Gaudentius (7), Donatist bp. of Thamugada

Gaudentius (7), Donatist bp. of Thamugada (Temugadi), a town of Numidia, about 14 Roman miles N.E. of Lambesa (Ant. Itin. 34, 2), one of the seven managers on the Donatist side in Carth. Conf., a.d. 411 (Mon. Vet. Don. pp. 288, 408, ed. Oberthur). His name is chiefly known by his controversy with St. Augustine, c. 420. Dulcitius had informed him what was the course intended by the imperial government towards the Donatists. Gaudentius replied in two letters, which Dulcitius sent to Augustine, whose reply to them in two books entitled contra Gaudentium (Aug. Opp. vol. ix. 707–751, ed. Migne) may be regarded as representing the close of the Donatist controversy (vol. i. p. 895). The Donatist cause, already languishing, from this time fell into a decay, to which these treatises of St. Augustine materially contributed. Sparrow Simpson, S. Aug. and African Ch. Divisions (1910), pp. 133–137.

[H.W.P.]