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For queries about offprints, copyright and republication of your article, please contact the publisher via [email protected] THE UNIQUELY AFRICAN CONTROVERSY Studies on Donatist Christianity edited by Anthony Dupont, Matthew Alan Gaumer, and Mathijs Lamberigts in collaboration with Nicolas De Maeyer and Bart van Egmond PEETERS leuven – paris – bristol, ct 2015 997348_Dupont_LAHR9_Voorwerk.indd7348_Dupont_LAHR9_Voorwerk.indd IIIIII 225/02/155/02/15 110:330:33 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ........................................................................................................ vii David G. Hunter List of Contributors ................................................................................. xiii Introduction: Donatism, the Rediscovered Christian Legacy of Roman Africa .................................................................................... 1 Matthew Alan Gaumer, Anthony Dupont, Mathijs Lamberigts 1. Numquid non et Africa sanctorum martyrum corporibus plena est? (Augustine, Ep. 78,3): Martyrs and Martyrdom in Roman Africa – A Preparation for Donatism? .......................................... 3 Marcin Wysocki 2. Donatists Abound!!! Th e Polemical Ressourcement of Late Antique Villains in the Mediaeval and Early Modern Periods 29 Matthew Alan Gaumer 3. Some Observations on the Anti-Donatist Legislation ................ 71 Paola Marone 4. Recording and Reporting the Gesta Collationis Carthaginen- sis: Problems and Solutions ........................................................... 85 Clemens Weidmann 5. Th e Ecclesiastical Patrimony of the Donatist Church ................ 101 Carles Buenacasa Pérez 6. African Asceticism: Th e Donatist Heritage .................................. 127 Maureen A. Tilley 7. Ab ipso patientia mea: Augustine’s Critique of Donatist Martyr- dom and his Doctrine of Grace ....................................................... 141 Bart van Egmond 8. In League with the Devil? Donatist and Catholic Perspectives on Pre-baptismal Exsuffl ation ......................................................... 153 Jane E. Merdinger 9. Optatus and Parmenian on the Authority of Cyprian ............... 179 Geoff rey D. Dunn 10. An Example of Pelagian Exegesis in the Donatist Vienna Homilies (Ö.N.B. lat. 4147) ............................................................. 197 Alden Bass 997348_Dupont_LAHR9_Voorwerk.indd7348_Dupont_LAHR9_Voorwerk.indd V 225/02/155/02/15 110:330:33 VI table of contents 11. When Did Donatist Christianity End?.......................................... 211 Stanisław Adamiak 12. Th e Catholic Construction of Donatist Key Figures: A Critical Reading of Augustine and Optatus ............................................... 237 Matteo Dalvit 13. Hippo’s Got Talent: Augustine’s Psalmus contra partem Donati as a Pop(ular) Song ........................................................................... 251 Geert Van Reyn 14. Augustine, Missionary to Heretics? An Appraisal of Augustine’s Missional Engagement with the Donatists .................................... 269 Edward Smither 15. Timor est servus caritatis (s. 156,13-14): Augustine’s Vision on Coercion in the Process of Returning Heretics to the Catholic Church and his Underlying Principles ............................................ 289 Paul van Geest 16. Peccatum and Gratia in Augustine’s Anti-Donatist Sermones ad Populum: Attested Presence and Specifi c Treatment of Two Key Concepts of Augustine’s Anti-Pelagian Doctrine ............... 311 Anthony Dupont 17. Mysterium and Sacramentum in the Vetus Afra: What Diff ering Interpretations by African Patristic Authors Reveal about Paganism and Donatism .................................................................. 349 Ilaria Ramelli Index of Antique and Patristic Sources ............................................... 377 Index of Scriptural Quotes ..................................................................... 383 Index of Contemporary Authors ........................................................... 387 997348_Dupont_LAHR9_Voorwerk.indd7348_Dupont_LAHR9_Voorwerk.indd VIVI 225/02/155/02/15 110:330:33 Chapter 5 THE ECCLESIASTICAL PATRIMONY OF THE DONATIST CHURCH* Carles Buenacasa Pérez 1. Introduction Whether discussing Catholics or Donatists, the ecclesiastical patri- mony of each group consisted of basilicas (urban and rural) and a rich network of rural properties integrated by possessiones, agri, horti and other unspecifi ed lands (quaecumque alia)1 – which in conciliar docu- ments were known as massa diocesium.2 In this way, thanks to the income from farms, each diocese generated revenue that provided the capital to provide for the maintenance of worship spaces, the care of the poor and pilgrims,3 and a ‘rainy-day fund’ for unexpected expenditures.4 * Th is study is based on research developed within the Grup de Recerques en Antig- uitat Tardana (GRAT), Grup de Recerca de Qualitat de la Generalitat de Catalunya, n° 2009SGR1255, and has been carried out with the help of the Research Project HAR2010-15183, fi nanced by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología. Please see the web- site: http://www.ub.es/grat/grat01.htm. Regarding the members and the research areas of the GRAT, see: http://www.ub.edu/grat/grat122.pdf. I would especially like to thank Carlos Lillo Botella and Matteo C. Chiriatti for their translation of this article from Spanish into English. 1. Eusebius Caesariensis, De uita Constantini 2,39 [GCS 7, Berlin, 1991]. 2. Concilium Carthaginense (397), apud Registri ecclesiae Carthaginensis excerpta III, c. 56 [CCSL 149]. A good example of ecclesiastical heritage would be that of Hippo in the time of Augustine: Houcine Jaïdi, ‘Remarques sur la constitution des biens des églises africaines à l’époque romaine tardive’, in André Chastagnol, Ségolène Demougin, and Claude Lepelley (eds), «Splendidissima civitas». Études d’histoire romaine en hommage à François Jacques (Paris, 1996), pp. 169-91; Serge Lancel, Saint Augustin (Paris, 1999), pp. 336-46. For a more general view on ecclesiastical heritage in North Africa, see: Carles Buenacasa, ‘La creación del patrimonio eclesiástico de las iglesias norteafricanas en época romana (siglos II-V): renovación de la visión tradicional’, in José M. Blázquez, and Antonino González Blanco (eds), Sacralidad y arqueología. Homenaje al Prof. Th ilo Ulbert al cumplir 65 años (Murcia, 2004), pp. 493-509; Anna Leone, ‘Clero, proprietà, cristianizzazione delle campagne nel Nord Africa Tardoantico: status quaestionis’, AnTard 14 (2006), pp. 95-104. 3. Augustine, Ep. 93,12,50 [CSEL 34/2]. Augustine assigned to poor maintenance the income of the Church properties and the alms: Possidius, Vita Augustini 23,1 [ed. A. A. R. Bastiaensen, Vita di Cipriano. Vita di Ambrogio. Vita di Agostino (Milan, 1975)]. See also: Augustine, De baptismo contra Donatistas 1,9,12 [CSEL 51]; Ep. 157,4,33-34 997348.indb7348.indb 110101 225/02/155/02/15 110:350:35 102 Carles Buenacasa Pérez Concerning the assets of the Donatist Church, the only explicit refer- ence comes from a mention of Petilianus of Cirta, who, in a passage of strict exegetical character from the Contra litteras Petiliani – where the Donatist bishop emphasises the wealth of the Donatists being found in divine grace – he complains of his church’s material resources: …ita nos quoque iustos et pauperes – circa opem dixerim mundanam.5 Moreover, from the proceedings of the Conference of Carthage in 411 it appears that Catholics and Donatists were more or less even with regard to the number of bishoprics.6 From this data it can be inferred that Donatism had a strong presence in Africa, and from all that tran- spired it could be inferred that it had a patrimonial framework compa- rable to that of the Catholic Church. In fact, Petilianus himself recog- nises at this conference that Donatist assets largely consisted of basilicas and rural properties.7 2. Basilicas As much as the Donatist bishops complained of the extraordinary poverty in which their priests lived (nos nihil habentes)8 and accused the Catholic Church of coveting their property with the aid of the Roman authorities,9 one should not have the wrong impression about what actu- ally was at work in this time. Donatist texts such as Sermo de passione Donati et Aduocati, or certain passages of Optatus, Augustine, as well as the proceedings of the Conference of 411 indicate that, already during the time of the Constantinian dynasty, the Donatist Church possessed a large patrimony. Th e testimony of Optatus of Milev who blames Donatus [CSEL 44]; 185,9,36 [CSEL 57]; s. 390,2 [PL 39]. Th e bishops also encouraged the faithful to practice charity with all kinds of disadvantaged, to clothe and feed the poor, to visit