Saint Optatus of Milevis

This Father, born in Africa, was one of the most illustrious defenders of the Church in the 4th century. Saint Augustine counts him, along with Saint Cyprian and Saint Hilary, among those who passed from the darkness of paganism to the light of the faith, and who brought back to the spouse of Jesus Christ the riches of the Egyptians, that is to say, human science and eloquence. In another place, he says, speaking of him, that he was a prelate of venerable memory, who was by his virtue the ornament of the Catholic Church. Saint Fulgentius gives him the title of Saint and places him in the same rank as S aint Augustine and Saint Amb Optat était évêque de Milève Bishop of Milevis and the first major polemicist against Donatism. rose. Optatus was Bishop of Milevis, in Numidia, and he was the first orthodox bishop to write against the schism of the Donatists. Here is what determined him to take up the pen.

Parmenian Parménien Third Donatist bishop of Carthage and principal adversary of Optatus. , the third Donatist bishop of C arthage, Carthage Metropolitan city of Africa, episcopal see of Eugenius. published a work in five books for the defense of his party. The Donatists triumphed in the advantage they claimed this work gave them over the Catholics. Indeed, their defender was a skillful man, very well-versed in the art of the sophists, and capable of presenting a bad cause in dazzling colors.

Such was the adversary with whom Saint Optatus undertook to contend. He attacked him in a work divided into six books. The style is elegant, majestic, and full of warmth; the figures are noble and bold, the thoughts strong and sublime. One notes that precision and energy which characterize the best writers of Africa. If one does not find that polish and purity of language which made the century of Augustus so famous, it is because for a long time the language of the Romans was no longer what it had once been. Moreover, one must above all appreciate the writings of this Father for the substance of the matter. The privileges and marks of the Catholic Church are exposed therein with as much solidity as clarity: they contain important maxims which serve wonderfully to distinguish the true spouse of Jesus Christ; they offer us luminous principles capable of confounding all the heretics who may appear until the end of the world. Saint Optatus wrote the first six books of his work around the year 370; he added a seventh about fifteen years later, under the pontificate of Siricius.

It would be inappropriate to recount here the hi story of Donatisme African schism vigorously opposed by Augustine. Donatism, the greatest schism that the Church of the first centuries had to combat. Let us only remind the reader that in every city of Africa where there was a Catholic bishop, the Donatists had established another bishop of their sect, everywhere raising altar against altar. Their fundamental principle was this fatal error that the validity of a sacrament depended not only on orthodoxy, but on the morality of the minister; they alone formed the true Church; Baptism and the Eucharist were null outside of their own ranks. They rebaptized anyone who had received baptism at Catholic hands, and profaned the hosts consecrated by Catholic priests.

Parmenian, successor to Donatus, schismatic bishop of Carthage, set forth in the work we have mentioned certain ideas which, if properly applied, condemned his sect instead of defending it; for example, 'that there is only one Jesus Christ, one single Church for the whole universe; that, outside of this Church, no one has the heavenly keys entrusted to Saint Peter; that schism is a very impious thing, etc.'

Saint Optatus uses all of Parmenian's principles to combat the Donatists. He shows that the sect of the Donatists cannot be the true Church, since "this name belongs only to the society that is Catholic... Now, it is not possible to call the Donatists by this name, they who are confined to a small part of Africa, and even to a corner of a single region... It is not the same for the Catholic or universal Church; it is spread throughout the whole earth." Several texts of the Prophets prove that this universality is one of the distinctive marks of the true Church; it must also be one, holy, and united with the chair of Peter. "Ours, possessing the first of these marks, also possesses the others, since they are inseparably linked together." After an enumeration of the Popes who had sat from Saint Peter to Siricius, the Saint says, speaking of the latter, who was then living: "We saint Pierre Apostle and first pope, mentioned as the father of Petronilla. are united in communion with him as is the whole universe..." It is to Peter that Jesus Christ said: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. By what right, then, do you claim these keys, you who, through a sacrilegious presumption, dare to fight against the chair of Peter?... You cannot deny that the episcopal chair was first given to Peter, in the city of Rome; that he sat there first as head of the Apostles; that this chair was one; tha t one was con ville de Rome Birthplace of Maximian. sidered to preserve unity only insofar as one was united with it; that each apostle did not claim to have his own, that one was schismatic when, against this chair, one had the audacity to raise another... Trace back to the origin of yours, and you will see how ill-founded you are in presenting your sect as the true Church." The Saint recounts the manner in which the Donatists originated, and makes felt all the absurdities into which they have fallen.

But, say the Donatists, we have a bishop of Rome, who is named Macrobius, and who is the successor of Eucolpius, as the latter was of Boniface of Balles, and Boniface, of Victor of Garbies, whom we Macrobe Donatist bishop sent to Rome to compete with the legitimate pope. sent from Africa to Rome to govern the Church there. To this the Saint replied: "Would Macrobius dare to say that he sat on the chair of Peter? I doubt even that he has ever seen it, at least it is certain that he has never approached the tomb of the Apostles, and that he has performed no functions in the principal church of Rome. He is in this refractory to the precept of the Apostle, who wishes that one communicate in the memory of the Saints. One sees in the church of Rome the relics of Saint Peter and Saint Paul: say if he could have entered the place where they are kept, and if he ever offered the sacrifice there? Your Macrobius must therefore confess that he is sitting on the chair of Eucolpius, of Boniface of Balles, and of Victor of Garbies. This Victor is a son without a father, a disciple without a master, a successor without a predecessor." The holy doctor insists particularly on the universality of the Church. "By what right," he says, "do you claim to cut off from the Church an innumerable multitude of Christians who are in the East and in the West? You are but a small number of rebels who resist all the Churches of the world, etc."

He forcefully refutes the error of the Donatists regarding the Sacraments conferred outside the Church. He makes mention of the exorcisms used in baptism, as they are still used today to cast out the unclean spirit. He speaks often of the holy oil and the chrism. "We have seen," he says on this subject, "certain Donatists throw a vial filled with holy oil out of a window, with the intention of breaking it; but their impiety did not succeed: although the vial fell from a great height onto stones, it was supported by angels, who prevented it from being broken." He expresses himself thus, addressing furious Donatists who were overturning the altars used by Catholics: "What has Jesus Christ done to you that you should destroy the altars upon which He rests at certain times? Why do you break the sacred tables where He makes His dwelling? You have imitated the crime of the Jews; they put the Savior to death on the cross, and you mistreat Him on the altars."

Coming then to the contradictions into which the Donatists fell, he makes their absurdity felt. "Everyone knows," he says, "that cloths are spread over the altars for the celebration of the holy mysteries. The Eucharist does not touch the wood of the altars, but only these cloths. Why then do we see you breaking, scraping, and burning the wood of the altar? If impurity can be communicated through the cloth, can it not also penetrate the wood, and even the earth? If therefore you scrape the altars because they are impure, I advise you to dig into the earth and make yourselves a deep pit, so that you may offer the sacrifice in a purer place; but take care not to dig as far as hell, where you will find Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, your masters."

From this mockery, he passes to other accusations that were even more serious. "You have," he says, "topped off your sacrileges by breaking the chalices that carried the blood of Jesus Christ; you melted them down to convert them into a mass that you exposed in public squares and sold indiscriminately to all those who presented themselves to buy it... O enormous crime! O unheard-of impiety!" He expresses himself in this way regarding the horrible impiety of the Donatists toward the Eucharist: "Your bishops commanded that the Eucharist be thrown to the dogs; but one then saw sensible marks of heavenly wr Eucharistie Central sacrament for which Ambrose defends the real presence. ath. These animals, as if enraged, lunged at their own masters; they bit and tore to pieces the profaners of the holy body." It follows from these passages and several others that the Eucharist was kept in churches after the sacrifice, as is still practiced today. It is further proven, by various texts of Saint Optatus, that altars were ordinarily made of wood, and that, out of respect, it was customary to cover them with a linen cloth.

The holy doctor accused the Donatists of many other things that would be too long to recount. In the false persuasion they held that everything that had served the Catholics was profaned, they had purified with water the palls, the linens, and even the walls of their churches. They had forced virgins to abandon their veils and the small miters they wore on their heads as marks of their profession, in order to take others of a different color and fabric.

A modern author provides the following summary of the doctrine of Saint Optatus: "This Father teaches that we are all born in sin and that baptism is necessary to obtain its remission. He speaks of exorcism as a necessary ceremony in this Sacrament. He makes mention of chrism as a holy thing, as well as the anointing that was performed at baptism. He expresses himself in such clear terms on the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and on the adoration that is due to the holy Sacrament, that one could desire nothing more formal. He notes several ceremonies of the celebration of the Eucharist, to which he gives the name of sacrifice... The holy doctor says that the Church has judges, that it punishes crimes, and that it subjects to penance those who have confessed their sins or who are convicted of them. He observes that persons who consecrated themselves entirely to the service of God made a solemn vow of virginity and that they wore on their heads a small veil which was the mark of their vow. In speaking of the tomb of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, he sufficiently testifies to the respect that was held in his time for the relics of the saints; and in speaking of Lucilla, he blames those who honored the relics of false martyrs who are not recognize d in th Lucille Blind prisoner healed and baptized by Lawrence. e Church."

The year in which Saint Optatus died is unknown; it is only known that he was still living in 384. His name is found in the Roman Martyrology under June 4.

Taken from his writings. (See Tillemont, vol. VI, p. 142; Cellier, vol. VI, p. 625; the dissertation of Dom Boniface Collins, on the heresy of the Donatists, in the Collection of dissertations on Ecclesiastical History of the Academy of Bologna, printed in 1758; the Historia donatistorum per fratres Bollerinos, append. in opera card. Norisii, Verona, 1732.)