Donatus Carthaginiensis

Donatus Carthaginiensis , also called Donatus Magnus , or Donatus von Casae Nigrae (* before 313 AD ; † around 355 AD in a Roman province in Gallia ) was a leading cleric of a schismatic group known as Donatists in North Africa.

Live and act

Little is known about his life, as his correspondence and written work have also been completely lost. He was first mentioned in the church records as Donatus von Casae Nigrae in October 313, when Pope Miltiades found him guilty of having baptized Roman Catholic clergy again. This shows the core that lay in the Donatist disputes. According to the Donatists, the holiness of the church is determined by the holiness of its members, so that the validity of the sacraments is based on the personal holiness of the priest. The Donatists therefore insisted on re-baptism if a Christian was baptized by an unworthy priest. In their understanding, it was also not enough that the ordination of a bishop was carried out by a person who was only authorized to do so; they also required complete moral integrity from him. Their views were in conflict with the rest of the Catholic Church, which recognized the validity of the sacraments despite the inadequacy of the donor.

Casae was a settlement on the extreme southern edge of the Numidia Plain , south of Theveste , an area inhabited by people of predominantly Berber descent.

Donatus was consecrated as Bishop of Carthage and Primate of North Africa in 313 AD and part of a Christian sect that became known as the Donatist sect, although Donatus was not the founder, but followed the founding leader Majorinus in the bishopric and consistently developed the ideas. In contrast to the Western Christian Church in the 4th and 5th centuries, this North African split practiced its own ecclesiology , Donatism .

Donatus led the group to a number of synods, including the Council of Arles in AD 314. In August 347 he was exiled to Gaul by Emperor Flavius ​​Iulius Constans , where he is believed to have died in 355. His successor on the bishopric was Parmenianus († around 392). He was also a North African Donatist bishop and wrote several works that defended the rigorous views of the Donatists.

Contemporary opponents of Donatism

The Donatists found an opponent in their attitudes in Augustine . So the Donatists saw themselves as a true and pure church that separated itself from the Catholic clergy. In the time of the previous Diocletian persecution of Christians, the latter had made compromises with the political and administrative agencies of the Roman Empire . Augustine was on the side of the old church, his important anti-Donatist works were:

• Psalmus contra partem Donati. (394)
• Contra epistulam Parmeniani. (400)
• De baptismo. (401)
• Contra litteras Petiliani. (401-405)
• Ad Cresconium grammaticum partis Donati. (405-406)
• De unico baptismo. (412)
• Gesta cum emerito Donatistarum episcopo. (418)
• Sermo ad Caesariensis ecclesiae plebem. (418)
• Contra Gaudentium Donatistarum episcopum. (419-420)

Web links

• Sebastian Buck: Donatism. In: Basic knowledge of Christianity. Retrieved August 16, 2020 . 
• Donatism. In: Online Dynamic Bibliography. Corporation for Digital Scholarship, accessed August 16, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Donato di Cartagine. Biographical data ( [1] on www.treccani.it)
2. ↑ James J. O'Donnell: Donatus (or Donatus of Casae Nigrae; fl. C. 310 – c. 355 CE), https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.48652 ( [2] on oxfordaasc. com)
3. ↑ Klaus Rosen : Augustine. Genius and saint. Zabern, Wiesbaden 2015, ISBN 978-3-8053-4860-7 , p. 104 f
4. ↑ Augustine's opponent and the works directed against them. Augustine research p. 3 ( [3] on www.augustinus.de)

predecessor	Office	successor
Majorinus 311 / 312-313	Bishop (Donatian) of Carthage 313–347	Parmenianus 362 / 363-391 / 392