Donatian and Rogatian

The holy martyrs Donatian and Rogatian of Nantes were brothers, young men of Gaul, put to death for the faith in the Roman persecution, about 288-290 or, by other accounts, 304. They are honoured in the Western Church on 24 May and are the patrons of the city of Nantes, as saints of the undivided Church.

According to tradition they were sons of Aurelian, the chief magistrate of the city. Donatian, the younger, was baptized, probably by Bishop Similian, while Rogatian, the elder brother, was a catechumen. The family estate, a Gallo-⁠Roman villa, housed the first Christian sanctuary of Nantes, on the spot where the basilica bearing their names now stands. Denounced as Christians, they were arrested and brought before the imperial prefect (named Rictiovarus in the Greek synaxarion), who called on them to sacrifice to idols. They refused and confessed Christ. Rogatian grieved that he would die unbaptized, but Donatian reassured him: the blood of martyrdom would take the place of baptism. They were beaten, pierced with the spear of a lictor and beheaded in the morning, outside the city. The Greek synaxarion also commemorates them on 24 May.