DONATISTS
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DONATISTS
Casae Nigrse is said to have caused a schism in Car-
thage during the lifetime of Mensurius. In 311 Max-
entius obtained dominion over Africa, and a deacon of
Carthage, Felix, was accused of writing a defamatory
letter against the tyrant. Mensurius was said to have
concealed his deacon in his house and was summoned
to Rome. He was acquitted, but died on his return
journey. Before his departure from Africa, he had
given the gold and silver ornaments of the church to
the care of certain old men, and had also consigned an
inventory of these effects to an aged woman, who was
to deliver it to the next bishop. Maxentius gave lib-
erty to the Christians, so that it was possible for an
election to be held at Carthage. The bishop of Car-
thage, like the pope, was commonly consecrated by a
neighbouring bishop, assisted by a certain number of
others from the vicinity. He was primate not only of
the proconsular province, but of the other provinces
of North Africa, including Numidia, Byzacene, Tripo-
htana, and the two Mauretanias, which were all gov-
erned by the vicar of prefects. In each of these prov-
inces the local primacy was attached to no town, but
was held by the senior bishop, until St. Gregory the
Great made the office elective. St. Optatus implies
that the bishops of Numidia, many of whom were at
no great distance from Carthage, had expected that
they would have a voice in the election; but two
priests, Botrus and Cselestius, who each expected to be
elected, had managed that only a small number of
bishops should be present. Caecilian, the deacon who
had been so obnoxious to the martyrs, was duly
chosen by the whole people, placetl in the chair of
Mensurius, and consecrated by Felix, Bishop of Ap-
tonga or Abtughi. The old men who had charge of
the treasure of the church were obliged to give it up;
they joined with Botrus and Cselestius in refusing to
acknowledge the new bishop. They were assisted by
a rich lady named Lucilla, who had a grudge against
Caecilian because he had rebuked her habit of kissing
the Ijone of an uncanonizetl (non vindicattis) martyr
immediately before receiving Holy Communion.
Proliably we have here again a martjT whose death
was due to his own ill-regulated fervour.
Secundus, as the nearest primate, came with his suffragans to Carthage to judge the affair, and in a great council of seventy bishops declared the ordina- tion of Csecilian to be invalid, as having been per- formed by a traditor. A new bishop was consecrated, Majorinus, who belonged to the household of Lucilla and had been a lector in the deaconry of Ca>cilian. That lady provided the sum of 400 folles (more than 11,000 dollars), nominally for the poor; but all of it went into the pockets of the bishops, one-quarter of the sum being seized by Purpurius of Limata. Caeci- lian had possession of the basilica and the cathedra of Cyprian, and the people were with him, so that he re- fused to appear before the council. "If I am not properly consecrated ", he said ironically, " let them treat me as a deacon, and lay hands on me afresh, and not on another." On this reply being brought, Pur- purius cried: " Let him come here, and instead of lay- ing hands on him, we will break Ms head in penance." No wonder that the action of this council, which sent letters throughout Africa, had a great influence. But at Carthage it was well known that Cffcilian was the choice of the people, and it was not believed that Felix of Aptonga had given up the Sacred Books. Rome and Italy had given Circilian their communion. The Church of the inoderate Mensurius did not hold that consecration by a traditor was invalid, or even that it was illicit, if the traditor was still in lawful pos- session of his see. The coimcil of Secundus, on the contrary, declared that a traditor could not act as a bishop, and that any who were in communion with traditors were cut off from the Church. They called themselves the Church of the martyrs, and de- clared that all who were in communion with public
sinners like Caecilian and Felix were necessarily ex-
communicate.
The CoNDEirNATioN by Pope Melchiabes. — Very soon there were many cities having two bishops, the one in co mm union with CaecQian, the other with Ma- jorinus. Constantine, after defeating Maxentius (28 October, 312) and becoming master of Rome, showed himself a Cliristian in his acts. He wrote to Anuliuus, proconsul of Africa (was he the same as the mild pro- Consul of 303?), restoring the churches to Catholics, and exempting clerics of "the Cathohc Church of which Csecihan is president " from civil functions (Eu- sebius, Hist. Eccl., X, v, 15, and vii, 2). He also wrote to CiEcilian (ibid., X, vi, 1) sending him an order for 3000 folles to be distributed in Africa, Numidia, and Mauretania; if more was needed, the bishop must apply for more. He added that he had heard of tur- bulent persons who sought to corrupt the Church; he had ordered the proconsul Anulinus and the vicar of prefects to restrain them, and Caecilian was to appeal to these officials if necessary. The opposing party lost no time. A few days after the publication of these letters, their delegates, accompanied by a mob, brought to Anulinus two bundles of documents, con- taining the complaints of their party against Caecilian, to be forwarded to the emperor. St. Optatus has preserved a few words from their petition, in which Constantine is begged to grant judges from Gaul, where under his father's rule there had been no perse- cution, and therefore no traditors. Constantine knew the Church's constitution too well to comply and thereby make Gallic bishops judges of the primate of Africa. He at once referred the matter to the pope, expressing his intention, laudable, if too sanguine, of allowing no schisms in the Catholic Church. That the African scliismatics might have no ground of com- plaint, he ordered three of the chief bishops of Gaul, Reticius of Autun, Maternus of Cologne, and Marinus of Aries, to repair to Rome, to assist at the trial. He ordered Ciecilian to come thither with ten bishops of his accusers and ten of his own communion. The memorials against Caecilian he sent to the pope, who would know, he says, what procedure to employ in order to conclude the whole matter in accordance with justice (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., X, v, IS). Pope Mel- chiades summoned fifteen Italian bishops to sit with him. From this time forward we find that in all im- portant matters the popes issue their decretal letters from a small council of bishops, and there are traces of the custom even before this. The ten Donatist bish- ops (for we may now give the party its eventual name) were headed by a Bishop Donatus of Casae Nigra;. It was assumed by Optatus, Augustine, and the other Catholic apologists that this was "Donatus the Great", the successor of Majorinus as schismatic Bishop of Carthage. But the Donatists of St. Augus- tine's time were anxious to deny this, as they did not wish to admit that their protagonist had been con- demned, and the Catholics at the conference of -ill granted them the existence of a Donatus, Bishop of Caste Nigrae, who had distinguished himself by active hostility to Caecilian. Modern authorities agree in ac- cepting this view. But it seems inconceivable that, if Majorinus was still alive, he should not have been obliged to go to Rome. It would be very strange, further, that a Donatus of Casae Nigrae should appear as the leader of the party, without any explanation, unless Casae Nigrae was simply the birthplace of Donatus the Great. If we assume that Majorinus had died and had been succeeded by Donatus the Great just before the trial at Rome, we shall understand why Majorinus is never again mentioned.
The accusations against CiEcilian in the memorial were disregarded, as being anonymous and unproved. The witnesses brought from Africa acknowledged that they had nothing against him. Donatus, on the other hand, was convicted by his own confession of having
