DONATISTS, a powerful sect which arose in the Christian church of northern Africa at the beginning of the 4th century. In its doctrine it sprang from the same roots, and in its history it had in many things the same character, as the earlier Novatians. The predisposing causes of the Donatist schism were the belief, early introduced into the African church, that the validity of all sacerdotal acts depended upon the personal character of the agent, and the question, arising out of that belief, as to the eligibility for sacerdotal office of the traditores, or those who had dejivered up their copies of the Scriptures under the compulsion of the Diocletian persecution ; the exciting cause was the election of a successor to Mensurius, bishop of Carthage (d. 311). Men surius had held moderate views as to the treatment of the traditores, and accordingly a strong fanatical party, supported by Secundus, bishop of Tigisis and primate of Numidia, had formed itself in Carthage in opposition to him. There were thus two parties, each anxious to secure the succession to the vacant see. The friends of the late bishop fixed their choice on Caecilian, the archdeacon, and secured his election and his consecration by Felix, bishop of Aptunga, before the other party were ready for action. It had been customary for the Numidian bishops to be present at the election and consecration of the bishop of Carthage, who as metropolitan of proconsular Africa occupied a position of primacy towards all the African provinces. Caecilian's party, however, had not waited for them, knowing them to be in sympathy with their opponents. Soon after Caecilian's consecra tion Secundus himself with 7o of the Numidian bishops arrived at Carthage. A synod of Africa was formed, before which Cae cilian was summoned ; his consecration was declared invalid, on the ground that Felix had been a traditor ; and finally, having refused to obey the summons to appear, he was excommunicated, and the "reader" Majorinus consecrated in his stead.
To investigate the dispute Constantine issued a commission to five Gallic bishops, under the presidency of Melchiades, bishop of Rome. Ten bishops appeared on each side, the leading repre sentative of the Donatists being Donatus of Casae Nigrae. The decision was entirely in favour of Caecilian, and Donatus was found guilty of various ecclesiastical offences. An appeal was taken and allowed; but the decision of the synod of Arles in 314 not only confirmed the position of Caecilian, but greatly strength ened it by passing a canon that ordination was not invalid because performed by a traditor, if otherwise regular. Felix had pre viously been declared innocent after an examination of records and witnesses at Carthage. A further appeal to the emperor in person was heard at Milan in 316, when all points were finally decided in favour of Caecilian, probably on the advice of Hosius, bishop of Cordova. Henceforward the power of the state was directed to the suppression of the defeated party. Persistent Donatists were no longer merely heretics; they were rebels and incurred the confiscation of their church property and the for feiture of civil rights.
The attempt to destroy the sect by force had the result of intensifying its fanaticism. Majorinus, the Donatist bishop of Carthage, died in 315, and was succeeded by Donatus, surnamed Magnus, a man of great force of character after whom the move ment was named, and under whose influence it gained fresh strength from the opposition it encountered. In 321 Constantine, seeing probably that he had been wrong in abandoning his usual policy of toleration, sought to retrace his steps by granting the Donatists liberty to act according to their consciences, and declaring that the points in dispute between them and the orthodox should be left to the judgment of God. This wise policy, to which he consistently adhered to the close of his reign, was not followed by his son and successor Constans, who, after repeated attempts to win over the sect by bribes, resorted again to persecu tion, many of their bishops falling victims and Donatus and others being banished. The power which they had been the first to invoke having thus declared so emphatically and per sistently against them, the Donatists revived the old world-alien Christianity of the days of persecution, and repeated Tertul lian's question, "What has the emperor to do with the church?" (Quid est imperatori cum ecclesia?) With the accession of Julian (361) an entire change took place; their churches were restored to the Donatists and their bishops reinstated, with the natural result of greatly increasing both the numbers and the enthusiasm of the party. A return to the earlier policy of repression was made under Valentinian I. and Gratian, by whom the churches were again closed, and all assemblies forbidden. It was not, however, until the commencement of the 5th century that the sect began to decline, owing largely to the rise among them of a group of moderate and scholarly men like the grammarian Tychonius, who vainly strove to overcome the more fanatical section. Against the house thus divided against itself both state and church directed not unsuccessful assaults. In 405 an edict was issued by the emperor Honorius commanding the Donatists, under the severest penalties, to return to the Catho lic church. On the other hand, Augustine, bishop of Hippo, after several years' negotiation, arranged a great conference between the Donatists and the orthodox, which was held under the authority of the emperor at Carthage in 411. There were present 286 Catholics and 279 Donatist bishops. Before entering on the pro ceedings the Catholics pledged themselves, if defeated, to give up their sees, while in the other event they promised to recognize the Donatists as bishops on their simply declaring their adherence to the Catholic church. The latter proposal, though it was re ceived with scorn at the time, had perhaps ultimately as much influence as the logic of Augustine in breaking the strength of the schism. The discussion, which lasted for three days, turned ex clusively upon the two questions that had given rise to the schism —first, the question of fact, whether Felix of Aptunga who con secrated Caecilian had been a traditor ; and secondly, the question of doctrine, whether a church by tolerance of unworthy members within its pale lost the essential attributes of purity and catholicity. The Donatist position, like that of the Novatians (q.v.) and, earlier, of the Montanists (q.v.) was that the church is a society of holy persons, and that the mark of the true church is to guard the essential predicate of holiness by excluding all who have committed mortal sin; the Catholic standpoint was that such holiness is not destroyed by the presence of unworthy members in the church but rests upon the divine foundation of the church and upon the gift of the Holy Spirit and the communication of grace through the priesthood. In the words of Optatus of Milevi, sanctitas de sacramentis colligitur, non de superbia personarum pondera. And the much wider diffusion of the orthodox church was also taken as practical confirmation that it alone possessed what was regarded as the equally essential predicate of catholicity.
The decision of Marcellinus, the imperial commissioner, was in favour of the Catholic party on both questions, and it was at once confirmed on an appeal to the emperor. The severest penal measures were enforced against the schismatics; in 414 they were denied all civil rights, in 415 the holding of assemblies was for bidden on pain of death. But they lived on, suffering with their orthodox brethren in the Vandal invasions of the 5th century, and like them finally disappearing before the Saracen onslaught two centuries later.