Sustaining Donatist Self-Identity: From the Church of the Martyrs to the Collecta of the Desert

When historians attribute to the Donatist community in North Africa a self-identification as “church of the martyrs,” they are at a loss to explain the continued cohesion and survival of the movement when Donatism was no longer persecuted. A careful study of Donatist documents reveals an alternate form of self-identity. The concept of the holy assembly of Israel in the midst of her unclean enemies was a far more potent self-image for Donatist Christians than that of the church of the martyrs. Especially in times of peace when not annihilation but assimilation was the danger to the Donatist community, the image of the gathered holy people in the midst of their enemies sustained the Donatist church. Special focus on the word collecta, a technical term for the ritually pure assembly of Israel at prayer, reinforces the importance of this self-image for the Donatist church.

Donatism, a movement with its origins in North African Christianity in the early fourth century, has often been characterized as a sect deliberately self-conscious of its identity as the church of the martyrs. It is true that the group formed around issues associated with persecution and martyrdom: under what conditions ought the Church to readmit those who lapsed under pressure and what status ought confessors and readmitted bishops to hold. ¹ In addition, the members of this sect had the reputation of being so formed by the martyr-ideal that they delib-erately courted martyrdom, consciously provoking arrest and execution. ²

Yet the church of the Donatists survived many periods when its members were not persecuted and when it was, in fact, the majority church in large areas of North Africa. ³ As early as 1909, Hippolyte Delehaye questioned the equation of Donatist and martyr. He noted the simultaneous enthusiasm of Catholics for the stories of martyrs and he criticized the exclusive attribution of martyr-mania to Donatism. ⁴ It would seem that the ascription of a fascination with martyrdom solely to the Donatists might be an exaggeration, a polemical retrojection of more subtle divisions between the two groups. In their own times this split may have been less extreme than some historians encouraged their audiences to believe. Both groups venerated the martyrs. Catholics held their stories in such high regard that they functioned as scripture in liturgical settings. ⁵ In addition, Catholic bishops had to moderate the martyr-mania among their adherents who were constantly building shrines to the memory of those executed by the state. ⁶ To corroborate the surprising similarity between the two parties, Delehaye noted that even Deo laudes, a phrase taken by scholars to be exclusively Donatist, their “war-cry” in fact, was used by Catholics. When Catholics used it in Augustine’s presence, even he did not think it worthy of adverse comment. ⁷ Archaeology and epigraphy have likewise failed to provide ironclad points of difference.

If the accustomed badges of Donatist identity might have been worn by Catholics too, there arises the question of the true hallmarks of Donatist identity. Adherence to a particular line of bishops is certainly one. But one cannot divide the bishops into Catholic and Donatist lines purely on the issue of whether they were traditores or not, because both parties included bishops who had handed over the scriptures to the Roman authorities. ⁸

My thesis is that one of the distinctions which separates Catholics from Donatists is the Donatists’ positive conception of themselves as the holy assembly of Israel in the midst of her unclean enemies. This was a far more potent self-image for Donatist Christians than that of the church of the martyrs. The assembly or collecta provided a self-image which served during bloody persecution and economic harassment as well as or better than that of the martyr. Especially in times of peace when not annihilation but assimilation was the danger to the Donatist community, the image of the gathered holy people in the midst of their enemies sustained the Donatist church. By examining writings from the beginning of the...