ON ST. DONATUS, CONFESSOR.
At Forum Cornelii (today Imola) in Italy.
Fifth century.
CommentaryDonatus, Confessor, at Forum Cornelii in Italy (S.)
J. B. S.
Among the three St. Donatuses of today he occupies here the middle place, known to us from no other source than the General Catalogue of the Saints of Italy of Ferrarius, who so testifies of his immemorial cult that he expressly numbers him among the holy protectors of the city of Imola. He conjectures his age from this, that he was archdeacon of St. Projectus, bishop of that same city, whom Baronius reports at the year 431, number 22, to have been present at the council of Ephesus of that year — or at least that he flourished in his time. Let the man himself be heard: Donatus, born at Forum Cornelii (which city they now call Imola), lived and flourished under St. Projectus the bishop, by whom he was created archdeacon, and merited such praise of sanctity that, having departed the world, he was not only held a Saint, but was also chosen by the citizens of Cornelium as protector of their city. His body or relics are most religiously preserved in the Cathedral church in a chest within the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary. His feast day has been customarily celebrated by the church of Imola on the seventh of the Ides of August.