DONTENWILL
133
DORCHESTER
Dontenwill, Augustine. See New Westminster.
Donus (or Domnus), Pope, son of a Roman called Mauricius ; he was consecrated Bishop of Rome 2 Nov. , 676, to succeed Adeodatus II, after an interval of four months and seventeen days; d. 11 April, 678. Of his life and acts but little is known. The " Liber Ponti- ficalis" informs us that he paved the atrium or quad- rangle in front of St. Peter's with great blocks of white marble. He also restored the church of St. Euphemia on the Appian Way, and repaired the basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, or, according to Duchesne's conjecture, the little church on the road to St. Paul's, which marks the spot where Sts. Peter and Paul are said to have parted on their way to martyrdom. Dur- ing the pontificate of Donus, Reparatus, the Arch- bishop of Ravenna, returned to the obedience of the Holy See, thus ending the schism created by Arch- bishop Maurus who had aimed at making Ravenna autocephalous. In the time of this pope a colony of Nestorian monks was discovered in a Syrian monas- tery at Rome — the Monasterium Boetianum. The pope is said to have dispersed them through the vari- ous religious houses of the city, and to have given over their monastery to Roman monks. After a brief reign of one year, five months, and ten days, Donus died and was buried in St. Peter's. His portrait in mosaic was at one time to be seen in the church of St. Martina in the Forum.
Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne (Paris, 1886), I, 348 sq.; Jaffe, Rfocsla Rom. Pont. (Leipzig. 1885), I, 238; Mann, The Lives of the Popes (London, 1902), X, Pt. II, 20 sq.
Thomas Oestreich. Doorkeeper. See Porter.
Dora, a titular see of Palaestina Prima. The name (Dor) in Semitic languages means "dwelling", "abode". On the coming of the Hebrews, the King of Dora or Dor entered into the confederation against Josue and was defeated with the confederates (Jos., xi, 2; xii, 23). The town was first allotted to the tribe of Aser (Jos., xvii, 11), then given to Manasses (Judges, i, 27; I Par., vii, 29), who failed to expel the inhabitants and imposed on them a tribute; the Israelites may have captured only the upper city (Nafat Dnr), called Napheddor or Phenaeddor by the Septuagint, and regiones or provincia Dor by the Vul- gate. The Egyptian King Rameses III set up a Phcenician colony at Dora; according to Stephan of Byzantium the Phcenicians settled there because the coast abounded in the shells that produced the fa- mous Tyrian purple dye. Dora was united by David to the kingdom of Israel and governed under Solo- mon by Benabinadab, one of the twelve prefects (III Kings, iv, 11). Later it underwent successively the rule of the Persians, the Greeks, and the Lagides. In 217 B. c. it was unsuccessfully besieged by Anti- ochus the Great; at a later date it was taken by the kings of Syria. In 139 B. c. the usurper Trj'phon, who had taken refuge at Dora, was besieged by Antiochus (VII) Sidetes with a fleet, 120,000 foot, and 8000 horse (I Mach., xv, 13). The city then fell into the hands of a private individual called Zoilus, at whose death it was added by Alexander Janna^us to his Kingdom of Judea. When Pompey conquered Syria, he granted Dora an autonomous constitution; from this time dates its peculiar era, 64-63 B. c, known chiefly through numerous coins. As Dora had sujffered much from the Jews, Gabinius rebuilt it (56 B. c). In 42 of the Christian Era its inhabitants were still disputing with the Jews, whom they seem to have specially hated. In the time of Pliny the town was in a state of utter decay ; St. Jerome speaks of " the ruins of that city [Dora] which had been formerly so pow- erful". He may have exaggerated its decay, or the city may have risen from its ruins.
As early as the fifth century it was the residence of a bishop, Sidus, and suffragan to Ctesarea; there is
record also of Barachius in 518, John in 536, Stephen,
the friend of St. Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem
and the great opponent of Monothelism. In the Mid-
dle .4ges Dora was called Pirgul, a corruption of Greek
7rt/p7os, "tower", according to Foucher of Chartres
(Gesta Dei per Francos, ed. Bongars, 396) ; it was also
known as Merla (Rey. Les colonies franques de Syrie,
Paris, 1883, 422). There are records of five Latin
bishops during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
(Eubel, I, 235; II, 161). Another is mentioned in
"Revue ben^dictine" (1904), p. 62. Its modern
Arabic name is Tantourah. Dora is a village of about
1500 inhabitants, on the seashore between Caifa and
Csesarea, nearer the latter. The harbour is fre-
quented by small boats ; the old port, situated more to
the north, was enclosed by two headlands lengthened
by two piers. To the east are vast quarries and the
ancient necropolis. The ruins of the ancient city
cover a space about four-fifths of a mile long by one-
third broad. Many Jewish colonists have recently
settled in the vicinity.
GuERlN. Description de la Palestine: Saviarie (Paris, 1875) II, 305-315; Legendre in Diet, de la Bible. 11, 1487-92 Survey of Western Palestine, Memoirs (London. 1882). II, 7—11 Palestine Exploration Fund, Quart. Statement (1874), 12; (1887), 84.
S. Vailhe. Dorbellus. See Orbellis, Nicolas de, O.S.F.
Dorchester, Abbey of, founded in 1140 by Alex- ander, Bishop of Lincoln, for Canons of the Order of St. Augustine (or Black CanoiLs). Dorchester, an important Roman city of Mercia, about nine miles from O.xford, had been the seat of a bishopric from A. D. 634, when St. Birinus, the first bishop, was sent to that district by Pope Honorius, until 1()85, when the See of Mercia was transferred to Lincoln. The abbey, founded fifty-five yeare later, was dedicated in honour of Sts. Peter, Paul, and Birinus, was richly endowed out of the lands and tithes of the former bishopric, and had twelve parishes subject to it, being included in the Peculiar of Dorchester, until the sup- pression of peculiars. The first abbot appears to have been Alured, whose name occurs in 1146 and again in 1163; the last was John Mershe, who was elected in 1533, and in the following year subscribed to the king's supremacy, with five of his canons, and was given a pension of £22 a year. The revenues of the abbey were valued at the time of its suppression at about £220. Henry VIII reserved the greater part of the propertj of the house for a college, erected by him in honour of the Holy Trinity, for a dean and prebendaries; but this was dissolved in the first year of his successor. No register or cartulary of Dorches- ter .\bbey is now known to exist, and only a single charter, confirming the donation of a church Ijy King John, is given by Dugdale. Edmund Ashefeld was the first impropriator of the abbey site and precincts, which afterwards passed through various hands. The stately church of Dorchester Abbey, as it stands to- day, was built entirely by the Augustinian Canons, although there are traces on the north side of Saxon masonry, probably part of the ancient cathedral. The whole length of the church is 230 feet, its width seventy, and its height fifty-five feet. The north transept with its doorway is of the Norman period; the north side of the nave and chancel arch, early English, the south side of nave, south aisle, and choir. Decorated; the south porch, late Perpendicular. The extraordinarily rich sanctuary, with its highly decor- ated windows (including the famous northern one known as the "Jesse" window) and beautifully carved sedilia and piscina, dates from 1330. One of the very few existing leaden fonts in England is in this church.
DufiDALE. Monaslicon Analicanum. VI, 323; Pahkek, His- ton/ of Dorchester (Oxford. 18S2); Willis, Mitred .Abbr,,s. II, 175; ViCTOmA, Hietory of Oxfordshire (London, 1907), II, 87-
