DONATUS of Besançon, Saint. — Monastic legislator, died before 660. Son of Duke Walderlen, he was a monk of Luxeuil and later became bishop of Besançon. Even as bishop, he lived the life of a monk and worked for the development of monastic life.
Through his efforts, two new monasteries arose in his episcopal see: at the one dedicated to St Paul, he imposed the observance of the Rules of both St Benedict and St Columbanus, a practice not uncommon at that time. For the nuns of the monastery founded by his mother (Jussa-Moutier), he himself compiled a new Rule, based on those of St Columbanus, St Caesarius, and especially St Benedict, who at that very time was gaining ever greater influence. The Rule of D. (Sancti Donati episcopi Vesontionensis Regula ad Virginis), largely a repetition of the Benedictine Rule, is found in PL 87, 273-98.
D. died on 7 August, the day on which he is commemorated in the Benedictine Martyrology, though the year of his death is unknown.