Pope Donus

Pope Donus (died on 11 April 678) was the bishop of Rome from 676 to his death on 11 April 678. Few details survive about him or his achievements beyond what is recorded in the Liber Pontificalis.

Election

Donus was the son of a Roman named Maurice.<ref name="Attwater">Template:Cite book</ref> He became pope on 2 November 676, having been selected to succeed Adeodatus II.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> By that time, Donus was already elderly.<ref name="Attwater"/>

Pontificate

Donus expanded the clergy of Rome with twelve new priests and five deacons. He also consecrated six bishops for various sees.<ref>Duchesne, p. 348.</ref> One of these may have been Vitalianus of Arezzo.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He had the atrium of Old St. Peter's Basilica paved with large blocks of white marble, and restored other churches of Rome, notably the church of St. Euphemia on the Appian Way and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.<ref>Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis I, p. 348, who conjectures in note 2 that the church in question was not the Basilica, but instead a small church commemorating the parting of Peter and Paul on their way to execution. Mann, pp. 20–21.</ref> Donus was shocked to discover a colony of Nestorian monks in Boetianum, a Syrian monastery in Rome. He gave their monastery to Roman monks and dispersed them through the various religious houses of the city in the hope that they would accept Chalcedonian Christianity. The Nestorians were possibly refugees fleeing the Muslim conquest of the Levant.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

During the pontificate of Donus, Archbishop Reparatus of Ravenna returned to the obedience of the Holy See, thus ending the schism created by Archbishop Maurus, who had aimed at making Ravenna autocephalous.<ref>Oestereich, Thomas. "Pope Donus." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 12 September 2017]</ref> Donus' relations with Constantinople tended towards the conciliatory. On 10 August 678, Emperor Constantine IV addressed him as "the most holy and blessed archbishop of our ancient Rome and the universal pope," hoping to attract him to engage in negotiations with the patriarch of Constantinople and the Monothelites.<ref>Delogu, p. 61 note 14: Dono sanctissimo ac beatissimo archiepiscopo antiquae nostrae Romae et universali papae.... Template:Cite book</ref> He ordered that Pope Vitalianus' name be put back in the diptychs of those bishops in communion with Constantinople, an act which caused him a great deal of trouble from the Monothelites and Patriarch Theodore I of Constantinople.<ref>Baronius (ed. Theiner), p. 600 (year 677, no. 2). The restoration was ordered by the VI Ecumenical Council.</ref>

Donus died on 11 April 678 and was buried the same day in Old St. Peter's Basilica. He was succeeded by Agatho.<ref>Duchesne, p. 348.</ref>

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Doglu, Paolo. "Il papato tra l'impero bizantino e l'Occidente nel VII e VIII secolo," in: Template:Cite book
• Duchesne, Louis (ed.) (1886). Le Liber pontificalis; texte, introduction et commentaire par L. Duchesne Tome premier. Paris: E. Thorin. pp. 348–349.
• Mann, Horace Kinder (1903). The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages. Volume I, Part II. London: Kegan Paul. pp. 20–22.

External links

• Gasparri, Stefano (2000). "Dono". Enciclopedia dei Papi Template:In lang Retrieved: 2016-11-27.
• Pope Donus in Patron Saints Index