Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

CHRYSANTHUS and DARIA, Husband and wife natives of Egypt, but living in Rome. They were quite public about their faith in Christ. Martyred during the reign of the Emperor Numerian (r. 283–284).

CRISPIN and CRISPINIAN, Roman missionaries in the area around Soisson in present-day France. Beheaded at Soisson circa 285–287, their cultus enjoyed great popularity in the Middle Ages, as memorialised by Shakespeare in King Henry’s address to his troops prior to the Battle of Agincourt (Henry V Act IV Scene iii). The later Roman Martyrology in which the Feast of the Martyrs SS. Chrysanthus and Daria (vide supra) took precedence, led to the liturgical celebration of their feast being superseded. SS. Crispin and Crispinian supported themselves as shoemakers, and are the Patron Saints of shoemakers, saddlers, and tanners. They are often said to have been brothers, and possibly members of the Roman Nobility, though there is no evidence to support this.

CYRINUS of ROME, a victim of the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313).

DULCARDUS (DOULCHARD), a monk at the Abbey of Saint-Mesmin (Abbaye Saint-Mesmin de Micy), in Micy near Orléans (north-central France). St. Dulcardus spent the last years of his life as a hermit in what later became the village of Saint-Doulchard, just north-west of present-day Bourges, France. St. Dulcardus reposed in 584.

FRONTO of PÉRIGUEUX and GEORGE of PÉRIGUEUX, according to the Martyrology of Ado (circa 858), and the 1914 edition of the Roman Martyrology St. Fronto, a bishop, was baptised by the Apostle Peter (29th June) and then sent, along with St. George, a priest, to preach the Gospel in Périgueux (south-western France) and the surrounding area, and at some point consecrated the first Bishop of that See. According to some later traditions St. George was the founder of the church at Le Puy-en-Velay (southern France). According to some hagiographies (circa 10th–13th century), St. Fronto flourished in the mid- to late-third century and was dispatched to Périgueux to help the Christian community there recover from the Decian Persecution (250–251).

FRUCTUS (FRUTOS) of SEGOVIA, a pious Christian who lived in Sépulveda in Castile (north-western Spain). Following the martyrdom of his brother and sister SS. Valentine and Engratia (26th October) at the hand of the Moors circa 715, St. Fructus fled, and lived as a hermit until his repose of natural causes later the same year. His relics, along with those of his siblings, are enshrined at Segovia north-west of Madrid. Their feast is still celebrated on the week-end closest to the 25th of October by the community of Aguilafuente (north-western Spain).

GAUDENTIUS of BRESCIA, the successor to St. Philastrius of Brescia (18th July) as Bishop of Brescia in Lombardy (northern Italy), receiving consecration at the hands of St. Ambrose of Milan (7th December) circa 387. St. Guadentius reposed somewhere between 410 and 420. We are fortunate that some of his sermons, including ten of his Easter sermons, have survived.

GOEZNOVEUS of LÉON, a native of Cornwall (south-west England), St. Goeznoveus went to Brittany (north-western France) and was later consecrated Bishop of Léon (south-western France. He reposed in 675.

GUESNOVEUS (GOUERNOU) of QUIMPER, a Bishop of Quimper in Brittany (north-western France), and founder of a monastery of some renown near Brest in Brittany. St. Guesnoveus reposed at his monastery in 675.

HILARY of JAVOLS, (Sixth Century), one of the last Bishops of Javols (southern France) before it was subsumed by the Diocese of Mende (southern France). There is no further information on his life extant.

HILARY of MENDE, an adult convert who lived as a hermit on the banks of the River Tarn in southern present-day France. St. Hilary built a monastery for the disciples who joined him, but then left to live at the Abbey of Our Lady of Lérins (abbaye Notre Dame de Lérins) on one of the Lérins Islands in the Mediterranean Ocean off the Côte d’Azur in France to gain better knowledge of their monastic rule. Returning to his monastery, he was consecrated Bishop of Mende (southern France). St. Hilary reposed in 535.

HILDEMARCA, St. Hildemarca was Abbess of St. Eulalia Abbey (abbaye de Sainte-Eulalia) in Bordeaux, when St. Wandrille of Fontenelle (22nd July) appointed her to serve as Abbess of the new Abbey of the Trinity of Fécamp (Abbaye de la Trinité de Fécamp). St. Hildemarca reposed circa 670.

LUPUS of BAYEUX, fourth Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy (north-western France) (circa 434–464). No further information is extant.

MARTYRS of ROME, a group of forty-six soldiers and twenty-one civilians martyred in Rome in 269, during the reign of the Emperor Claudius II (r. 268–270).

MINIATO (MINIAS), often called the Protomartyr of Florence in Tuscany (central Italy), St. Miniato was a soldier stationed in Florence who energetically evangelised his fellow soldiers. St. Miniato was martyred during the Decian Persecution (250–251). It is said St. Miniato was subjected to extreme torture prior to his execution. The Basilica of San Miniato al Monte in Florence is dedicated to him.

PROTUS of SASSARI and JANUARIUS of SASSARI, Ordained by Pope St. Caius (22nd April), Protus to the priesthood, and Januarius to the deaconate, the saints laboured to evangelise their native Sardinia. Whilst their work was quite fruitful, they were martyred by decapitation at Porto Torres on the north-west coast of Sardinia during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313).

THEODOSIUS of ROME, LUCIUS of ROME, MARK of ROME, and PETER of ROME, of a group of fifty soldiers martyred in 269 at Rome during the reign of the Emperor Claudius II (r. 268–270), only the names of these four saints are known to us.

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.