ON ST. DONATUS, PRIEST AND CONFESSOR,
A HERMIT IN THE DISTRICT OF SISTERON IN PROVENCE IN GAUL.
About the YEAR 535.
CommentaryDonatus, priest and confessor, in the district of Sisteron in Provence in Gaul (St.)
BY J. B. S.
Of our present St. Donatus, already sufficiently distinguished from others of the same name, we began to treat in our observations on Usuard, Of this Saint, who has been distinguished from others of the same name, where we expressly noted that his hermitage was not on Mount Jura in Burgundy, but on Mount Lure in Provence, in the pagus, as the martyrologists say, or in the diocese of Sisteron — for which you may not amiss substitute Secusteronensis with Castellanus, or Sistaricensis with others (in French Sisteron). By the martyrologists here indicated I mean only Ado, the first and chief, and Usuard, his abridger, to omit the longer series of the rest. Thus Ado speaks, and in few words embraces the more notable and certain matters:
[2] In Gaul, in the district of Sisteron, on the mountain which is called Jura (read Lure), the birthday of St. Donatus the priest; mention has been made by Ado who, from the very first rudiments of infancy endowed with the wondrous grace of God, coming from the city of Orléans to the aforesaid place that he might devote himself to Christ alone, passed the anchoretic life for many years, so renowned for the glory of miracles that, among other magnificent deeds, he even destroyed a monstrous and terrible dragon, put to flight thence by his prayers. And when the day of his calling drew near, holy abbot Marius coming to him, to whom it had been so revealed, amid the words of prayer he passed to Christ, and was buried by that same father in his own place. From these things and from the longer Life must be corrected what is reported somewhat differently at the end in the account of St. Marius, both in our Acts of the XXVII of January, page 775, number 11, and in Mabillon, century 1, page 106.
[3] and by Usuard in their Martyrologies, And here you have the brief and, I think, correct substance of the longer Life once sent hither from Lyons by our Father Charles Fabre, which, although he himself seems to have approved it, yet more rightly were the many episodes with which it is sprinkled by I know not whom passed over by Ado and others, as not so easily to be admitted without noteworthy authority; so that we have deservedly judged that we must rest upon the shorter eulogies, such as, among others, Benedict Gonon supplied to us from the Breviary of the church of Grenoble, and which he received from Peter of Equilio; and which we have judged should here be reprinted, with Usuard's announcement set first, which the present Roman Martyrology adopted, so that we may be secure about the cult. Thus Usuard abridges Ado: In the district of Sisteron, of blessed Donatus the priest, who, from the very first rudiments of infancy endowed with the wondrous grace of God, passed the anchoretic life for many years, and, renowned for the glory of miracles, passed to Christ. Here now is Gonon's text:
[4] to which Gonon There was a certain man, Donatus by name, from the regions of Neustria, a native of the city of Orléans, who from the rudiments of his infancy was chosen by the Lord. And when he was three years old, he was handed over by his parents to a master, that he might instruct him in letters. And the Lord deigned to bestow so great grace upon him that he knew all the canticles of blessed David. And when he was ten years old, he went through all the volumes both of the Old and of the New Testament. Then it pleased the bishop of the city of Orléans to make him a cleric. But when he had reached the twelfth year of his age, it pleased the bishop to bless him to the burden of the diaconate. And so great was the tranquillity of a good spirit in him that all said he was chosen by God.
[5] Established in which honor, turning to himself he said: from the Breviary of Grenoble "What have I to do with blessed Abraham? For to him the Lord said: 'Go forth from your land and from your kindred, and go into the place which I shall show you, and there you shall be acceptable to me.'" But while he was turning these things over in his mind, leaving the city of Orléans he made straight for the city of Tours, where the body of St. Martin rests, that he might deserve to receive his patronage. And when he had stayed there a few days, and had received patronage from St. Martin, he thus sought the wilderness; and after he had traversed all the provinces and all the lofty mountains, he came at last to the mountain which is called Jura (Lure). And having gazed upon it, he went down to the foot of that mountain, and into the valley which is called Ragion, dry and exceedingly ruinous, where there was no approach of men, but serpents and demons dwelt there. Coming thither, blessed Donatus found a dragon of wondrous size, by whose breath all the shrubs had been burned up, and there thunders and lightnings ever resounded.
[6] But when that dragon saw holy Donatus coming to him, subjoins the Acts, he straightway raised his head as it were twelve cubits, shouting and hissing exceedingly: at whose voice all the serpents ran up, as though to devour the holy Man. But the holy Man, grounded in faith, prostrating himself in prayer, put to flight the dragon and the other venomous creatures and destroyed them by his prayer. And he began to dwell there, leading the anchoretic life, and exceedingly torturing his body with fasts. His food was wild fruits, roots, and the bark of trees: his bed the hard ground. When therefore he had lived many years in solitude, and the day of his calling drew near, abbot Marius coming, divinely admonished to go to him, amid the words of prayer he passed to Christ: and was buried there by the same father on the XIII Kalends of September. Afterwards his body was translated to the district of Sisteron in Gaul.
[7] and treats of his cult and relics. Here Gonon speaks against the common opinion, when he says that the Saint passed away on the XIII Kalends of September instead of the XIV. But he errs worse when he invents that the body was translated from Mount Jura in Lorraine. Certainly it could more conveniently have come to Sisteron from Mount Lure, far nearer to St. Marius's hermitage; whence the better part was translated to Avignon, where his feast is celebrated and a double Office is held (as Gonon himself observes in a note) from the common of a Confessor, and mention is made of him in the old Missal of that church, written in the year of the Lord 1260, with a proper prayer; and a great part of the body of that Saint is contained in a silk bag within a silver casket, which stands above the high altar, together with another in which are the relics of St. Maximus, etc. It will be worth while to have noted in a few words the age of our St. Donatus: for since he was contemporary with St. Marius, and the latter is set down by the writers of his Life, both in our Acts and in Mabillon, in the middle of the sixth century, there is no doubt that St. Donatus must be referred to the same times, as Castellanus has aptly enough marked the year 535.