The Schismatics
separate themselves
from the Communion
of the Church.
The Party having thus declared Cæcilianus illegally elected and ordained, they separated themselves from his Communion, and from the Communion of all who communicated with him[[536]]; that is, from the Communion of the Catholic Church; for Cæcilianus was acknowleged by the other Bishops of Africa, by the Bishop of Rome, and by all the Bishops of the World, says St. Austin[[537]]. Such was the Rise of the famous Schism, which, for the Space of 300 Years, and upwards, occasioned great Disturbances in the Churches of Africa. |Called Donatists,
and from whom.| Donatus, Bishop of Casænigræ in Numidia, was the first Author of it, according to St. Austin[[538]]; but it was not from him, but from Donatus, the Schismatic Bishop of Carthage, that they took the Name of Donatists; for, till his Time, they styled themselves the Party of Majorinus[[539]], whom they chose and ordained Bishop of Carthage, in the room of Cæcilianus; though he was then only Lector of that Church, and had been formerly one of Lucilla’s menial Servants[[540]]. To justify their Conduct, and their electing a new Bishop, they writ Letters to all the Churches of Africa, filled with Calumnies against Cæcilianus, and those who had ordained him. By these Letters great Numbers were imposed upon, and misled; insomuch that, the People being every-where divided, most Churches had Two Bishops, the one ordained by Majorinus, and the other by Cæcilianus[[541]].
Edicts enacted by
Constantine, in fav-
our of the Christian
Religion.
About this time, that is, about the Year 313. Constantine, out of his Zeal for the Christian Religion, issued Two Decrees, addressed to Anulinus, Proconsul of Africa, the one commanding all the Places in that Province to be restored, which had once belonged to the Catholic Church, and might have been usurped during the Persecution[[542]]; and the other, exempting the Ecclesiastics from all civil Functions[[543]]. This Privilege was granted only to the Ecclesiastics of the Catholic Church, whereof Cæcilianus was the Head, as was expresly declared in the Edict; and therefore to him alone the Proconsul imparted it. It was a great Mortification to the Donatists to see themselves thus disregarded by the Emperor: they therefore assembled a few Days after, and drawing up a Petition to Constantine, they delivered it, unsealed, to Anulinus, together with a Bundle of Papers, sealed up in a Leather Bag, with this Title: The Petition of the Catholic Church, containing the Crimes of Cæcilianus; by the Party of Majorinus. |The Donatists petition
Constantine, that the
Dispute may be re-
ferred to the Bishops
of Gaul.| The Substance of the Petition was, that the Controversy between them and the other Bishops of Africa might be referred to the Bishops of Gaul, who were free from the Imputation of having delivered up the sacred Books to the Pagans[[544]]. Anulinus immediately dispatched a Messenger to the Emperor, both with the Request, and the Papers, giving him, at the same time, by a Letter still extant[[545]], an Insight into the Dispute, that made so great a Noise in Africa. Constantine, who was then in Gaul, having received and read all those Pieces, expressed great Concern to find the Christians thus divided among themselves, and the Bishops at Variance with one another[[546]]. |The Bishops named
by Constantine.| However, he readily granted to the Donatists the Judges they demanded, naming, for that Purpose, Maternus Bishop of Cologne, Rheticius Bishop of Autun, and Marinus Bishop of Arles[[547]]; all Men of known Integrity, great Learning, and unblemished Characters. To these, by a Letter under his own Hand, he gave Notice of their new Commission; and, at the same time, for their better Information, he caused Copies to be transmitted to them, of all the Papers he had received from Anulinus[[548]]. The Three Bishops were ordered to repair, with all Speed, to Rome, and there, jointly with Melchiades, Bishop of that City, to sit as Judges of the Controversy. Cæcilianus likewise was ordered to Rome, and allowed to take with him Ten Bishops of his Party, such as he should judge the most capable of defending his Cause; and the same Liberty was granted to the adverse Party[[549]]. |His Letter to Melchiades.| Constantine, in the Letter he writ on this Occasion to Melchiades, after appealing to him as a Witness of the Respect and Veneration he had for the Catholic Church, declares, he had nothing so much at Heart as to see her Members happily united: he therefore earnestly intreats him to examine the Affair with the utmost Attention, and, jointly with the Bishops of Gaul, to judge it according to the strictest Laws of Justice and Equity[[550]]. In this Letter Constantine names no other Judges but the Three Bishops of Gaul, Melchiades, and one Mark, supposed to have been Bishop of Milan, whom he joins with Melchiades; but afterwards he ordered Seven more to be added to the Number, and as many as could soon and conveniently assemble; so that they were at last 19 in all[[551]]. |The Council of Rome.| They met, for the first time, on Friday the Second of October 313. Constantine and Licinius being the third time Consuls[[552]]. The Place they met in was the Apartment of Fausta, in the Lateran Palace[[553]], she being then, in all Likelihood, absent in Gaul, with the Emperor her Husband. Before this Assembly Cæcilianus appeared as the Person accused, and Donatus of Casænigræ as the Accuser. |Cæcilianus absolved,
and Donatus
condemned.| They had but Three Meetings: in the First the Characters of the Accusers and Witnesses were strictly inquired into, and their Depositions heard; in the Second the Acts of the Council of Carthage, which had condemned Cæcilianus, as I have related above, were examined; and in the last Cæcilianus, against whom nothing had been proved, was absolved, and Donatus condemned as a Slanderer, and the chief Author of the Schism[[554]]. An Account of the Whole, together with the Acts of the Council, was immediately transmitted to Constantine, who began to flatter himself, that he had put an End to the Dispute; for he could not imagine, that the Donatists would appeal from the Judgment of such unexceptionable Judges, of Judges whom they themselves had demanded. But the good Prince was yet a Stranger to the Nature of religious Disputes, to the Heat, Animosity, and enthusiastic Rancour, with which they are commonly carried on. Notwithstanding the Pains he took, and his Successors after him, and no Pains they spared, to heal these unhappy Divisions, they continued, to the great Scandal of the Pagans, rending the Church into most furious Parties and Factions, for the Space of near 300 Years. |Melchiades dies.| The Council of Rome was held in the Month of October 313, and Melchiades died on the Tenth of January ensuing, Volusianus and Anienus being Consuls, having presided for the Space of Two Years, Six Months, and Eight Days[[555]]. About an hundred Years after, the Donatists charged him with having delivered up the sacred Books, and offered Incense to the Pagan Gods; but this St. Austin calls a groundless Charge, a mere Calumny, a malicious Invention of the Donatists of his Time to justify the Conduct of their Predecessors, in appealing, as they did, from the Council of Rome, at which Melchiades assisted, and probably presided, as Bishop of the Imperial City[[556]].
Whether the Lateran
Palace was given by
Constantine to
Melchiades.
Baronius, impatient to see the Pope raised to the Rank of a Prince, endeavours to prove, that Melchiades was placed in that Station by Constantine, and argues thus: The Council of Rome was held in the Lateran Palace; therefore that Palace had been given by Constantine to Melchiades, and belonged to him; for that an Assembly of Nineteen Bishops only should meet in so spacious a Place, can no otherwise be accounted for, but by supposing the Pope to have resided there. This he calls a Demonstration[[557]]. Having thus got him a Palace, and, no doubt, magnificently furnished, he finds no Difficulty in equipping him in every other respect as a Prince: For who can imagine, says he, that Constantine, so pious, so generous a Prince, would have given to the Head of the Church a Royal Palace to live in, and not allow him at the same time a suitable Retinue, with suitable Appointments? To act otherwise, had not been honouring, but disgracing the Christian Religion, since its High Pontiff, stalking about all alone in a huge Palace, could be but an Object of Ridicule to the Pontiffs of the Pagan Superstition, who lived in magnificent Houses, with answerable Grandeur[[558]]. Thus is the Bishop metamorphosed at once into a Sovereign. But the Metamorphosis is somewhat premature. If Constantine, yet a Neophyte, was not well acquainted with the true Spirit of the Christian Religion, Melchiades was; and therefore, had that Prince offered to distinguish him by any such Marks of worldly Grandeur, I do not question but, as he was a very good Man, he would have taken from thence an Opportunity of instructing him better in the Principles of his new Profession, and shewing him in what Contempt the Christian Prelates had, and he himself ought to have, all worldly Grandeur. But no such Offer was ever made or dreamt of: For what at length is all this founded on? On the Meeting of the Council in the Lateran Palace. The French Academy meet in the Louvre: Are they therefore Princes? And does not Optatus, of whom we have the whole Account, call it in express Terms the House of Fausta[[559]]? Fausta perhaps lived there, says Baronius, during the long and flourishing Reign of her Father Maximian, and thence it might be called the House of Fausta. Thus in the End is his Demonstration dwindled away to a mere Conjecture, and a very groundless one too: But, waving that, why might not Fausta continue in the same Palace after her Father’s Death, with her Husband Constantine, when he was at Rome, or alone, when she did not attend him in the Wars? The Annalist seems to have forgot that Fausta was Constantine’s Wife. But after all, the Empress, as it appears to me, had only an Apartment in the Lateran; for in this Sense I understand Optatus saying, The Council was held in the House, or Habitation, of Fausta in the Lateran. But her being any-ways there excludes Melchiades. Their sitting in the Imperial Palace gave a kind of Authority and Sanction to their Decisions; and besides, there might not be room in the House of Melchiades, if he had a House, for the Council, and those who were to attend it, they being in all Forty Bishops; so that we need not put Melchiades in Possession of that Palace to account for the Council’s meeting in it, as Baronius has done.
| Constantine. | SYLVESTER, Thirty-second Bishop of Rome. |
Year of Christ 314.
