St Donatus—One of Luxembourg’s Favorite Saints

Jun 27, 2026 | History, Luxembourg Culture, Settlements | 0 comments

In this image, St. Donatus is wearing a Roman soldier’s uniform. He holds a palm branch, which symbolizes that he is a martyr. The lightning bolts represent that he is the patron of protection from lightning, storms, hail and fire.

Throughout the centuries, Luxembourgers have embraced numerous saints: Our Lady of Luxembourg, St. Willibrord, St. Nicholas and St. Cunigunde. Also included on that list is St. Donatus of Münstereifel.

St. Donatus, a second-century Roman solider and martyr, is widely invoked as a weather saint and powerful protector against lightning, storms, hail and fire. For poor Luxembourg farmers of centuries past, St. Donatus was the intercessor who had the power to protect their crops, homes and animals from the calamities of severe weather.

Our immigrant ancestors brought their devotion to St. Donatus with them to America, seen most evidently in the naming of the Luxembourgish settlement of St. Donatus, Jackson County, Iowa, and its St. Donatus Church. Additionally, when 38 settlers from St. Donatus relocated to northwest Iowa near the current city of Alton, Iowa, in 1870, they also named the new prairie settlement and their 1881 church there in honor of St. Donatus.

Who is St Donatus?
According to historical accounts, St. Donatus was born in a region of present-day Turkey during the late third century. He grew up practicing his Christian faith during the persecution of Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian. Donatus is said to have risen quickly through the ranks of the Roman army to become a personal bodyguard to Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. He was credited with the divine intervention of a miraculous thunderstorm that aided Roman forces against Germanic tribes. According to some accounts, after his execution, his body was buried by his mother in the Catacombs of St. Agnes near Rome. The relics of the martyr were discovered during excavations in 1646 and were transferred in 1652 to a Jesuit church in Bad Münstereifel, Germany. During the procession to enshrine the relics, heavy rain ceased as soon as the procession began. And even more dramatically, accounts say that at the end of the Mass, a lightning strike at the church caused candles and lamps to fall, setting the priest’s vestments on fire. According to the story, the priest called out for Saint Donatus to intercede, and the fire was immediately extinguished and the priest was unharmed. This miracle spread the fame of St. Donatus throughout Luxembourg, Germany, France and Belgium.

Interesting St Donatus facts

St. Donatus of Münstereifel is often confused with St. Donatus of Arezzo, who is venerated by the people of Italy. Bad Münstereifel, Germany, is located just southwest of Bonn and Cologne, Germany, about 65 miles from the Luxembourg border.

The St. Donatus town and post office in Jackson County, Iowa, was initially referred to as “Tete des Morts” (skulls of the dead) because of the township which still bears that name. The name of the town and post office changed to St. Donatus in 1852.

St. Donatus Church in Iowa has a nearly life-sized statue in the high altar of St. Donatus with a bolt of lightning in his hand.

St. Donatus Church in Iowa was gifted a relic of St. Donatus from Bishop Jean Joseph Koppes, of Luxembourg, in 1908 following the church’s devastating fire of 1907.

Along with more than 80 other parish churches in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, St. Donatus Church in Iowa will soon no longer have weekend Masses. Hopefully, St. Donatus Church, an icon of Luxembourg heritage in the United States, will not be permanently closed or destroyed.

There is a historic marker identifying the St. Donatus prairie settlement near Alton. The original settlement was abandoned, and the prairie church was assumed into St. Mary’s Parish in Alton.

There is a statue of St. Donatus in the Luxembourgish parish of St. Joseph’s Church in Granville, Iowa. The exact origin of the statue is unknown though it probably dates to the opening of the current church in 1905.

On January 1, 2025, the Luxembourgish parishes of St. Mary’s in Alton, St. Joseph in Granville, and St. Anthony’s in Hospers were combined and renamed as St. Donatus Parish in honor of the original Luxembourgish settlement in northwestern Iowa.

St. Mary’s Church in the Luxembourg settlement of Remsen, Iowa, has a hand-carved statue of St. Donatus dating to 2007. It was a gift from Roger and Marianne Winandy-Willems of Echternach, Luxembourg, who visited Remsen as part of René Daubenfeld’s Building Bridges tour group in 2006. The couple donated the statue in gratitude for ancestral research of Marianne’s family in Kingsely and Marcus, Iowa, provided by members of the Luxembourg Heritage Society of Northwest Iowa, including locating her relative’s grave in Holy Name Cemetery in Marcus. Roger and Marianne carved and painted the statue of St. Donatus and shipped it to the United States on May 29, 2007. The couple and 10 other Luxembourgers returned to Remsen for the blessing and dedication of the statue by Father Bill McCarthy. Marianne suggested that the statue face out the clear glass to the west so “he will see the storms coming and protect this beautiful church.” The statue of St. Donatus still stands proudly in the main vestibule of St. Mary’s Church.

The gravestone of Nicholas and Catherine (Kitzinger) Kellen in Calvary Cemetery, Le Mars, Iowa, (another Luxembourger settlement) has a huge statue of St. Donatus atop it. Nicholas (1824-1884) was born in Niederpallen, Luxembourg, and Catherine (1829-1883) was born in Noerdange, Luxembourg.