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"No," he repeated, "Caecilianus was not a traditor, nor Felix of Abthugni either who consecrated him bishop. The documents are there to prove this. And even supposing they were, can the fault of a single man be charged to the whole Church?... Then why do you baptize the Catholics under the pretence that their priests are traditors and as such unworthy to administer the Sacraments?
He himself was soon after succeeded by Donatus, an active, clever, and energetic man, who organized resistance so ably, and who represented so well the spirit of the sect, that he left it his name. Henceforth, Donatism enters into history. But Caecilianus had on his side the bishops overseas and the Imperial Government. The Pope of Rome and the Emperor recognized him as legitimately elected.
After this, it was left to the discretion of the Senate to proceed as they listed against Caecilianus the Senator, "who had loaded Cotta with many imputations;" and it was resolved, "to subject him to the same penalties inflicted upon Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of Lucius Annuntius."
Hence the election was void, by the single fact of the unworthiness of the consecrating bishops. Lucilla, having bribed a section of the bishops assembled in council, Caecilianus was deposed, and the deacon Majorinus elected in his room.
Caecilianus was elected and consecrated by three bishops of the district, of whom one was a certain Felix of Abthugni. At once the opposite clan, backed up by the Numidians, objected. At their head was a wealthy Spanish woman named Lucilla, an unbalanced devotee, who, it seemed, always carried about her person a bone of a martyr, and a doubtful one at that.
Under the reign of Constantine a peace had been patched up, when it fell out that a new Bishop of Carthage had to be elected, and the Archdeacon Caecilianus, whose name was put forward, was accused of preventing the faithful from visiting the martyrs in their prisons.
Our family is of Moorish blood.... As for me, I am quite ignorant about the origin of the schism: I am just one of the ordinary faithful of the people called Christians. When I was at Carthage, Bishop Secundus came there one day. I heard tell that they found out that Bishop Caecilianus had been ordained irregularly by I don't know who, and they elected another bishop against him.
She would ostentatiously kiss her relic before receiving the Eucharist. The Archdeacon Caecilianus forbade this devotion as superstitious, and thus made a relentless enemy of the fanatical Spaniard. All the former accusations were renewed against him, and it was added that Felix of Abthugni, who had consecrated him, was a traditor.
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