LactantiusLucius Caelius (or Caecilius?) Firmianus Lactantius
was an early Christian author who wrote in Latin
(around A.D. 240 - around 320). Lactantius, a native of North Africa, taught rhetoric in various cities of the eastern half of the Roman Empire
, ending in Constantinople. He wrote works explaining Christianity and defending it from pagan philosophers. His Divinae Institutiones
("Divine Institutions") is an early example of a systematic presentation of Christian thought.
Lactantius preserves for us the story of Constantine I's vision of the labarum before his conversion to Christianity.