Optatus

(fourth century)

   Bishop and Theologian.

   Optatus was Bishop of Milevis in Numidia. Nothing is known of his life, but he is remembered for his treatise De Schismate Donatistarum. He argued that the Donatists could not be the true Church because they lacked catholicity (worldwide extension) and he attacked their claim to holiness. These arguments were later used to great effect by St augustine. De Schismate also has an attached appendix of useful historical documents.

   R.B. Eno, ‘The Works of Optatus as a turning point in the African ecclesiology’, The Themist, xxxvii (1973);

   J. Merdringer, ‘Optatus reconsidered’, Studia Patristica, xxii (1989).