Pope Donus (died on 11 April 678) was the

bishop of Rome A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

from 676 to his death. Few details survive about him or his achievements beyond what is recorded in the ''

Liber Pontificalis The ''Liber Pontificalis'' (Latin for 'pontifical book' or ''Book of the Popes'') is a book of biographies of popes from Saint Peter until the 15th century. The original publication of the ''Liber Pontificalis'' stopped with Pope Adrian II (867� ...

''.

Election

Donus was the son of a Roman named Maurice. He became

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

on 2 November 676, having been selected to succeed

Adeodatus II Pope Adeodatus II (c.621–17 June 676), sometimes called Deodatus, was the bishop of Rome from 672 to his death. He devoted much of his papacy to improving churches and fighting Monothelism. Rise Born in Rome in c.621, Adeodatus was the son of a ...

. By that time, Donus was already elderly.

Pontificate

Donus expanded the clergy of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with twelve new priests and five deacons. He also consecrated six bishops for various sees. One of these may have been Vitalianus of Arezzo. He had the

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

Old St. Peter's Basilica Old St. Peter's Basilica was the building that stood, from the 4th to 16th centuries, where the new St. Peter's Basilica stands today in Vatican City. Construction of the basilica, built over the historical site of the Circus of Nero, began durin ...

paved with large blocks of white marble, and restored other churches of

, notably the church of St. Euphemia on the Appian Way and the

Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

. Donus was shocked to discover a colony of

Nestorian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...

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 Chalcedonian Christianity is the branch of Christianity that accepts and upholds theological and ecclesiological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christolo ...

. The Nestorians were possibly refugees fleeing the

Muslim conquest of the Levant The Muslim conquest of the Levant ( ar, فَتْحُ الشَّام, translit=Feth eş-Şâm), also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam."Syria." Encyclopædia Br ...

. During the pontificate of Donus, Archbishop Reparatus of Ravenna returned to the obedience of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

, thus ending the schism created by Archbishop Maurus, who had aimed at making Ravenna

autocephalous Autocephaly (; from el, αὐτοκεφαλία, meaning "property of being self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Ort ...

. Donus' relations with Constantinople tended towards the conciliatory. On 10 August 678, Emperor

Constantine IV Constantine IV ( la, Constantinus; grc-gre, Κωνσταντῖνος, Kōnstantînos; 650–685), called the Younger ( la, iunior; grc-gre, ὁ νέος, ho néos) and sometimes incorrectly the Bearded ( la, Pogonatus; grc-gre, Πωγων ...

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 The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...

and the

Monothelites Monothelitism, or monotheletism (from el, μονοθελητισμός, monothelētismós, doctrine of one will), is a theological doctrine in Christianity, that holds Christ as having only one will. The doctrine is thus contrary to dyotheliti ...

. He ordered that Pope Vitalianus' name be put back in the

diptych A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...

s 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 Theodore I (? – 28 January 687) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 677 to 679. He had been preceded by Constantine I of Constantinople. During this cataclysmic period, the Byzantine military overcame the Arab incursion again ...

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

References

Sources

* *Doglu, Paolo. "Il papato tra l'impero bizantino e l'Occidente nel VII e VIII secolo," in: *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'' Retrieved: 2016-11-27.

in ''Patron Saints Index'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Donus 678 deaths Popes Italian popes Popes of the Byzantine Papacy 7th-century archbishops Year of birth unknown 7th-century popes 610 births Burials at St. Peter's Basilica