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Against the Donatists
St Optatus of Milevis, tr. Vassall-Phillips, 1917
Book 2, 8. Concerning the Fons, the Sigillum and the Umbilicus
It is certain that the FOUNTAIN1 also is one of the Endowments, from which heretics can neither drink themselves, nor give others to drink. For, as they alone2 do not possess the SEAL, that is to say the Catholic Creed, in its integrity, they cannot open the true Fountain.
* * * * *
For3 since it has been written in the Canticle of Canticles:
‘Thy Navel is as a round goblet,’4
you have tried to say that the Navel is the Altar. If the Navel be a member of the body, from the fact that it is a member, it cannot be amongst the Endowments. To be an Ornament, it must not be part of the body.5
Notes
- St. Optatus now comes to the consideration of Fons and Sigillum. He passes swiftly over these Endowments, since (as he has said, ii, 3) the Cathedra is the first. That Church which has the Cathedra has them all, and is proved by this very fact----through union with the Chair of Peter----to have the others also (ii, 5-6). As is obvious, Optatus was precluded by his statement that the Donatists were schismatics and not heretics from proving directly that they are without the fourth and fifth Endowments. Therefore he contents himself with having already proved it indirectly and inferentially by his statement that, since they have not the first Endowment, they cannot have the rest, and merely agrees with them that they are right in stating that heretics cannot have either the Fountain or the Seal.
- soli, in contradistinction to Catholics.
- nam. This word (for) depends upon nothing to be found in any MS.; moreover, the transition is so abrupt, that it seems almost certain that some connecting passage has been lost. Hence the asterisks. St. Optatus having discussed the nature of the Endowments, and having proved that they belong to the Catholic Church alone, proceeds to discuss their number, and to argue that they are five, not (as Parmenian had alleged) six.
- Cant. vii, 2.
- St. Optatus looked upon these Endowments as something external to the Body of Christ. He regarded what we now call the Notes, or Marks, of the Church as two. The true Church is One and Catholic (of world-wide extension). When the Church of Christ has been thus identified, as the Church which is One and is Everywhere (ubique), Optatus agrees with Parmenian as to her five Endowments, but explains them very differently. According to the mind of Optatus they are: (1) First and foremost----Union with the Chair of Peter (Cathedra); (2) Apostolic Succession (Angelus); (3) The Spirit of sonship (Spiritus); (4) The Baptismal Font, or perhaps the True Faith (Fons); (5) The Seal of the Faith----the Creed (Sigillum). These Endowments are distinctive and characteristic of Catholicism. They are gifts from God ab extra bestowed upon His Bride the Church. … …