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 DONATISTS

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DONATISTS

themselves. Like so many other schisms, this schism bred schisms within itself. In Mauretania and Nu- midia these separated sects were so numerous that the Donatists themselves could not name them all. We hear of Urbanists; of Claudianists, who were recon- ciled to the main body by Primianus of Carthage; of Rogatists, a Mauretanian sect, of mild character, be- cause no Circumcellions belonged to it; the Rogatists were severely punished whenever the Donatists could induce the magistrates to do so, and were also perse- cuted by Optatus of Timgad. But the most famous sectaries were the Maximianists, for the story of their separation from the Donatists reproduces with strange exactitude that of the withdrawal of the Donatists themselves from the communion of the Church; and the conduct of the Donatists towards them was so in- consistent with their avowed principles, that it became in the skilled hands of Augustine the most effective weapon of all his controversial armoury.

Primianus, Donatist Bishop of Carthage, excom- municated the deacon Maximianus. The latter (who was, like Majorinus, supported by a lady) got together a council of forty-three bishops, who summoned Pri- mianus to appear before them. The primate refused, insulted their envoys, tried to have them prevented from celebrating the Sacred Mysteries, and had stones thrown at them in the street. The council summoned him before a greater council, which met to the number of a hundred bishops at Cebarsussum in June, 393. Primianus was deposed; all clerics were to leave his communion within eight days; if they should delay till after Christmas, they would not be permitted to return to the Church even after penance; the laity were allowed untU the following Easter, under the same penalty. A new bishop of Carthage was ap- pointed in the person of Maximian himself, and was consecrated by twelve bishops. The partisans of Primianus were rebaptized, if they had been baptized after the permitted delay. Primianus stood out, and demanded to be judged by a Numid'an council; three hundred and ten bishops met at Bagai in April, 394; the primate did not take the place of an accused per- son, but himself presided. He was of course ac- quitted, and the Maximianists were condemned with- out a hearing. All but the twelve consecrators and their abettors among the clergy of Carthage were given till Christmas to return; after this period they would be obliged to do penance. This decree, com- posed in eloquent style by Emeritus of C.tsarea, and adopted by acclamation, made the Donatists hence- forward ridiculous through their having readmitted schismatics without penance. Maximian's church was razed to the ground, and after the term of grace had elapsed, the Donatists persecuted the unfortunate Maximianists, representing themselves as Catholics, and demanding that the magistrates should enforce against the new sectaries the very laws which Catho- lic emperors had drawn up against Donatism. Their influence enabled them to do this, for they were still far more numerous than the Catholics, and the magis- trates must often have been of their party. In the reception of those who returned from the party of Maximian they were yet more fatally inconsequent. The rule was theoretically adhered to that all who had been baptized in the schism must be rebaptized; but if a bisliop returned, he and his whole flock were ad- mitted without rebaptism. This was allowed even in tiie case of two of the consecrators of Maximian, Pra> textatus of Assur and Felicianus of Musti, after the proconsul had vainly tried to expel them from their sees, and although a Donatist bishop, Rogatus, had already been appointed at Assur. In another case the party of Primianus was more consistent. Salvius, the Maximianist Bishop of Membresa, was another of the consecrators. He was twice summoned by the pro- consul to retire in favour of the Primianist Restitutus. As he was much respectetl by the people of Membresa,

a mob was brought over from the neighbouring town of Abitene to expel liim; the aged bishop was beaten, and made to dance with dead dogs tied round his neck. But his people built him a new chui'ch, and three bishops coexisted in this small town, a Maxi- mianist, a Primianist, and a Catholic.

The leader of the Donatists at this time was Opta- tus, Bishop of Thamugadi (Timgad), called Gildoni- anus, from his friendship with Gildo, the Count of Africa (386-397). For ten years Optatus, supported by Gildo, was the tyrant of Africa. He persecutetl the Rogatists and Maximianists, and he used troops against the Catholics. St. Augustine tells us that his vices and cruelties were beyond description; but they had at least the effect of disgracing the cause of the Donatists, for though he was hated throughout Africa for his wickedness and his evil deeds, yet the Puritan faction remained always in full communion with this bishop, who was a robber, a ravisher, an oppressor, a traitor, and a monster of cruelty. When Gildo fell in 397, after having made himself master of Africa for a few months, Optatus was thrown into a prison, in which he died.

S.iiNT Augustine. — St. Augustine began his vic- torious campaign against Donatism soon after he was ordained priest in 391. His popular psalm or "Abe- cedarium" against the Donatists was intended to make known to the people the arguments set forth by St. Optatus, with the same conciliatory end in view. It shows that the sect was founded by traditors, con- demned by pope and council, separated from the whole world, a cause of division, violence, and blood- shed ; the true Church is the one Vine, whose branches are over all the earth. After St. Augustine had be- come bishop in 395, he obtained conferences with some of the Donatist leaders, though not with his rival at Hippo. In 400 he wrote three books against the letter of Parmenianus, refuting his calumnies and his arguments from Scripture. More important were his seven books on baptism, in which, after developing the principle already laid down by St. Optatus, that the effect of the sacrament is independent of the holi- ness of the minister, he shows in great detail that the authority of St. Cyprian is more awkward than con- venient for the Donatists. The principal Donatist controversialist of the day was Petilianus, Bishop of Constantine, a successor of the traditor Silvanus. St. Augustine wrote two books in reply to a letter of his against the Church, adding a third book to answer an- other letter in which he was himself attacked by Pe- tilianus. Before this last book he published his " De Unitate ecclesis" about 403. To these works must be added some sermons and some letters which are real treatises.

The arguments used by St. Augustine against Dona- tism fall under three heads. First we have the his- torical proofs of the regularity of Ca^cilian's consecra- tion, of the innocence of Felix of Aptonga, of the guilt of the founders of the "Pure" Church, also the judg- ments given by pope, council, and emperor, the true history of Macarius, the barbarous behaviour of the Donatists under Julian, the violence of the Circumcel- lions, and so forth. Second, there are the doctrinal arguments: the proofs from the Old and New Testa- ments that the Church is Catholic, diffused through- out the world, and necessarily one and united; appeal is made to the See of Rome, where the succession of bishops is uninterrupted from St. Peter himself; St. Augustine borrows his list of popes from St. Optatus (Ep. li), and in his psalm crystallizes the argument into the famous phrase: "That is the rock against which the proud gates of hell do not prevail." A fur- ther appeal is to the Eastern Church, and especially to the Apostolic Churches to which St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John addressed epistles — they are not in com- munion with the Donatists. The validity of baptism conferred by heretics, the impiety of rebaptizing, are