DONATISM. Donatism was not a heresy, but a schism. During the persecution of the Christians under Diocletian, they were called upon to deliver up any copies of their sacred books they might have. Often they pre ferred to suffer martyrdom, and there grew up an un healthy enthusiasm for the martyr's crown. Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage, tried to discountenance this. When called upon to deliver up his sacred books he hid them and substituted some heretical works. Mensurius died A.D. 311, and was succeeded by his archdeacon, Caecilian, who shared his views. Caecilian was consecrated by Felix, Bishop of Aptunga. The consecration provoked a storm which had long been brewing. The opponents of Mensurius and Caecilian warmly protested. They made three charges : (1) that Caecilian was not worthy to hold the office; (2) that he had not been elected by the bishops of the whole province of Numidia; and (3) that he had not been properly consecrated, since Felix himself had been a traditor. Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis and Primate of Numidia, supporting the opponents of Cwciliam, consecrated Majorinus as a rival bishop. About A.D. 315 Majorinus was succeeded by Donatus Magnus, who was so called by his followers to distinguish him from another bishop of the same name. " Under him the sect became an organised community extending over all the provinces of North Africa, almost every town having its rival bishop and congregation " (Prot. Diet.). The aim of the Donatists was a good one. They felt that the Church ought to be pure, and con sequently ought to exclude unworthy members. " Dona tism represents an attempt—the final one for a thousand years—to resist the process of secularization by which the Church was gradually transformed from a community of holy persons into an institution of mixed character. offering to secure salvation for its members by means of grace over which it had sole control. . . . Insistence on a minimum of personal worthiness in the clergy at least was the last remnant of a much more earnest conception' of the Church. It was met by the defenders
of Catholicism with a new emphasis on the objective character of the sacraments, and upon the holiness of the Chnrch apart from the holiness or otherwise of its members and clergy. It was in the controversy with the Donatists, therefore, that the Catholic doctrine of the Church was completely developed " (E.R.E.). The case of the Donatists was examined and rejected a number of times by the orthodox Church. But they could not easily be suppmsed, in spite of the fact that in course of time they split up into many sects (e.g., Rogatists, Maximianists, Primianists). " As Donatus sought to divide Christ, so was Donatus divided by the divisions which arose daily amongst his own followers " (St. Augustine). In A.D. 411 the Emperor Honorius arranged for a conference of Catholic and Donatist bishops at Carthage. Marcellinus, pro-consul of Africa, presided, and 286 Catholic and 279 Donatist bishops were present. The president pronounced sen tence against the Donatists. He warned all men to hinder their assembling in towns and villages, and to restore the churches to the Catholics. "Every bishop of the community of Donates must, on his return to his home, return to the one true church, or at least not impede the faithful execution of the law." After this many of the Donatists returned to the Church. In A.D. 414 sterner measures were taken against those who remained. The Donatists continued to return to the Church in increasing numbers. They revived somewhat towards the end of the sixth century, but after the Saracen invasion in the seventh century they disappeared. Optatus, Bishop of Milevis in Numidia. wrote a treatise in seven books " On the Schism of the Donatists." See K. R. Hagenbach; J. H. Blunt; the Prot. Diet.; the Cath. Diet.: Wace and Piercy; Hastings' E.R.E.