305–412

The Donatist Schism in North Africa

After the Great Persecution, rigorist confessors in Africa branded as "traditores" clergy who had handed over the Scriptures to the authorities. Caecilian was elected bishop of Carthage. Against him the Numidian bishops and the wealthy Lucilla put forward Majorinus and then Donatus.

They held Caecilian's ordination invalid because one of his consecrators, Felix of Abthungi, was a traditor. The Donatists denied the validity of sacraments performed by unworthy ministers and re-baptized those who joined them.

Constantine referred the case to Pope Miltiades in Rome in 313 and then to the Council of Arles in 314. Both ruled in Caecilian's favor. But this did not end the schism, which spread across almost all of Africa and produced the radical Circumcellions (around 340).

The schism survived into the late 4th century, when Augustine opposed it. After Gildo's revolt and Circumcellion violence, the state was drawn into the dispute. In May 411 a conference at Carthage chaired by the tribune Marcellinus ruled against the Donatists. After this Donatism was officially banned, though it survived in practice in Africa until the Muslim conquest.