Felicia had been a Donatist originally and was converted by force. She had devoted herself to the virgin life and apparently had become head of a religious house; but by reason of some wicked deeds of the clergy, possibly the extortion and rapacity of Antonius at Fussala, she was much disturbed and seemed inclined to relapse into her earlier puristic notions, if not to return to the body that upheld them. To quiet her doubts Augustin writes Ep. ccviii. c. 423. The Lord had predicted offenses. There are two kinds of shepherds over the flock, and will be to the end: the flock too has the good and the bad in it. The gathering is the present duty, the separation will be the future one; this latter is the Lord's prerogative. To abide in unity under such circumstances is a duty until the winnowing, and one is to believe what these shepherds teach, not what they do. Good and bad are therefore in the world under the widely diffused Catholic Church; the Donatist has no such note of universality. Love Christ and the Church, and then He will not permit you to lose the fruit of your virginity and to perish with the lost. If you go out of this life, separated from the unity of the body of Christ, this preserved integrity of the body will not profit you. You were compelled to come in; be thankful to those who compelled you. Show your devotion to the Lord, as your only hope, by being unmoved with these offenses, and by cleaving to his body, the Church.
A letter addressed to Pope Coelestine is ascribed to Augustin [Ep. ccix. c. 423]; its authenticity has been disputed. The author, in giving an account of the appointment of Antonius as bishop of Fussala, remarks that at Fussala, a castellum about forty miles distant from Hippo, as in all the adjoining region, there had been a Donatist population; in Fussala itself there had not been a solitary Catholic; the Punic was the common language. The coercive measures had converted the whole territory, but the process had also aroused a violent opposition in the form of robbery, beating, blinding, murder. After its conversion, the distance from Hippo and the great numbers to be instructed, required a new bishopric, the history of which and the troubles growing out of it, the author further relates.
In that valuable book De doctrina christiana, (begun in 397, but ended in 426, including the part having reference to our subject III. xxx. 42), Augustin quotes approvingly from the book of Tychonius the De septem regulis, and prefaces a discussion of these rules by an allusion to the treatise of Tychonius, which had refuted some of the narrow and puristic doctrines of the Church, as held by his own party; this we have already seen was answered by Parmenian, whose letter in turn was dissected by Augustin. The first, second, fourth and seventh of these rules bear especially upon the doctrinal points under discussion. [Cp. Retractt. II. iv. and Tychonius de Septem Regulis is reprinted in Migne. Pat. Lat. xviii.]
In his de Hoeresibus [c. 428 A.D.] Chapter lxix. gives a brief account of the Donatiani or Donatistæ: (a) as to origin and progress; (b) Donatus's view of the Trinity; (c) the Montenses at Rome; (d) the Circumcelliones; (e) the schism of Maximian.
This was his parting arrow after the thirty-six years of battle. Catholics and Donatists passed under the persecutions of the Arian Vandals. Two years after this treatise Augustin laid aside his weapons to enter the land of eternal peace and unity.
More or less extended allusions are made to Donatism in the following sermons, arranged in the order of the Benedictine editions; for the years in which they were delivered cannot be determined. Want of space prevents the presentation of any analysis.
Sermo X. 1 Kings iii. 16-28.
Sermo XLV. Is. lvii. 13 and 2 Cor. vii. 1.
Sermo XLVI. Ez. xxxiv. 1-16.
Sermo XLVII. Ez. xxxiv. 17-31.
Sermo LXXI. Matt. xii. 32.
Sermo LXXXVIII. Matt. xx. 30-34.
Sermo XC. Matt. xxii. 1-14.
Sermo CVII. Luc. xii. 13-21.
Sermo CXXIX. Jo. v. 39-47.
Sermo CXXXVII. Jo. x. 1-16.
Sermo CXXXVIII. Jo. x. 11-16.
Sermo CLXXXIII. 1 Jo. iv. 2.
Sermo CCXVIII. Luc. xxiv. 38-47.
Sermo CCXLIX. Jo. xxi. 1-14.
Sermo CCLII. Jo. xxi. 1-14.
Sermo CCLXV. The Ascension.
Sermo CCLXVI. Ps. cxli. (cxl.) 5.
Sermo CCLXVIII. Pentecost.
Sermo CCLXIX. Pentecost.
Sermo CCLXXXV. Anniversary of the martyrs Castus and Æmilus.
Sermo CCXCII. John the Baptist.
Sermo CCCXXV. Anniversary of the Twenty Martyrs.
Similar references are to be found in the expositions and sermons based on the Psalms. The first column is the Hebrew and English order; the second that of LXX. and Vulgate.
Exposition of Psalms XI. (X.)
Exposition of Psalms XXVI. (XXV.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms XXXI. (XXX.) Sermons I. and II.
Exposition of Psalms XXXIII. (XXXII.) Sermon II.
Exposition of Psalms XXXIV. (XXXIII.) Sermon II.
Exposition of Psalms XXXVI. (XXXV.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms XXXVII. (XXXVI.) Sermons II. (archival) and III.
Exposition of Psalms XL. (XXXIX.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms LV. (LIV.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms LVIII. (LVII.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms LXXXVI. (LXXXV.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms XCIX. (XCVIII.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms CXX. (CXIX.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms CXXV. (CXXIV.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms CXXXIII. (CXXXII.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms CXLVI. (CXLV.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms CXLVII. 12-20 (CXLVII.) Sermon.
Exposition of Psalms CXLIX. Sermon.
The time of writing the de Utilitate Jejunii is unknown. Chapter V. 9, contrasts pagan, heretical and Catholic fasts; heretics claim indeed to fast in order to please God; how can they, when they sever the unity? All heretics perish; they are the dividers of the inheritance of Christ.
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In conclusion the reviser desires to commend the fidelity and lucidity of the translation made by the Rev. J. R. King, M.A.
No changes made by the reviser have been indicated, since all could not be without confusion. The translation had taken most of its notes and references from the Benedictines. The citations of Cyprian are according to the numerals in Hartel's edition.