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ER 715
Donatist presbyters beat and humiliate an ex-Donatist presbyter who became a Catholic. The Catholic clergy of Hippo Regius (North Africa) complain to the Donatist primate Januarius about this and the fact that the perpetrators are still presbyters. Letter 88 in Augustine`s correspondence, AD 406/411.
Letter 88
 
6. [...] Presbyterum etiam quendam, quia propria et libera uoluntate unitatem nostrae communionis elegit, de domo sua raptum et pro arbitrio immaniter caesum, in gurgite etiam caenoso uolutatum, buda uestitum cum quibusdam dolendum, quibusdam ridendum in pompa sui facinoris ostentassent, abductum inde, quo uoluerunt, uix post dies XII dimiserunt. Unde conuentus municipalibus gestis a nostro episcopo Proculianus, cum ab inquirenda causa dissimulassent et iterum continuo conuentus esset, nihil se dicturum amplius gestis expressit. Et hodie illi, qui hoc fecerunt, presbyteri uestri sunt adhuc nos insuper territantes et, sicut potuerunt, persequentes.
 
(ed. Goldbacher 1898: 412-413)
Letter 88
 
6. [...] Because a certain presbyter chose the unity of our communion of his own free will, they [Donatist clerics and Circumcellions] seized him from his home, beat him cruelly for his choice, rolled him in a filthy stream, dressed him with weeds, and put him on display in parading their crime, to be sorrowed over by some and to be laughed at by others. They led him off where they wanted and released him only after twelve full days. Hence, Proculeian was summoned by our bishop to a municipal hearing, but he only pretended to investigate the case. And when he was again summoned, he stated for the records that he would say nothing more. And today those who did this are your presbyters, still terrorizing us and persecuting us to the extent they can.
 
(trans. R. Teske, slightly modified)
 

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The letters of Augustine of Hippo cover a wide range of topics: Holy Scripture, dogma and liturgy, philosophy, religious practice and everyday life. They range from full-scale theological treatises to small notes asking someone for a favour. The preserved corpus includes 308 letters, 252 written by Augustine, 49 that others sent to him and seven exchanged between third parties. 29 letters have been discovered only in the 20th century and edited in 1981 by Johannes Divjak; they are distinguished by the asterisk (*) after their number.
The preserved letters of Augustine extend over the period from his stay at Cassiciacum in 386 to his death in Hippo in 430.
Edition:
Edition:
A. Goldbacher ed., S. Augustini Hipponiensis Episcopi Epistulae, Pars 2, Ep. 31-123, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 34/2,  Prague-Vienna-Leipzig 1898.
Translation:
Saint Augustine, Letters 1-99, trans. R. Teske, New York 2001.

Categories:

Food/Clothes/Housing - Type of housing
    Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
      Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
        Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic
          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, ER715, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=715
            Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
            last edited: 2017-06-21 12:11:42
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