Gaguari

In the early years of the fourth century, the emperor Diocletian undertook a great persecution against Christians. In North Africa, the governors of the provinces of proconsular Africa and Numidia ordained as priests and bishops engaged texts and objects of worship. Those who had not opposed the abuses were called lapsi ("the lapsed") and those who supplied texts and objects, traditores ("deliverers").

Since the administration and the sacraments of the persons guilty of this weakness were held to be invalid, the accusation, whether true or not, became a means of undermining the authority and ambition of certain men. It is in this context of suspicion that originated and developed the Donatism. After the election of Cecilian as bishop of Carthage in 311, a group of Numidian bishops under the direction of their primate Secundus of Tigisis decreed the ordination invalid. One of the electoral bishops, Felix of Aptunga, would have been a traitor. They then elected Majorinus bishop of Carthage. This is the beginning of the Donatist schism which owes its name is the successor of Majorinus, Donatus, an influential priest of the movement.

Several reasons are attributed to the rise of Donatism, political, religious and social. However, it would appear to be a clash of strong personalities that brought rapid development of schism.

Under the reign of Constantine I, several measures of repression to Donatism were applied in vain. This is why, in 321, Constantine published an edict to authorize Donatism.

After 25 years of existence, the Donatist Church had its own network of bishops, organized its own councils, gathered its own renamed faithful since the sacraments of the other bishops were not valid from the Donatist point of view. The "Counter-Church" then had 270 bishops and subsisted by itself. However, the Emperor Constantius II ordered the merger of rival churches in 347. This measure led to an outburst of violence against the imperial order in Numidia. In 361 or 362, the Emperor Julian decided to grant an edict of tolerance to all Christian sects banned by Constance, which gave him new momentum to Donatism. His successor, Theodosius I, also failed to solve the Donatist schism.

The conflict took a decisive turn after the appointment of the bishop Aurelius in 391. He decided to join Augustine of Hippo, in order to stem Donatism. Thus a Council of Carthage (411), brought together bishops from both sides. It is at this point that Rogatus, Bishop of Gaguari, renounced Donatism for Catholicism. The schism ended gradually from 413 under the action of Augustine and the repression of Honorius.

Gaguari seems to have been forgotten, but it is nevertheless listed in many books.

Various parameters in the ancient may explain the disappearance of a bishop (or traces of this diocese) to Gaguari. First, there was a large number of bishoprics in ancient North Africa, especially during the Donatist schism. The organization of the African provinces left a certain autonomy to the cities. Subsequently, these cities will require more religious freedoms: they wanted to have their own bishop. This explains the large number of bishops at the time, . Unfortunately, only half of them have been identified as Gaguari.

Second, from 645, the councils that previously met all the bishops of North Africa will now meet more than the provincial level. Details of these meetings are today largely unknown, only a synodal letters were retained. Third, the seats of bishops (and therefore Gaguari) at the time of Donatism can be of different types: a city or town more or less large, a big farm or a community of families. Fourth, recurrent Berber revolts in the southern province of Byzacène did reduce the number of bishop from 115 to 43, between 484 and 646 also observed a decrease in community size.