Saint Peter Damian would later write in his Sermones that "in the field of the Lord two sprigs, Donatus and Julian, grow together, but one will become a cedar of Paradise, the other coal for the eternal flames of Hell.

[1] Donatus escaped to Arezzo and would work with a monk named Hilarinus to preach the Christian faith, as well as perform penances and miracles.

[1] Severinus' Passio states that Donatus brought back to life a woman named Euphrosina; fought and slew a dragon who had poisoned the local well;[2] gave sight back to a blind woman named Syriana; and exorcised a demon that had been tormenting Asterius, the son of the Roman prefect of Arezzo.

[1] In 1125, some of Donatus' relics (and those of the alleged dragon said to have been killed by the saint) were brought to the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato on the island of Murano, near Venice.

[2] A large silver reliquary bust of Donatus from the 13th century is now found in the National Museum at Naples.

It is traditional to eat porchetta (oven- or spit-roasted suckling pig flavoured with pepper, rosemary, garlic and other seasonings) at this time.