DONATUS OF BESANÇON, Saint. - Monastic legislator, d. before 660. Son of Duke Waldelen, he was a monk of Luxeuil and later became bishop of Besançon. But even on the episcopal throne he led the life of a monk and worked for the development of monastic life.

Through his efforts two new monasteries arose in his episcopal see: to that of St. Paul he imposed the observance of the two Rules of St. Benedict and St. Columbanus, something not infrequent at that time. For the nuns of the monastery founded by his mother (Jussas-Moutier) he himself compiled a new Rule, based on those of St. Columbanus, of St. Caesarius, and above all of St. Benedict, which precisely at that time was gaining more and more ground. The Rule of D. (Sancti Donati episcopi Vesontianensis Regula ad Virgines), for the most part a repetition of the Benedictine one, is in PL 87, 273-98.

D. died on the 7th of the following month, the day on which he is commemorated in the Benedictine Martyrology, but the year is unknown.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: L. Duchesne, Faites épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, III, Paris 1915, pp. 213-14; A. Zimmermann, Kalend. Benedictinum, II, Metten 1934, pp. 544-45; F. Schmitz, Hist. de l'Ordre de st Benoît, I, Maredsous 1948, p. 59 f.

Ambrogio Mancone

@incollection{ec4_donato_di_besancon_santo, author = {Mancone, Ambrogio}, title = {Donato di Besançon, santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1857}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/donato-di-besancon-santo} }

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Donatus of Besançon, Saint

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