who made so much noise and so greatly disturbed the peace of the church, was, we are told, first a Pagan philosopher. He was baptized in bed when dangerously ill: recovering, however, he was afterwards ordained priest of the church of Rome, his bishop having obtained this favour for him, which the clergy and people were far from being disposed to grant. He does not appear to have had the good of Novatian, the church much at heart; for with his wit, knowledge, and eloquence, he might have been peculiarly serviceable to her, had he not with cowardice shrunk from his duty when he dreaded persecution. His ambition to be made a bishop likewise misled him; and what occasioned the apostacy of most of the first hearers, also occasioned his. On the death of Fabian bishop of Rome, after writing a letter to St Cyprian, he remained quiet whilst the see was vacant; but the promotion of Cornelius to that dignity excited his envy and jealousy to no common pitch. The consequence was a separation from the new bishop, and from those who professed to believe, what Novatian strenuously denied, that the church could receive those again who had been guilty of idolatry. He soon got a number of followers among the laity, and some even among the clergy. Novatus, a priest of Carthage, was one of his party, and having been a party-man himself against St Cyprian, brought his adherents with him. He got himself consecrated Bishop of Rome in a most infamous and clandestine manner, by three weak men whom he had most grossly imposed upon, and one of whom did penance for having been concerned in what was so contrary to order, decency, and the rules of the church.

His designs, however, in this disgraceful affair did not succeed, for he was not acknowledged as bishop of that diocese; Cornelius being confirmed in it, whilst he was condemned and excommunicated. He still, however, taught his doctrine, and at length became the head of the party which bears his name. Besides the letter mentioned above, St Jerome says he wrote on the Passover, on the Sabbath, on Circumcision, on the High Priest, on Prayer, on Jewish meals, and on Firmness of mind, &c. with a large treatise on the Trinity. None of them appear under his own name, and some are thought not to be his.