ST DONATIAN, BISHOP OF REIMS, CONFESSOR

ST DONATIAN, BISHOP OF REIMS, CONFESSOR - 14 OCTOBER

SAINT DONATIAN, BISHOP OF REIMS, CONFESSOR

Saint Donatian (feast day October 14, or alternatively May 7), a Bishop of Reims in France, was - according to some accounts - born in Rome to parents named Cornelius and Lucina. Sent to Gaul at the end of the 4th century to spread the faith, he was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Reims and, following his death (said to have occurred in the year 389), was venerated as a saint. However, according to Butler¹*, his veneration only gained prominence after the translation of his relics to Flanders in the mid-9th century. Count Baldwin of Flanders, having received the relics from King Charles the Bald, deposited them in a church in Bruges that was originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary but subsequently became known as the Church of Saint Donatian. When Bruges was elevated to the status of a bishopric, this church was chosen as the cathedral. The translation of his relics to Bruges is celebrated there on May 7, whereas his name appears in the Roman Martyrology* on October 14.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 1, Augsburg, 1858, p. 795)

*A hagiography source used by the authors

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Donatian, your blessed bishop, may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org

¹Saint Donatian was the seventh bishop of Reims, and died about the year 389.

Charles the Bald bestowed the relics of this saint on Baldwin, whom he had created earl of Flanders, to hold of him that rich province as a fief, in 863.

The earl deposited them in the church of Bruges, which, thereupon, took the title of Saint Donatian’s, being before called our Lady’s. It was made a bishop’s cathedral in 1559.

[Saint Donatian is patron saint of Bruges, Belgium, of West Flanders, Belgium, and of the Diocese of Reims, France.

In art, Saint Donatian is represented as a bishop holding a wheel with candles.]

Source: Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints

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