Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 470
Restitutus, ex-Donatist presbyter who passed to the Catholic Church, is kidnapped and maltreated by the Donatists. Region of Hippo (North Africa), before AD 405. Account of Augustine of Hippo, "Against Cresconius", AD 406/410.
Book 3
 
53. Restitutus quidam in regione Hipponiensi uester presbyter fuit. Qui cum ad catholicam pacem, antequam istis
imperialibus legibus iuberetur, ueritatis ratione permotus manifesta uoluntate transisset, de domo sua raptus est a clericis
et Circumcellionibus uestris, luce palam in castellum proximum ductus et multitudine spectante nihilque resistere audente
ad furentum arbitrium fustibus caesus, in lacuna lutulenta uolutatus, amictu iunceo dehonestatus posteaquam satis excruciauit oculos dolentium ridentiumque satiauit, inde ductus ad alium locum, quo nemo nostrorum audebat accedere, duodecimo
uix die dimissus est.
 
(ed. Petschening 1909: 460)
Book 3
 
53. A certain Restitutus was your [Donatist] presbyter in the region of Hippo. He had joined the Catholic peace, even before it was ordered by the imperial laws, moved by the reason of truth, which he openly expressed. He was kidnapped from his house by your clerics and Circumcellions. He was taken to the neighbouring hamlet in the light of the day. A lot of people watched it, but nobody dared to oppose. Their fury stroke him several times with their staffs. Then he was rolled into some dirty pit and covered with rushes. When his suffering satisfied the eyes of those who were grieved by it, and those who laughed at it, he was taken to another place, when our people did not dare to come to him. He was released on the twelfth day.
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

"The imperial laws" refer to the Edict of Union of AD 405, which ordered the reunification of the Catholic and Donatist Churches.

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Against Cresconius, Contra Cresconium
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Cresconius was a Donatist layman, described as a grammarian. He wrote a long letter addressed to Augustine, in which he defended the Donatist positions. Augustine responded with a treatise in four books, written certainly after February 405 (the emission of the anti-Donatist laws by Honorius), probably about a year later, but certainly before the conference of Carthage in AD 411.
Edition:
M. Petschening ed., Contra Cresconium grammaticum et Donatistam libri IIII, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 52, Vienna-Leipzig 1909, 325-582.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
Change of denomination
Functions within the Church - Rural presbyter
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Relation with - Peasant
Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic
Food/Clothes/Housing
Conflict - Violence
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER470, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=470