum (1618); the best edition is that of the brothers Colet (Venice, 1778).