Donatus of Euroea

Saint Donatus, bishop of Euroea in Epirus Vetus, lived in the time of the emperor Theodosius the Great and died in 387; he is venerated by both Orthodox and Catholics, chiefly in Albania and Greece. He is commemorated on 30 April, and on 29 September the translation of his relics is kept. The sources do not agree on the place of birth or the location of Euroea: according to some it is at Glyki, according to others at Paramythia, in Epirus.

Life

According to the Russian source he was born at Butrint, today in Albania; according to the English source at Euroea, in Epirus Vetus, in north-⁠western Greece; according to the Greek source it is not known where he was born, but he lived between 310 and 387, and the first twelve years of his life he spent at Butrint, where he also taught. Later he was ordained bishop of Euroea, one of the twelve cities of Epirus, set where the village of Hoika is today; according to the English source Euroea is identified with Glyki, according to the Russian with present-⁠day Paramythia. He also worked in the city of Isoreia, on the site of present-⁠day Glyki, at the sources of the Acheron, and in Omphalion. He is the patron of the town of Paramythia.

The church historian of late antiquity Sozomen says that Saint Donatus worked many miracles: he defeated a dragon, purified the water of a well, saved the daughter of the emperor Theodosius and raised the dead.

Relics and veneration

He died in 387, and his relics were taken in 602 to Kassiopi, in Corfu, to save them from invaders. This led, however, to a dispute of jurisdiction and custody of the relics, which Pope Gregory the Great resolved. Later they were moved to Cephalonia, and the doge of Venice, Domenico Michiel, took them in 1125 or 1126 and brought them to Murano, to the cathedral of Saints Mary and Donatus. His veneration was very widespread in the Middle Ages. The cathedral of Umbriatico, in Calabria, bears his name: the region was occupied in the ninth century by Epirotes, led by Nikephoros Phokas the Elder, who brought with them the veneration of their saints. Sometimes the lives of Saint Donatus of Euroea and Donatus of Arezzo are confused.