Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

Eastern Orthodox Christian theologian, historian, philosopher, and cultural commentator.

            

Home » Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome 6th September (NS) — 24th August (OS) 2023


Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism
See of Rome
6th September (NS) — 24th August (OS) 2023

by | 6th September 2023 | Orthodox Western Saints

24th August (OS)

AUDOENUS (OUEN, OWEN) of ROUEN, whilst serving as chancellor to Clovis II, King of Neustria and Burgundy (r. 639–657) St. Audoenus met and formed a close friendship with St. Eligius of Noyon (1st December). They resolved to enter the Church and together were consecrated bishops; St. Eligius of Noyon (northern France), and St. Audoenus succeeding St. Romanus of Rouen (23rd October) as Bishop of Rouen in Normandy (northern France). St. Audoenus served his See for over forty years, doing much to promote Christianity and was acclaimed a saint shortly after his repose, at Clichy, near Paris, in 684.

AUREA of OSTIA, from the many accounts of the life of St. Aurea it may be deduced that after being subjected to a multitude of tortures, she was martyred by being thrown into the sea at Ostia near Rome circa 270.

BREGOWINE (BREGWIN) of CANTERBURY, little is known of the life of St. Bregowine, as there are no contemporary records extant, though some of his letters to St. Lull of Mainz (16th October) still survive. His Life by Eadmer of Canterbury, a twelfth century Anglo-Saxon Benedictine monk and historian (†c.1126), offers little more than the dates of his tenure as the twelfth Archbishop of Canterbury, and allusions to ‘many miracles’. St. Bregowine reposed in 764 and was buried in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist at the East end of Canterbury Cathedral.

PATRICE (PATRICK, PATRICIUS), (Date Unknown), both the Martyrology of Usuard and the old Roman Martyrology (which was based upon Usuard's work) list a St. Patrice an Abbot of Nevers in present-day France on this date. However, there is nothing definitively known about this St. Patrice, and he is not listed in more recent martyrologies.

PATRICK the ELDER, this saint is known as St. Patrick the Elder to differentiate him from his celebrated namesake and possible relative, St. Patrick of Ireland (17th March). Few details of his life are known to us. It is variously reported that he reposed circa 450 at Kilkenny, Co. Kilkenny in Ireland, or at Glastonbury, Somerset, in England, though it seems that at some point his relics were enshrined at Glastonbury. Neither of these Irish St. Patricks are to be confused with the St. Patrice (vide supra), purported Abbot of Nevers in France.

PTOLEMY of NEPI, (First Century), a disciple of the Apostle Peter (29th June) who sent him to evangelise the people of Lazio (central Italy). St. Ptolemy was martyred at Nepi in Lazio.

ROMANUS of NEPI, a Bishop and martyr of Nepi in Lazio (central Italy). He is generally considered to have been a disciple of St. Ptolemy of Nepi (vide supra), and was sent by the Apostle Peter (29th June) to accompany St. Ptolemy on his mission.

SANDRATUS (SANDRADUS), a monk at St. Maximin's Abbey (Reichsabtei St. Maximin) at Trier in the present-day German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Charged by Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 936–973) to institute needed reforms at the Abbey of St. Gall (Abtei St. Gallen) in the present-day Swiss city of St. Gallen. Having successfully completed that mission, St. Sandratus was Founding-Abbot of Gladbach Abbey (abtei St. Vitus Gladbach) in the present-day city of Mönchengladbach in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He later served as Abbot of Weissenburg Abbey (Kloster Weißenburg), in present-day Wissembourg, Alsace, France. St. Sandratus reposed in 986.

YRCHARD (MERCHARD, IRCHARD, YARCARD), Apostle of the Picts, (Fifth Century), St. Yrchard was a disciple of St. Ternan of Culross (12th June) who consecrated him missionary bishop to work amongst the Picts. Nothing further about St. Yrchard is known to us.

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6th September (NS)

ARATOR of VERDUN, the fourth Bishop of Verdun (north-eastern France). St. Arator reposed circa 460. There is no further information on this saint extant.

AUGUSTINE, SANCTIAN and BEATA of SENS, three Christians from Spain who had fled to Gaul to escape persecution, but were martyred near Sens, in Burgundy (east-central France), circa 273.

BEGA (BEGH, BEE), (Seventh Century), traditionally thought to have been a native of Ireland, St. Bega is believed to have received monastic tonsure from St. Áedán of Lindisfarne (31st August). She left Ireland and went to England, initially founding a monastery at what is now known as St. Bee’s Head in Cumberland. St. Bega is credited with the founding of several other monasteries as well. There are several saints of her era with quite similar Lives, and the information on St. Bega dates from the mid-thirteenth century. Contemporary scholarship considers her a composite saint; however, it is possible she is the same saint as the virgin Hieu (2nd September) mentioned by St. Bede the Venerable (25th May). Church of England priest, hagiographer, and all round scholar Sabine Baring Baring-Gould (†1924) enumerates three distinct St. Bees; this one, the second a nun in Yorkshire, and the third the Abbess of Kilbees.

CAGNOALD (CHAINOALDUS, CHAGNOALD, CAGNOU) of LAON, a brother of SS. Faro of Meaux (28th October), a Bishop of Meaux; and Burgundofara (3rd April) foundress of the Abbey of Our Lady of Faremoutiers (abbaye Notre-Dame de Faremoutiers), in Faremoutiers (north-central France). St. Cagnoald received monastic tonsure at the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul of Luxeuil (abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul de Luxeuil) in Burgundy (east-central France), where he was a disciple of St. Columbanus of Bobbio (23rd November). St. Cagnoald accompanied St. Columbanus to Bobbio in Emilia-Romagna (northern Italy), where he helped found what was later called the Abbey of St. Columbanus (Abbazia di San Colombano). St. Cagnoald later served as the sixth Bishop of Laon, and reposed circa 635.

DONATIAN, PRAESIDIUS, MANSUETUS, GERMANUS, FUSCULUS, and LAETUS, Martyrs of Africa, (Fifth Century), some of the more prominent amongst the orthodox Christians in Africa who were driven into exile by the Arian Huneric, King of the Vandals (r. 477–484), in that an account of their martyrdom is given by Victor of Vita in his history of that persecution, Historia persecutionis Africanæ provinciæ. It is said that they numbered in all nearly five thousand in a single year. Laetus, a most zealous Prelate, was, however, burned at the stake; whilst the others, some priests, some laymen, were scourged and banished.

ELEUTHERIUS the ABBOT, Abbot of St. Mark's near Spoleto in Umbria (central Italy). St. Eleutherius was known as a wonderworker, which Pope St. Gregory the Dialogist (3rd September) personally experienced and wrote of. Towards the end his life St. Eleutherius resigned his Abbotship and took up residence at St. Gregory’s monastery of St. Andrew the First-Called in Rome where he reposed circa 590, soon after his relics were translated to Spoleto.

FAUSTUS of SYRACUSE, an Abbot of the Abbey of St. Lucy (abbazia di Santa Lucia) in Syracuse, Sicily, where amongst his disciples was St. Zosimus of Syracuse (30th March), a future Bishop of Syracuse. St. Faustus reposed circa 607.

FELIX and AUGEBERT of CHAMPAGNE, (Seventh Century), two British prisoners of war who were sold as slaves in Gaul. They were ransomed by Pope St. Gregory the Dialogist (3rd September), who had them placed in a monastery for training to missionise their homeland. During their time in the monastery St. Felix was ordained to the priesthood, and St. Augebert to the deaconate; unfortunately, before they were able to return to Britain, both were martyred by pagans near present-day Chaumont in north-eastern France.

MACCALLIN (MACALLAN, MACCULIN DUS) of LUSK, St. Maccallin served as Bishop of Lusk, Co. Fingal, Ireland in the late fifth century. Oral tradition states he may have either lived in, or been buried in, a cave and that the name “Lusk” derives from an old Irish word Lusca meaning ‘cave’ or ‘underground chamber’. St. Maccallin apparently spent some time in Scotland where he is venerated as well. Nothing more is known of his life.

MAGNUS (MAGNOALDUS, MAGINOLD, MANG) of FÜSSEN, the only information on St. Magnus’ life is based upon the obviously anachronistic eleventh century Vita S. Magni, hence, in reality there is no reliable information on his life extant. According to tradition St. Magnus was an Irishman who probably accompanied SS. Columbanus of Bobbio (23rd November), and Gall (16th October), as far as Bavaria (southern Germany). There St. Magnus evangelized the eastern part of the Allgäu, Bavaria (earning him the title Apostle of the Algäu), and founded a monastery in Füssen which was later called St. Mang's Abbey (Kloster Sankt Mang Füssen). The year of his repose has variously been given as 655, 666, and even possibly 750.

PETRONIUS of VERONA, a Bishop of Verona (northern Italy), who reposed circa 450. No further information about St. Petronius is extant.

Prior to the Schism the Patriarchate of Rome was Orthodox, and fully in communion with the Orthodox Church. As Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco +1966 said “The West was Orthodox for a thousand years, and her venerable Liturgy is far older than any of her heresies”.

Details of British Saints excerpted from Orthodox Saints of the British Isles.
Details of continental saints from these sources.

In many cases there are several spelling versions of the names of saints from the British Isles. I use the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography version as the primary version with the more prevalent version in parenthesis e.g. Ceadda (Chad) of Lichfield.