Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of a rigoristic, schismatic Christian sect, strongly opposed by Saint Augustine, that arose in North Africa in the fourth century AD and believed in sanctity as requisite for church membership and administration of all sacraments.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of an early Christian sect in Africa which originated in a dispute over the election of Cæecilian to the see of Carthage, a. d. 311, occasioned by his opposition to the extreme reverence paid to relics of martyrs and to the sufferers for the Christian faith called confessors, and the rivalry of Secundus, primate of Numidia.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Eccl. Hist.) A follower of Donatus, the leader of a body of North African schismatics and purists, who greatly disturbed the church in the 4th century. They claimed to be the true church.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Christianity, historical One of a group of Christians in fourth-century North Africa who broke away as a group after opposing the appointment of Caecilianus as Bishop of Carthage, and who disputed the validity of baptisms performed by others.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to Donatism
  • noun an adherent of Donatism

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Medieval Latin Donatista, after Donatus, fourth-century AD ecclesiastic and rival claimant of the bishopric of Carthage.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Medieval Latin Dōnātista, from Dōnātus.

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