LIBELLATICI

A designation of one kind of the lapsed from Christianity in times of persecution. They are first mentioned in the Decian persecution, and the origin of the name seems to have been this. It is probable that the emperor had decreed that every one who was accused or suspected of being a Christian, should be permitted to purge himself before a magistrate, on which occasion a libellus or certificate was given him, that he had never been a Christian, or that he had abjured the name of Christ . Some Christians, who were not so abandoned as to forsake the true faith utterly, were yet weak and dishonest enough to procure those libelli , or certificates, by fraudulent compromise with the magistrate: thus avoiding, as they might hope, the sin of apostasy, and at the same time escaping the sufferings and penalties of convicted Christians. The Church, however, refused to sanction their deceit and cowardice, and they were cla ed among the lapsed, though not considered quite so culpable as the Sacrificati and Thurificati .