Donatian and Rogatian were two brothers, martyred in Nantes during the reign of Roman Emperor Maximian, around 288–290, for refusing to deny their faith.

The family property, a Gallo-Roman villa, also home to the first Christian church built in Nantes, stood on the site of the current Basilica of St. Donatien-et-Saint-Rogatien.

[4] According to the story, after being denounced as Christians, they were arrested and appeared before the imperial prefect, the provincial governor, who asked them to sacrifice to idols.

That night, Rogatian regretted that he was going to die without being baptized, but his brother reassured him, telling him that the blood of his martyrdom would take the place of baptism.

[7] They are commemorated throughout the Loire Valley, as far as Orléans, where their relics were displaced at the time of the Norman invasions, and then deposited in the ninth or tenth century in their namesake basilica in a reliquary of gold.