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ER 917
Restitutus, an ex-Donatist presbyter, is kidnapped, beaten, and imprisoned by the Donatists. Hippo Regius, North Africa, ca 405. Augustine, "Against Cresconius", Book 3, ca AD 406.
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. Petschenig 1909: 460)
Book 3
 
53. There was Restitutus, a presbyter of yours in the region of Hippo. He had come to the Catholic peace before these imperial laws were declared; he came by his own clear will, moved by the reasons of the truth. Your clerics and circumcellions kidnapped him from his house, dragged him in the light of day to a nearby village. Many people watched, but nobody dared to resist, when they beat him in their fury with lashes, they threw him to a muddy pit, dishonoured him by clothing him in rags covered with rushes. When this spectacle lasted long enough to torment the eyes of those who sympathised with Restitutus, and to satisfy those who laughed at him, he was conducted to another place, where none of ours dared to access, and he was released after twelve days. [...]
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)
 

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:

Food/Clothes/Housing - Type of housing
Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
Change of denomination
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, ER917, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=917
Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
last edited: 2017-04-21 14:49:00
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