D ON'ATIST S. The followers of Donatus the Great, a schismatic body of Christians in North Africa, who flourished the fourth century. In the persecution under Diocletian (i.n.
the Christians had been ordered to give up their sacred books. Those who complied with this mand were called Trailitores, and the question how to deal with them soon became a one in Church discipline. Should they he admitted to ('hunch fellowship: and. if so. upon what conditions? The main body of the Church. led by home. favored a policy of mildness. But there was also a strict party, insisting that the Traditorcs were unworthy, that their presence would corrupt the body eeele..instie, and that any priestly functions which they might perform would he ipso facto null and void. For no priest could convey a grace which he himself had not: and a 'holy' Chureh must consist only of holy members. This puritan party demanded of all who would enter their fellowship that they should submit to baptism, whether they had pre viously received that rite or not, although to administer Iniptism a second time was not the practice of the I. lurch at large.
lboro. was also anotl er cause at work to pro duce Itonatist "rill-sm. viz. the jealousy tot felt by the Numidian clergy. under the lead of their primate. Se•undus, Bishop of Figisis. In :ill, after the death of Mensurins, Bishop of Carthage, the Catholic Cavilian was, chosen as his succession The strict party and the 'confessors' opposed Ca.cilian on the ground of his laxity in discipline. They also charged that a Trudotor had taken part in his ordination, which was thereby invalidated. The Numiolian clergy, who were displeased at not having been invited to participate in C:eLilian's election, took sides with this toPposition, and combined forces proceeded to elect a rival Bishop of t'arthage in the person of Alajorinns. IM his death two years later (313). they elected the man from whom their party name is taken. Domatus. called the Great. Thus the North African Church was divided into two hostile camps.
At Constantine•s emumand. synods were held to settle the dispute (Carthage. 311: Rome. 313: Arles. 314), and each time the Do113 OAS lost their ease. But their upon North Africa continued strong. and at the close of the century
they were more numerous there than the Catho lics. S MS of internal weakness, however. were not wanting. The Donatists had been rei;nforeed by various maloont•mts. especially by the fanati cal ('ircumeelliones fq.v.). of poor mor als and worse manners, and this kind of support tended to encourage outbreaks of violence. llo gatus and a few followers withdrew about 370, and the serioats defection of the \laximianists rune in 393. All this weakened the movement and helped prepare the way for its final collapse. The chief instrument in bringing it to an end was Saint Augustine of Hippo.
worked out and applied the Catho lic position. which had alreaoly been pretty clear ly formulated. Against the Donatists he taught that the Church on earth is a corpus permixtum: the wheat and the tares must grow together until the harvest. The 'holiness' of the Church eonsists in its possession of •averolotal power. by which it can transmit divine grace to needy mom. At tirst Augustine -ought to win hack the schismatics by means of argument. Pont he later came to believe in the application of force. Accordingly he ap proved the Imperial policy of coercion, adopted by Ilonorius in 405. See AuGusrEst:, SAINT.
In 411. a synod was held in Carthage, at which the whole subject of Donalison was debated anew, 2'soi Catholic bishops opposing 279 1)onatists. The verdict (prearranged) was on the side of Catholicism. The Domatists were deprived of civil and a little later they were debarred from holding religions meetings upon pain of death. From this time rapidly lost its power. .11though adherents of the sect are to be iminul for two eenturia longer, their number and their public influeno, steadily decreases. The Saracen invasion of the seventh century an end to the power of Doonati in and Catholicism alike in North sNfrica.
Consult Augustine, ant i-Donat ist writings. in vol. iv. of no Niro rs, 1st series, ed. by Sehaff (Buffalo, ]seal ; also his 93,1 I Optatus of Nlileve, :!:•hismate Donatistarum, by Ziw-a, in Script. Lech v. Lot., :\xvi. (Vienna, 1S93) ; Otter. Dor I Do natismuN t Freiburg, 1:sscio: Hamad:, History of Doyonn, Engl. trans. (Londn, ItitIS).