William of Donjeon

Who was William of Donjeon?

Saint William of Donjeon, also referred to as St William of Bourges and St William the Confessor, was Archbishop of Bourges from 1200 until 1209. As William Berruyer, he was a descendant of the family of the ancient Counts of Nevers. He was educated under the care of Peter, Archdeacon of Soissons, his maternal uncle. At an early age he learned to eschew the vanities of the world and to give himself with ardor to exercises of piety and to the acquisition of knowledge. Upon entering the ecclesiastical state he became a canon of Soissons and of Paris. Later he resolved to abandon the world and enter the Order of Grandmont. He lived in this order for a period of time and practiced great austerities. Owing to dissensions between priests and lay brothers, he decided to go over to the recently founded but more austere Order of Cîteaux.

He took the habit at Pontigny, and after some time became abbot, first of Fontaine-Jean near Sens, and later of Chaalis near Senlis.

He had a special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and loved to spend much of his time at the foot of the altar. In the year 1200, the clergy of the Church of Bourges elected him to succeed Henry de Sully, their archbishop. The news quite overwhelmed him with grief. Only a stern command from the general of the Cistercians, the Abbot of Citeaux could move him to accept that dignity. In his new office of archbishop, he continued his austerities, to the point of constantly wearing a hair shirt and never eating meat.