Donatism
ST THOMAS AQUINAS NATIONAL SEMINARY, NAIROBI KENYA.
DEPARTMENT: CHURCH HISTORY
COURSE NUMBER: 750 CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITY
TOPIC: DONATISM
BY: ONGOMA LAWRENCE IFIRE
LECTURER: REV. FR. PAUL NDUNG’U
DATE: OCTOBER 2013.
INTRODUCTION
Many people especially the Christians, are always interested and have the urge of knowing the historical background of their churches. In the historical trajectory of the Catholic Church, from the earliest days, there were those who misinterpreted the Gospel message, hence different groups of Christians formed schismatic communities. This work covers one of the communities by the name Donatism. Donatism was a sect within Roman province of Africa that flourished in the fourth and fifth century among the Berber Christians. Donatist in Africa began in 311 AD and flourished just one hundred years, until the conference at Carthage in 411 AD, after which its importance waned. It was begun by Donatus, Bishop of Casae Nigrae in Numidia. It had its roots in the social pressures among the long-established Christian community of Roman North-Africa; present day Berber countries are Algeria and Tunisia.
North African theology had always been peculiar in emphasizing the importance of holiness of priests and Bishops who administered the sacraments, going so far as to call the validity of sacrament in question, if it had been administered by one guilty of serious sin. Like the Novatianists; schism of previous century, the Donatists were rigorists holding that the church must be a church of ‘saints’, not ‘sinners’. This is clearly illustrated below.
DONATISM
According to Norbert Brockman, Donatists were named for the Berber Christian Bishop Donatus Magnus.1 Mere members of a schismatic church were not in communion with churches of the catholic tradition in late antiquity. Donatism as a sect, was an indirect outcome of Diocletian’s’ persecutions. The governor of Africa had been lenient towards the large Christian
DEPARTMENT: CHURCH HISTORY
COURSE NUMBER: 750 CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITY
TOPIC: DONATISM
BY: ONGOMA LAWRENCE IFIRE
LECTURER: REV. FR. PAUL NDUNG’U
DATE: OCTOBER 2013.
INTRODUCTION
Many people especially the Christians, are always interested and have the urge of knowing the historical background of their churches. In the historical trajectory of the Catholic Church, from the earliest days, there were those who misinterpreted the Gospel message, hence different groups of Christians formed schismatic communities. This work covers one of the communities by the name Donatism. Donatism was a sect within Roman province of Africa that flourished in the fourth and fifth century among the Berber Christians. Donatist in Africa began in 311 AD and flourished just one hundred years, until the conference at Carthage in 411 AD, after which its importance waned. It was begun by Donatus, Bishop of Casae Nigrae in Numidia. It had its roots in the social pressures among the long-established Christian community of Roman North-Africa; present day Berber countries are Algeria and Tunisia.
North African theology had always been peculiar in emphasizing the importance of holiness of priests and Bishops who administered the sacraments, going so far as to call the validity of sacrament in question, if it had been administered by one guilty of serious sin. Like the Novatianists; schism of previous century, the Donatists were rigorists holding that the church must be a church of ‘saints’, not ‘sinners’. This is clearly illustrated below.
DONATISM
According to Norbert Brockman, Donatists were named for the Berber Christian Bishop Donatus Magnus.1 Mere members of a schismatic church were not in communion with churches of the catholic tradition in late antiquity. Donatism as a sect, was an indirect outcome of Diocletian’s’ persecutions. The governor of Africa had been lenient towards the large Christian
Bibliography: ENCYCLOPEDIA FAUL, D, “Donatism,” in The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol 4, Mc-Graw Hill Book Company, New York, 1967, pg. 1001-1004. BOOKS BROCKMAN, NORBERT, S.M, with Umberto Pescantini, MCCJ, A History of the Catholic Church, Pauliness Publications, Nairobi, 1991. HANS, LIETZMANN, From Constantine To Julian, Lutter worth Press, London, 1953. STEBBING, GEORGE, C.S.S.R, The Story of The Catholic Church, Sands & Company, London, 1915. INTERNET en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donatism, 16/10/2013.