Donatus the Martyr
Acta Sanctorum, June 30
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://actasanctorum.org/june/day-30/donatus-the-martyr.html
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CONCERNING ST. DONATUS THE MARTYR,
TRANSLATED FROM ROME TO THE MONASTERY OF EIFEL,

From the Monuments of the College of the Society of Jesus there.

[Preface]

Donatus, Roman Martyr, conveyed to the Monastery of Eifel (St.)

D. P.

The Roman Martyrs, in more recent memory
dug out from the sacred cemeteries, and
to public veneration into various
regions repeatedly translated, and with an annual
feast thereafter honored; we neither
search out scrupulously (because
of all the history is either the same or similar, and contributes little
to the end chiefly intended in this work, [To honor the foundation of a College of the Society of Jesus]
that is, to the illustration of sacred antiquity) nor those offering themselves of their own accord
do we universally dismiss; especially when circumstances
are added, making the deed, otherwise common to many,
more notable and more worthy of report. Such
seemed to us he, who in the year 1652 made more
festive the laying of the first stones in the foundations of a new temple,
which was being built for the Society at the Monastery
of Eifel or Eifalia, which is a little district adhering to the Duchy of Jülich,
and subject in temporals to the most serene Duke of Neuburg,
now also Elector Palatine, [the body of St. Donatus M. is obtained from Rome]
in spirituals to the Archdiocese of Cologne. The History,
as it was thence written, and inscribed in the annual letters of the College,
receive.

HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION

From the Annual Letters of 1652.

Donatus, Roman Martyr, conveyed to the Monastery of Eifel (St.)

FROM A MS., [edited] BY D. P.

[1] A great moment to the glory of God and of the holy Martyr

Donatus, in this celebration of the Translation contributed the most Serene
Prince the Elder, [By the mandate of the Prince of Neuburg,] having given to the Governor,
the Chapter of the Collegiate Church, and the Magistrate of the city,
letters, that in that manner they should promote this celebration,
which both piety toward this Saint would urge, and the zeal of honoring
their Prince. The matter therefore was done in this manner.

[2] On the day before the solemnity, by order of the generous Lord
John Frederick de Goltstein, [a procession is arranged,] the Toparch of this place,
outside is armed a choice band of peasants:
troops are mustered, to await the arrival of the holy
Martyr on the way. In the city, about the seventh
hour of evening, with a more festive sound all
the bronze bells of the whole city preluded the future
celebration. On the very next day of the celebration, in the silence of the dead
night, [Wingarten about to receive the holy deposit:] the sacred Relics were reverently brought into the parish church
at Wingarten, distant an hour and a half from here,
and were placed upon the chief altar,
and the rest of the night before them a pair of Priests
kept watch praying. Soon when it dawned,
with most joyful ringing the inhabitants of this village,
in throngs came to the veneration of this Saint,
and their love toward him with most joyful ringing
testified. Nor did the neighboring villages
suffer the day to grow old; but repeatedly, when
it had become widely known that holy Donatus had arrived,
they responded by ringing.

[3] The divine service from both sides about the holy Martyr being performed,
and the aid of the Holy Spirit with a solemn hymn implored, [it conducts him in a four-horse chariot,]
by our Priests, accompanied by two
other Parish-priests, and a thronging crowd of parishioners,
the case of the relics being placed upon an elegant carriage, which by
four caparisoned horses was drawn;
and beside it two Priests, in linen with stoles, for the sake of guard
sat. This triumphal chariot,
part went before, part followed, with a great
number of those who from diverse villages for the sake of veneration,
in a long and beautiful order, this Saint
piously chanting, led all the way to the Monastery.
When they had come to the confines of Jülich, the mustered
peasants, with frequent volleys, [and the sky being unexpectedly cleared,] congratulated the new Athlete's arrival;
and as if claiming for themselves the first of the office,
to the ranks of the supplicants, who closely
surrounded the carriage, as companions succeeded.

[4] In the city, where with greater pomp all had
prepared themselves to receive the holy Relics honorably;
the showers raining down from a rainy sky had almost compelled them, [it is received by the festively armed youth,]
to announce off the devotion and veneration,
or to put it off to a more opportune time: but
when all hope of serenity seemed to have been beheaded,
as soon as this holy new Guest approaches the city,
the sun at once dispersed the surging clouds, more brightly
flashed, and furthermore for the rest of the day proceeded most serenely
to shine. Soldiers therefore being sent forward to meet [him] some distance
outside the gates, and the flower of the youth armed under
its own standards, which has leisure for various crafts;
the procession itself, about the eighth hour, from
the principal church with magnificent apparatus is led out. There went before
and led the column the catechetical boys and girls,
and the devout sodalities of matrons; there followed
the studious youth of the gymnasium; then the Capuchin
Fathers; then the whole College of Canons of the principal church,
all clothed in most precious and gold-interwoven copes:
then the Bodies of SS. Chrysanthus and Daria: after, our Fathers in linen
and clad with stoles, holding kindled tapers
in their hands; [with the pious sodalities and the Clergy and the Jesuits,] many also of comely and especially diligent
form, winged little youths, and those young men
who were to acclaim anagrams to holy Donatus.
Among these went the Rectors of the two Colleges
of our Society, the bier, especially
composed for elegance, with scarlet, gold,
and gems flashing, carrying on their shoulders, that the Martyr
into the city they might bring: lastly indeed advanced
three legates of the Princes, the great Counts,
there with burning tapers in their hands conspicuous:
the column was closed by a poured-out multitude of men,
with such throng and number, that all the ways,
by which they had to proceed, they filled.

[5] Saluted at an altar, built outside near the city,
with various anagrams, holy Donatus, [the nobility having gone forth to meet him.]
thence is placed upon the aforesaid bier; and all
being astonished at the novelty and the amplitude of the celebration,
and retracing the way in the prior order, into the city
he is brought in. They flanked on either side the sides of the supplicants,
armed soldiers, young men, and to that end
from three Governorships hired peasants; who all
with frequent volleys, to the victorious Athlete of Christ
and the new guest, congratulated the propitious arrival
for themselves and the city; to whom round about from the towers, [And so the Body brought into the city,]
and from the citadel, situated in a high place, with double
cannons with great roaring, with the festive sound
of the bells resounding between, the citizens responded; and so
with a slow and pious going, the whole way strewn with branches and flowers,
to the place, prepared for the new College
to be built, was proceeded; and there, on
an altar, most elegantly erected, the case of the sacred Relics
was placed.

[6] Its opening, and the sacred treasure within,
that they might find greater faith and veneration with all,
[it is deposited in the place of the future College:] from the whole surrounding crowd, openly
a certain Doctor of Both Laws, two Licentiates, with some
chief men or witnesses, and a Notary of public faith
(they call him Notarius), to inspect more carefully and examine
the seals of the case, more studiously affixed,
were called. To these therefore, before the whole
multitude testifying, having inspected more curiously
all things; and having perceived such great integrity of all,
that they found no fault; were brought forth into the midst
and opened the letters of the Most Rev. Father N. V. General,
Florence de Montmorency, and to the surrounding
multitude read aloud; which signified the Body of Holy
Donatus the Martyr, to the College of the Society of Jesus of the Monastery
of Eifel, by the license of the Superiors from the City [Rome]
sent. Then the cedar shrine of the Relics being opened, [the instruments of the donation are read,]
these things especially were found within.
First, the letters of the Most Rev. Father V. General,
of plainly the same argument, with those of which
we made mention above. Second, the diploma of the most Eminent
Cardinal Ghinetti. Third, the whole
Skull of the holy Martyr Donatus, to which five
teeth whole adhered, and a sixth half.
Six or seven larger bones, but very many smaller ones,
with very many ashes of relics. [the shrine being opened the Relics are shown,] There was found
besides, a whole stone lamp, in the manner
of a shell; likewise a glass ampulla, and three large
iron rings; and a certain other thing, as we suspect
an instrument of martyrdom, whose handle was curved,
but the other part broader, striated, of black color,
and material most similar to alabaster. Fifth finally,
was added a paper, on which were inscribed those things which
were carved on the Martyr's tombstone.

[7] These, with great admiration of the spectators,
and no less devotion, being surveyed, [and the first stone being laid in the foundation] again to the invincible
Athlete of Christ with repeated volleys was triumph
and applause given; the applause was followed by a discourse,
accommodated to this celebration, in the place where the foundations of the new
College were duly laid. These being laid,
with the highest solemnity, the procession in the prior order
being restored, the eucharistic song of the Divine
Ambrose and Augustine chanting, the purpled
Champion of Christ, as triumphing into the Capitoline
citadel, into the principal sacred church or
Collegiate church of the Canons, we led in;
and a Mass concerning him by the Most Reverend Lord
Dean being most solemnly chanted, very many,
as much as the time permitted, with veneration kissed the sacred
head of the Martyr: and the solemnities of the Masses being finished,
the holy Martyr to our chapel
was carried. With a drama, very opportune and accommodated
to this celebration, at the appointed Vesper
prayers, we put an end to that festivity;
yet so, that these eight following
days, before the sacred relics, not without frequent
concourse of the people, we perpetuated [the devotion].

[8] The eighth day the citizens of Euskirchen made more festive;
[they are led to the collegiate church,] whom, because on the very day of the Translation
a foul tempest had delayed, hence their offices of veneration
to this day they postponed.
On the eighth day therefore, equipped with most elegant standards,
in a long and most beautiful order, supplicating,
they came to the Monastery. Nor again were the Monastery-folk lacking in their office:
but to them, outside the gates of the city
having come to meet and joining themselves to them, them
all the way to holy Donatus they led. [on which eighth day the Euskirchen folk come.] You would believe
both cities had in rivalry venerated this Saint;
because, the Euskirchen folk, the day inclining
to its setting, hastening their return home,
the Monastery-folk the rest of the day, nay the whole
afternoon time, on prayers before the sacred
relics spent.

[9] [A heretic mocking the public piety] And in this so celebrated supplication,
when there was no one but seemed with silence and the greatest
devotion to approve the whole thing; there was found
of a degenerate faction, and among the joyful brows of those applauding,
a shameless man, infected with the stain of heresy,
who, when with livid and bleary eyes
he beheld the celebration, with cynical scurrility persisted,
to the disgrace and reproach of the feast-day, in not exchanging
his sordid patched rags for more elegant attire.
But, whether the celebration of the feast confused him with vertigo,
is uncertain; but certain, that he
from a good wide bridge slipped into the water flowing past;
and unless besmeared with mud, he wished to be held a mockery to all,
in more honest clothing, until
the filth was wiped away, he was compelled to clothe
himself. Whether that happened by chance, or by a certain
counsel of the Deity, avenging the injury done to the Martyr,
let each feel what he will; [he slips from the bridge into the mud] since necessity
does not press to beg a more illustrious glory of the Martyr from perhaps dubious signs.
For a notable, and almost clearer than the midday light, monument of a benefit
divinely bestowed it exhibits, which as a finishing-piece
we subjoin to the Annual letters.

[10] [A tempest having arisen at Euskirchen during Mass,] There had been sent, the day before our solemnity,
a certain one of our Fathers, called Herde,
to Euskirchen, where in the summer time the rudiments of Christian
doctrine he had expounded, that thence he might lead out
the crowd of supplicants to meet holy Donatus,
and conduct it. On the very next day of the festive translation,
before the morning dawn, there began
the dark mists of the clouds to darken the sky, and
to bring forth a most great tempest indeed: which soon
burst forth; the clouds gathered, the sky thundered and lightened,
amid whirlwinds and lightnings copious showers
fell. The Father, that he might hasten the supplication,
early in the morning concerning holy Donatus in the church of Euskirchen
at the altar of the divine Virgin was celebrating; at which
time, the tempests having arisen in opposition, again
frequent thunders were heard, and a stroke of lightning at the Elevation
and the Communion with the greatest force was hurled,
to the horror of all, the sacred Host, a bright
fire flashing between, passed by. The Father had laid aside
a few days before, by I know not what occasion, the Caravaca
Cross, which against such accidents he was wont to carry.
Destitute therefore of such a defense, a thought came upon him,
to implore for himself and others the aid
of St. Donatus, and to choose him as Patron:
which being duly performed, with unbroken spirit he pursues the Mass.
That being finished, when he turned himself,
about to dismiss the people with the solemn benediction, [St. Donatus is invoked by the one sacrificing;] by a most grievous
lightning from the right of his breast, as if by a globe,
with the greatest force hurled from a cannon, struck,
half-alive he is prostrated on the ground; the most holy names,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph; and the protection of holy
Donatus the Martyr, being called upon in his supreme vows.

[11] [who nevertheless is seized by the lightning,] A thing indeed as terrifying and dire, as
admirable. The temple, all of it, was to be seen
flashing with much fire. From the upper part
of a lofty window were dashed out great carved stones;
a solid stone was strongly struck, and with a winding course
the linen cloth spread under the statue of the divine Virgin,
and in a long course around the chalice, the cloths
of that altar were burned; here and there various things by the concussion
were scattered. This lightning, although it scorched in part,
and pierced through the sacred vestments, with which the Priest was
clothed; penetrated also his gown, and inner garments; it moreover wounded grievously his breast
with a bloody wound, in the manner of a belt, the heart-region
widely girding; finally, two behind, five
at the feet being left as holes in the garment, it burst out
in a straight line through the very ankle to the lowest
sole of the left foot, leaving a bloody streak;
and on the joint of the right elbow, with a circular mark,
at the edge as if yellow from sulphur, in the middle as if
black from gunpowder; yet his life he preserved,
though so struck.

[12] And that it might more evidently be established, that this [life] was preserved to him by the benefit
of the holy Martyr, [and marked over his whole body,] it is to be noted;
that the Father, whether prostrate on the ground, or afterward,
raised by the helping hand of others, and of his sacred
vestments stripped; placed upon his knees, by which he noticed himself
to be most strong, further, about to supplicate the helping
Saint (which one thing he asked of others,
who beheld this sad spectacle with much signification of commiseration)
for half an hour or more, felt such great
ardors and burnings in his breast, that they can scarcely be expressed,
and he thought he would be burned up
even with fire. But, by the good God, his confidence in the holy
Protector being resumed and confirmed against the most grievous temptation of distrust,
his aid the more frequently with deep voice redoubling; "Holy Donatus
the Martyr, pray for me;" and against the cursed
suggestion openly protesting; "I do not distrust;" he began
little by little to recover from the heat, which together with
a most foul-smelling and almost intolerable stench from
his breast and garments evaporated.

[13] There remained another evil of his feet, which were so by the lightning
afflicted, [but his confidence in the Saint being resumed, he is raised;] that he could not stand on them;
because the bones at the heel below seemed almost
consumed, or certainly softened like wax. This evil held
him for about an hour; until
at last, after the frequently repeated imploration of holy Donatus,
and vows conceived to him, his soles
are made firm, so that on foot and fasting, and not having admitted
the balsam or unguent which was offered, [and his feet being quickly cured,] from Euskirchen
to the Monastery, through a journey of almost three hours,
he conveniently about noon returned.

[14] Wherefore, as the beginnings give themselves, not vainly
do we augur, [he returns to the city quite well,] that this Saint will by no means allow,
who by a good omen received the name of Donatus [the Given One], not now
recent, as some might suspect, but so many
centuries back, his devoted clients
thereafter to go away ungifted by him; but will give,
that (just as they prayed, as many as
in diverse places offered sacrifice to God concerning him,
with marvelous agreement, no counsel having been taken among themselves,
among so many diverse formulas of praying proposed about the Martyr,
they prayed from him) from
all adversities they may be freed in body, and
from depraved thoughts cleansed in mind.
Moreover, although the Translation was done on June 30,
it seemed nevertheless [good] to affix the feast of annual commemoration
to the first Sunday of July, [The feast is decreed for the 1st Sunday of July] for the greater
convenience of the people, then on holiday, and on account of
the opportunity of the monthly Indulgence falling on such
a Sunday.

[15] To this narration were joined authentic copies
of letters, first of the aforenamed Father Vicar General,
affirming on November 25, 1649,
that the body of St. Donatus the Martyr was sent by him from the Cemetery
of St. Agnes, outside the Nomentane gate,
extracted with the due license of the Superiors: [The Body had been extracted from the cemetery of St. Agnes,] then
of Leonard de Leonardis, a Roman citizen and Notary
in the Curia of the Pontifical Vicariate, testifying, that
in the same year, on the 20th day… before him appeared the aforesaid
R. Vicar, asserting and affirming, that there had been in
the nature of things Br. Balthasar Ballorum of that same
Society of Jesus, lately deceased in the City [Rome]; [and given to Br. Balloro] among
whose goods were found several bodies of holy
Martyrs and parts of Relics, and
notably the body of St. Donatus the Martyr, to that same Balthasar
given by the most Eminent and most Reverend
Lord Marcius Cardinal Ginetti, Vicar General
of our Most Holy Lord the Pope, from which the same Balthasar
suffered many labors through the space of many years,
in finding and extracting from the cemeteries and
catacombs of the City, the sacred bodies of the holy Martyrs:
the Father Vicar himself also affirming, that to him,
as Superior, pertained the disposition of the said holy
bodies.

[16] And therefore, wishing to come to the below-written donation,
[with an ampulla of Blood,] first and before all he asserted
that the said sacred Body of St. Donatus the Martyr was of
those, and so as above found and respectively donated.
That therefore together with a half-broken glass vessel,
sprinkled with the blood of the said blessed Martyr, to the greater
glory and honor of omnipotent God and the holy Martyr,
[and bequeathed by him, to the College of Eifel,] and the increase of the devotion of the faithful,
he donated, granted, bestowed upon the venerable
College of the Society of Jesus of the Monastery of Eifel
of the diocese of Cologne, and for it on Brother James Hannot,
companion of his Paternity; that the same Br. James
might be able and have power to transmit the aforesaid sacred Body outside
the City and to the said venerable College,
and in the church of the same College to have it publicly exposed
and placed, that by the pious faithful it might be venerated.
Which sacred Body, indeed, reposed
and placed in a certain little wooden case, [Br. James Hannot accepting it.]
bound with a cord, and in two places with the seal
of the most Eminent Cardinal Ginetti the Vicar sealed, the same
Br. James, with all the devotion and reverence he could,
received, and gave immortal thanks.
Concerning which, etc.

[17] [An image of the Saint is engraved,] Furthermore, to augment the veneration of their new Patron,
and to spread it everywhere, they took care that with engraved
bronze his image be expressed with this epigraph:
"Holy Donatus the Martyr, pray for us, that we may be freed
from lightning-flash, thunderbolt, and tempest;" in
whose image's background is seen a church with a bell-tower,
which is pervaded by lightning; to signify
the aforenoted accident of that Father, who first in such peril
invoked the Saint, and went before others by example to do the same.
I saw letters, sent from Rimini in Italy,
in the year 1683, in which were asked impressions, [and it is widely scattered.]
sanctified by the touch of the sacred Head, to preserve the suburban
region and crops from those evils,
they being exposed and the use of the most devout prayer, which
on the back of the aforesaid image is expressed in German, there
was already had rendered into Latin, thence into the Italian idiom
to be turned.
