DONATI, LODOVICO. — Born in Venice, probably in the parish of S. Martino. He was a Friar Minor. Having been made master of theology by Urban V, after teaching at Pisa, he was among the founders of the theological faculty of Bologna. Inquisitor in Venice and in the Marca Trevigiana in the years 1366–73, in 1379 he was elected minister general of the Order at Strigonia. Urban VI created him cardinal of S. Marco on 31 December 1381 and sent him, together with two other cardinals, as legate to Carlo di Durazzo in May 1382. Together with five other colleagues, he was taken prisoner by the Pope on charges of conspiracy at Nocera on 12 January 1385 and died in captivity at Genoa in December 1386.
BIBL.: G. Ghedina, Fr. L. D. primo card. veneziano, Verona 1882; Eubel, I, p. 24; Sbaralea, II, p. 187; F. Benoffi, Degli studi nell'Ordine dei Minori, in Missell. franc., 31 (1931), p. 154; B. Pergamo, I Francescani alla facoltà teologica di Bologna, in Arch. franc. hist., 27 (1934), pp. 10–11. Candido Romeri