Pope Donus

For the apocryphal pope, see Pope Donus II.

Pope Donus
File:Dono I.jpg
Papacy began	2 November 676
Papacy ended	11 April 678
Predecessor	Adeodatus II
Successor	Agatho
Personal details
Birth name	???
Born	??? Rome, Byzantine Empire
Died	11 April 678(678-04-11) Rome, Byzantine Empire

Pope Donus (died 11 April 678) was Pope from 2 November 676 to his death in 678. He was the son of a Roman named Mauricius. Not much is known of this pope.

Reign

While he was Pope, he had the enclosed forecourt of St. Peter's Basilica paved, had the atrium (or quadrangle) in front of St. Peter's paved with great 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.

During the pontificate of Donus, Reparatus, the Archbishop 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.

During the reign of Donus, a colony of Nestorian monks was discovered in a Syrian monastery at Rome — the Monasterium Boetianum. They were possibly refugees following the Muslim conquest of the Levant. Donus is reported to have dispersed them through the various religious houses of the city and to have given their monastery to Roman monks.

Relations with Constantinople at the time of Donus' reign tended towards the conciliatory.

Donus' pontificate lasted one year, five months, and ten days. He was buried in St. Peter's Basilica.

External links

• Pope Donus in Patron Saints Index

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Adeodatus II	Pope 676–678	Succeeded by Agatho