Libellatici

Libellatici is the name of that class of the lapsed who received from the heathen magistrate a written certificate (libellue) as a warrant for their security; either testifying that they were not Christians, or containing a dispensation from the necessity of sacrificing to the gods in confirmation of their adherence to heathenism. Another class of the lapsed were the sacrificati — that is, those who had offered sacrifice to the heathen gods in testimony of their renunciation of the faith; manother the traditores, because they had delivered up into the hands of the heathen either copies of the sacred writings, baptismal registers, or any other property of the Church. See Farrar, Eccles. Dict. s.v.; Schaff, Ch. Hist. 1 (see Index); Mosheim, Commentary (see Index). SEE LAPSED.