a Christian sect which sprang up in the third century, so called from Novatian a priest of Rome, or Novatus an African bishop who separated from the communion of pope Cornelius, whom Novatian charged with a criminal lenity towards those who had apostatized during the persecution of Decius. He denied the church's power of remitting mortal sins, upon the offender's repentance; and at last went so far as to deny that the apostles could ever hope for pardon even from God himself.