Macarius (imperial legate)

His original mission had been to distribute donations from the emperor Constans, in North Africa churches in an attempt to end the split between Donatists and Catholics.

[4] The local Donatists, however, resisted the legates and aided by Circumcellion groups from the surrounding district, a revolt took place.

[9][10] There is some suggestion that this was carried out by the soldier without Macarius orders but either way, Marcarius set camp at a nearby imperial estate and suppressed the revolt over the following months.

The phrase [13]Macarian Times became a sound bite to express the idea of Catholic-imperial persecution by Donatists preachers.

"Far from securing unity, the Marcarian mission had left a bitterly divided memory half a century later.