DONUS, POPE

Pontificate: Nov. 2, 676 to Apr. 11, 678; b. Rome; d. Rome. In the controversy over monothelitism, Theodore, Patriarch of Constantinople, sent him a vague letter that urged unity but did not contain the expected profession of faith. But on Aug. 12, 678, Emperor constantine iv pogonatus sent a conciliatory letter asking Donus to dispatch representatives to a theological conference preparatory to a possible council. Donus was already dead but this council would mark the end of the schism between Constantinople and Rome. Archbishop Reparatus of Ravenna seems to have submitted to Donus, healing a schism created by his ambitious predecessor, Maurus. In Rome, Donus disbanded a monastery of Syrian Nestorians. He rebuilt and decorated several churches. A socalled Donus II (974) resulted from a chronicler's mistranslation of Dominus papa as Donus papa.

Bibliography: Liber pontificalis, ed. l. duchesne (Paris 1886–1958) 1:348–349. p. jaffÉ, Regesta pontificum romanorum ab condita ecclesia ad annum post Christum natum 1198 (Graz 1956) 1:238. p. f. kehr, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum. Italia Pontificia (Berlin 1906–35) 5:33. f. dÖlger, Corpus der griechischen Urkunden des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit (Munich 1924–32) 242. j. d. mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio (Graz 1960) 11:196–201. c. j. von hefele, Histoire des conciles d'après les documents originaux (Paris 1907–38) 3.1:472. h. k. mann, The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages from 590 to 1304 (London 1902–32) 1.2. a. fliche and v. martin, eds. Histoire de l'église depuis les origines jusqu'à nos jours (Paris 1935) 5. j. haller, Das Papsttum (Stuttgart 1950–53) 1. h. marot, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912) 14:671–672. s. gasparri, Dizionario biografico delgi italiani 41 (Rome 1992). g. schwaiger, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, 3d. ed. (1995). j.n. d. kelly, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (New York 1986) 77.

[c. m. aherne]