During the final and most severe persecution of the Christians, a special attempt was made to destroy their sacred books. Hundreds of Christians in North Africa surrendered copies of manuscripts they possessed in order to save themselves. Even the clergy in some cases were guilty of being “traditors,” as such persons were called. Those who had proved faithful would not have fellowship with such persons, much less accept their leadership. The result was a separatist organization formed in 315 by Donatus, after whom they were called Donatists. Many Donatist churches were created in North Africa and elsewhere, in spite of Catholic and imperial opposition. Aside from their desire for the severity of church discipline, the Donatists were notable for their conviction that the clergy must be men of high character or else their work was ineffective. It was a Donatist practice, therefore, to rebaptize persons who joined them from a church whose clergy were not highly esteemed. The question of rebaptism occasioned some controversy among the orthodox. True to the Catholic principle that the act of baptism and not the administrator was the important matter, Rome took the position that no rebaptism was necessary.
Impact: Synods were held at Carthage at which an anti-Roman position was ratified. But the Roman influence was the stronger, and in the end, Augustine fixed the position of the Catholic Church by affirming that once a person was baptized they could be readmitted regardless of their sin by the simple laying on of hands.