Saint Optatus of Milevis

Optatus was the Bishop of Milevis (modern Mila in northeastern Algeria) during the late fourth century. Facing the passionate Donatist controversy that fractured Christian North Africa, Optatus authored a landmark six-volume treatise ('Contra Parmenianum Donatistam') characterized by remarkably courteous rhetoric and rigorous theological clarity.

Optatus articulated for the first time the distinction between the objective validity of sacraments and the personal sanctity of the minister ('ex opere operato'). Saint Augustine praised Optatus as a venerable father of the African church alongside Cyprian, and his writings remain essential primary sources for the social and intellectual history of Roman Algeria.