Donatus of Besançon

Saint Donatus of Besançon was bishop of Besançon, who died after 658 (according to the Russian source, in 660), founder of the monastery of Palatium (later Saint-⁠Paul) in Besançon and author of a rule for nuns. He is venerated as a saint since the eleventh century and commemorated on 7 August. Our sources show him venerated in the West and show no separate Orthodox glorification.

Donatus was a Frankish aristocrat, the son of Duke Waldelenus and his wife Flavia (according to the Russian source, Gallo-⁠Romans, Waldelen and Aelia Flavia) and the brother of Duke Ramelen. His family was among the earliest supporters of the Irish monk Columbanus. He was baptized by Columbanus and entered the monastery of Luxeuil, where he followed Columbanus' rule all his life. Before 627 he became bishop of Besançon. He founded in Besançon a monastery dedicated to Saint Paul, which received the name Palatium because it was built on the ruins of a palace. The monastery followed the Rule of Columbanus and later became a house of Augustinian canons. Most of the data about Donatus comes from Jonas of Bobbio's Life of Columbanus; references to him in other sources (acts of councils and charters) are listed in Duchesne's Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule.

After her husband's death, Donatus' mother Flavia founded in Besançon a convent, probably Jussa Moutier (Iussanum monasterium). For this foundation Donatus wrote a monastic rule in which he combined elements from the Rule of Benedict, the Rule of Caesarius of Arles and the Rule of Columbanus; the Russian source says that the rule was written for the abbess Gauthstrude. The Rule of Donatus is the oldest witness to a textual reception of the Rule of Benedict. The text is preserved in Benedict of Aniane's Codex Regularum; the rules of the monastery of Jussa Moutier were included by Jean Mabillon in his Annales ordinis S. Benedicti.