CAMPENSES. - Nickname given by St. Jerome (Ep., XV) to the Catholics of Antioch who were partisans of Bishop Meletius, persecuted by Valens starting from 372. When Meletius was exiled for the third time, his faithful, deprived of their churches, were forced to hold their assemblies in the countryside surrounding the city (Theodoret, Hist. Eccl., IV, 21), whence the name of C., though they remained exposed to the harassment of the police (cf. F. Cavallera, Le schisme d'Antioche, Paris 1905, pp. 133-200; Fliche-Martin-Frutaz, III, p. 269).

The same appellation was applied to the adherents of Donatism of African origin but resident in Rome. Organized into an autonomous church by Bishop Victor Garbensia after 320, since they could not have a church of their own in the City, they celebrated their ceremonies in a cave outside the city. For this reason they were also called campitae, montenses, rupitae.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: A. Jülicher, s. v. in Pauly-Wissowa, III, col. 1443; P. Monceaux, Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique chrétienne, IV, Paris 1912, pp. 32-33.

Mario Scaduto

@incollection{ec3_campenses, author = {Scaduto, Mario}, title = {Campenses}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {472--473}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/campenses} }

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