Donatus Magnus - The Schism

The Schism

The schism between the two Christian wings centered on the status of traditore clergy. The Donatists contended that traditores could not be reinstated without being re-baptized and re-ordained to take office. They also contended that church rituals performed by traditores were invalid. Therefore persons who were baptized, ordained or consecrated should not be recognized by the Church.

Donatist thinking was relatively consistent with that of Saint Cyprian, who died a martyr during an earlier wave of persecutions, over half a century earlier.

Effectively, the Roman Church believed that lapsed clergy could perform rituals such as baptism as long as they followed church ritual.

During his tenure of some 40 years Donatus oversaw the expansion of the Donatist Christian sect but struggled unsuccessfully against the Roman Christian wing to obtain Church recognition as the legitimate Primate of North Africa.

This effort failed because the Donatists were unable to prove to a series of the councils that considered the case that Caecilian had been a traditor or that his consecration was invalid because he was consecrated as bishop by a tradito, Bishop Felix of Aptunga.

The issue was complicated because there it was not only Roman Catholic bishops who were suspected of being traditores; some Donatist bishops were also suspected of the same, in contradiction to their sect's basic teaching. Further, bishops suspected of being traditores refused to be challenged.

Donatus succeeded in expanding the Donatist sect in spite of lack of success in removing Caecilian from office, in large part due to the unpopularity of Caecilian and the Roman administration - particularly amongst the rural population.

Donatist priests and bishops were much closer to the rural agricultural population which consisted of Roman farmers and the Berber and Phoenician descendants of the indigenous people who lived there before the Romans conquered North Africa.

Most Donatist clergy in rural Numidia spoke the vernacular languages (Libyan or Punic) as well as Latin, whereas the Roman Catholic clergy usually spoke only Latin.

During the Diocletian persecution in Carthage there had been many who were imprisoned, some of whom were voluntary martyrs. These people claimed falsely to be in possession of Church property which they refused to give up to officials.

The Bishop of Carthage, Mensurius, who was very much opposed to what he considered the fanaticism of the voluntary martyrs, sent his Archdeacon, Caecilian, to the prison to disperse by force the militant crowds gathered in support of volunteer martyrs.

This action by Caecilian created many enemies in Carthage who were staunchly opposed to him.