Antique and Beautiful monastery devotional box with a relic of Saint Donatus Martyr.

Antique and Beautiful monastery devotional box with  a relic of Saint Donatus Martyr.

France early 1900.

Size: 4.5 cm diameter x 1 cm H

St. Donatus was a Christian of noble birth, born in Nicomedia (in modern-day Turkey) and raised during the persecution of the Church under Diocletian in the early 4th century. According to tradition, he moved to Rome in his youth, where he received a Christian education and was eventually ordained priest.

Donatus was known for his fervent faith, austere life, and deep devotion to the Sacred Mysteries, especially the Holy Eucharist. During the relative peace granted to Christians after the Edict of Milan (313), he was appointed Bishop of Arezzo, a prominent city in Tuscany.

His episcopacy was marked by zeal for the Faith, catechesis, conversion of pagans, and miraculous interventions, which gained him fame throughout the region.

Among the many miracles attributed to St. Donatus, the most famous involves a consecrated chaliceduring the celebration of Holy Mass. According to tradition, pagans or heretics (accounts vary) desecrated the sacred vessel, breaking it into many pieces. Donatus, filled with faith, prayed over the fragments, and the chalice was miraculously restored, with only a small crack remaining as a testimony of the miracle. This incident is often cited as a testimony to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the reverence owed to sacred vessels.

He was also believed to have performed many healings, exorcisms, and even raised the dead, all to the glory of God and to draw souls to the Church.

His humility, fervent charity, and pastoral vigilance made him a model bishop in the age following the Church’s emergence from persecution.