The Latin Acts of the Conference of Carthage, held in 411 in Carthage (central North Africa), record that Catholics forbade the Donatists of Vegesela (province of Numidia, central North Africa) access to memorial shrines of unnamed martyrs.
E02038
Canonical and legal texts
Acts of the Conference in Carthage, AD 411
Session 1, paragraph 133
... Et recitauit: 'Priuatianus episcopus plebis Vegeselitanae, coram uiro clarissimo tribuno et notario Marcellino, suprascripta mandaui et subscripsi Carthagini'. Quo recitato, idem dixit: 'E diuerso est mihi Donatus Cillitanus'. Et accedente Donato Cillitano episcopo, idem dixit: 'Diaconos illic habeo, uicina plebs agit, dioecesis mea est'. Priuatianus episcopus ecclesiae catholicae dixit: 'Ubi conueniunt?' Donatus episcopus dixit: 'Et loca et memorias martyrum tamen prohibuisti. Candidum non habui presbyterum inde?'...
'... [The tribune Marcellinus] read: "I, Privatianus, [Catholic] bishop of the congregation of Vegesela, signed the aforementioned mandate before Marcellinus, vir clarissimus, tribune and notary, in Carthage". When it was read, he [Privatianus] said: "There is Donatus of Cillium against me". When the [Donatist] bishop Donatus of Cillium approached, he said: "I have deacons there, it is a neighbouring congregation, the diocese is mine". Privatianus, bishop of the Catholic church, said: "Where do they gather?" Bishop Donatus said: "You forbade access both to the places and memorial shrines (memoriae) of the martyrs. Did not I have the priest Candidus there?"...'
Text: Lancel 1972, 756.
Translation: Stanisław Adamiak.
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityAppropriation of older cult sites
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Heretics
Source
The conference in Carthage was held in 411 with the aim of putting an end to the Donatist schism and re-establishing the unity of the Church in Africa. On the first day of the conference, the Donatists challenged the list of signatures of the Catholic bishops on the document. A roll call followed, in order to ensure that the right people were present. The tribune Marcellinus, who presided, called out the names of the Catholic bishops one by one, and their Donatist counterparts were asked to identify them. Then the roll call proceeded in the opposite way, with the Donatist bishops identified by the Catholics.Discussion
This piece of evidence suggests that Catholics and Donatists could attend the same memorial shrines of martyrs; in Vegesela, however, the decision of Privatianus, the Catholic bishop of Cillium, put an end to this practice. See also E02042.Cillium (in Byzacena) and Vegesela (in Numidia) were close, but not that close, being separated by at least fifty miles.
The word memoria in Africa could be used for memorial shrines of martyrs or for the relics themselves. As memorial shrines were expected to contain relics, there is no substantive difference between the two usages.
Bibliography
Edition and French translation:Lancel, S., Actes de la Conférence de Carthage en 411, vol. II (Sources Chrétiennes 195; Paris, 1972).
Robert Wiśniewski
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
|---|
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Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E02038 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02038