DO'NATISTS were the followers of Donatus, a Numidian bishop who opposed the election of Cecilianus in 311 A.D. to the bishopric of Carthage, on the ground of the ordination having been performed by one who had been a traditor, or traitor—that is,. one who, during persecution, had given up the sacred books to the pagan authorities; and also because Cecilianus had exhibited great hostility towards the victims of the late persecution. After sonic time, the council of Arles (Aug. 1, 314 A.D.) decided against Donatus, who in a short time seceded from the Catholic church, and formed a distinct sect, which, by 330, had 172 bishops in northern Africa. The D., like the followers of Novatian (q.v.), went upon the principle, that the essence of the true church consisted in the purity and holiness of all its members individually, and not merely in its apostol ical and Catholic foundation and doctrine. They therefore both excommunicated all lapsed and gross offenders, not receiving them again but on being re-baptized, and also held that the efficacy of the sacraments depended on the worthiness of the administra tor, Driven to fanaticism by the oppression of the secular power, they not only denied to the state all right to meddle with ecclesiastical affairs,. but bands of Donatist ascetics collected, attacked the imperial troops (348), and continued to devastate Mauritania and Numidia for a dozen years.- In the beginning of the 5th c., they seem to have almost.
equaled the Catholics in number, and the eloquence of Augustine and these verities of Honorius were exercised upon the sect in vain; they continued to exist as a separate body. But by adopting a more prudent plan of proceeding, the Catholic bishops had, by the end of the 6th c., induced most of those that had left to return to the bosom of the church ; and in the 7th c. the D. were extinct. Donatism is regarded by Neander (see Dogmengeschichte, translated into English by J. E. Ryland: Bolin, vol.. ii. page 394) as a reaction against that form of Catholicism, "which conceived the church to be an outward organism, continued by the succession of bishops, who formed the necessary medium of communication with Christ, and for partaking in the Holy Spirit and salva tion." " Whoever is shown to be a Christian in a right and lawful manner, is to me a Catholic," was a saying of the D.; while the church in general, guided by Augustine, wished to let the worthy and unworthy remain mixed together, and to defer the separa tion to the final judgment." Thus, while the D. had the merit of superior strictness of theory, it must be acknowledged that their views were less practical than those of their opponents.