Donatus

(fourth century)

   Bishop and Heretic.

   The Donatist schism takes its name from Bishop Donatus, the successor of Bishop Majorinus, who was consecrated to replace Caecilian. The Donatists insisted that Caecilian’s consecration had been invalid because one of his consecrators, Felix of Apthungi, had handed over the Scriptures when their possession had been forbidden in the Great Persecution of Diocletian. The dispute split the African Church. Theologically, the Donatists maintained that Sacraments were invalid if they were conferred by unworthy ministers. In contrast, St Augustine insisted that the Sacrament was unaffected by the merits or vices of the minister because the true minister was Jesus Christ. The Donatists maintained that they were the one true Church and, to the fury of the orthodox, they rebaptised all new converts from the Catholic Church. Although Donatism was condemned at the Synod of Arles of 314 and by the Emperor in 316, 347 and 411, the group persisted until the African Church was destroyed by the Arabs in the sixth or seventh century.

   W.H.C. Frend, The Donatist Church (1952);

   G.G. Willis, St Augustine and the Donatist Controversy (1950).