Mensurius was a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...

in the early 4th century during the early Christian Church. During the Christian persecution of Diocletian he evaded turning over sacred scriptures to the Roman authorities, but was nevertheless considered a traditor by Donatists. He was accused of "countenancing" the Traditors. In a letter to Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis, then the senior bishop of Numidia, he explains that he had himself had taken the texts from the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

to his own house, and had substituted them for a number of heretical writings, which the authorities had seized without asking for more. But the

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ...

, when informed of the deception refused to search the bishop's private house. Secundus, in his reply, without blaming Mensurius, somewhat pointedly praised the

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s who in his own province had been tortured and put to death for refusing to deliver up the Scriptures and that he himself had replied to the officials who came to search: "I am a Christian and a

, not a traditor." Some such as Petilian even considered him a thurificator. Mensurius also forbade any to be honoured as

s who had given themselves up of their own accord, or who had boasted that they possessed copies of the scriptures which they would not relinquish. Some of these he claimed were criminals and debtors to the state, who thought they might by this means rid themselves of a burdensome life, or else wipe away the remembrance of their misdeeds, or at least gain money and enjoy in prison the luxuries supplied by the kindness of

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

.Timothy David Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (Harvard University Press, 198
p55
In 308, Mensuris hid the deacon Felix who was accused of slander against the Emperor and defended him in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. After the acquittal he could not return to

due to the blockade by Maxentius. His death outside of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and rejection of his successor Caecilianus contributed to the

Donatist Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and the ...

s schisms in Northern Africa.

References

Citations

Sources

Christian Encyclopedia - Lutheran Missouri Synod - Mensurius
*{{BBKL, m/mensurius, band=5, autor=Anette Hettinger, artikel=Mensurius, katholischer Bischof von Karthago, spalten=1272-1273 *Augustinus, Breuiculus conlationis cum Donatistis III, 13, 25 u. 17, 32, in: CChr 149A, 290-298 *D. Voelter, Der Ursprung des Donatismus nach den Quellen untersucht und dargestellt, 1883 * Louis Duchesne, ''Le dossier du Donatisme'', in: Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire 10, 1890, 628 f. * Paul Monceaux
''Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique chrétienne depuis les origines jusqu'à l'invasion arabe''
(7 volumes : Tertullien et les origines - saint Cyprien et son temps - le IV, d'Arnobe à Victorin - le Donatisme - saint Optat et les premiers écrivains donatistes - la littérature donatiste au temps de saint Augustin - saint Augustin et le donatisme) (19662) 8-25, 204 *Hans von Soden (Hrsg.), Urkunden zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Donatismus, 1913 (bearb. v. H.v. Campenhausen 19502), Nr. 4, 5-7 * W. H. C. Frend, ''The Donatist Church'', 1952 (19853), 6-17 *K. Clancy, When did the Donatist Schism Begin?, in: JThS 28, 1977, 104-109 *Emilien Lamirande, La correspondence entre Secundus et Mensurius, in: Œuvres de Saint Augustin 32 (Bibliothèque Augustinienne) 1965, 728 *M. Nallino, Un papiro cristiano della raccolta fiorentina. Lettera di Theonas a Mensurio, in: Atene e Roma 11, 1966, 27-30 *Jean-Louis Maier, L'épiscopat de l'Afrique romaine, vandale et Byzantine (Bibliotheca Helvetica Romana 11), 1973, 363–364; - ders., Le dossier du donatisme I : Des origines à la mort de Constance II, 303-361 (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 134), 1987, Index *T.D. Barnes, The Beginnings of Donatism, in: JThS NS 26, 1975, 13-22 *Serge Lancel, Les débuts du Donatisme: La date du "Protocole de Cirta" et de l'élection épiscopale de Silvanus, in: RevÉAug 25, 1979, 217-229 *André Mandouze, Prosopographie de l'Afrique chrétienne 303-533 (Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire 1), 1982, 748-749 *Bernhard Kriegbaum, Kirche der Traditoren oder Kirche der Märtyrer. Die Vorgeschichte des Donatismus (Innsbrucker Theologische Studien 16), 1986, 59-148 *Pauly-Wissowa XV/1, 960–961; - RGG3 IV, 877; - TRE I, 653–655. 4th-century Romans 4th-century bishops of Carthage 4th-century Latin writers Latin letter writers