Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

BECAN, (Sixth Century), St. Becan, an anchorite near Cork in Ireland, was renowned for his great asceticism.

DYFAN (DERUVIANUS, DAMIAN) of MERTHYR, Protomartyr of Wales, is said to have been one of the missionaries sent to Britain by Pope St. Eleutherius (vide infra) at the request of King St. Lucius (3rd December). The church of Merthyr Dyfan in Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, commemorates his martyrdom circa 180.

ELEUTHERIUS, the thirteenth Pope of Rome, St. Eleutherius succeeded St. Soterius (22nd April) in either 171 or 177, serving until his repose in either 185 or 193. At the request of King St. Lucius (3rd December), St. Eleutherius sent missionaries to Britain circa 180.

FELICISSIMUS, HERACLIUS, and PAULINUS, martyrs circa 303 at Todi in Umbria (Italy), during the Diocletianic Persecution. They are believed to have been buried at Santo Stefano, just outside Porta Fratta (Italy).

FUGATIUS and DAMIAN, (Second Century), according to the Roman Breviary, SS. Fugatius and Damian were amongst the group of missionaries sent to Britain by Pope St. Eleutherius (vide supra). There are churches dedicated to them in southern Wales.

GUINIZO, a native of Spain, who received monastic tonsure at Abbey of Monte Cassino. Following a destruction of the Abbey, St. Guinizo lived as a hermit on the mountain until his repose circa 1050.

ODUVALD, St. Oduvald was a Scottish nobleman who renounced the world and received monastic tonsure at St Mary's Abbey in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. He was a contemporary of St. Cuthbert (20th March), and went on to serve as Abbot of Melrose. St. Oduvald reposed in 698.

PRISCUS and COMPANIONS, St. Priscus, an officer in the Imperial Army, several of his soldiers, and an unknown number (thought to be numerous) of civilians all martyred near in Auxerre in Burgundy (France) circa 272. St. Priscus was tried and condemned to death, unlike most of his companions who were martyred without trial.

QUADRATUS, (Date Uncertain), a martyr in Africa Proconsularis. There is a possibility he was martyred along with five others. St. Augustine of Hippo (28th August) gave a sermon in which he praised St. Quadratus.

REGINTRUDIS, there is little information on the life of St. Regintrudis extant. Whilst she and her husband Theodo, Duke of Bavaria (†c. 716) provided a great deal of support overall to St. Rupert (27th March) in his work to evangelise the Duke’s lands, St. Regintrudis took special interest in the establishment of the monasteries which came to be known as St. Peter’s Abbey and Nonnberg. She helped choose the site and made sure the community was endowed with the properties which would generate income to support the abbey at what came to be known as Nonnberg (mountain of nuns). Following Duke Theodo’s repose St. Regintrudis entered Nonnberg where she received monastic tonsure and eventually served as the community’s fourth Abbess. St. Regintrudis reposed circa 750.

SIMITRIUS and COMPANIONS, a group of twenty-three martyrs in Rome who circa 159 were arrested while praying and summarily executed.

ZACHARY, the first or second Bishop of Vienne (south-eastern France). St. Zachary was martyred circa 106, during the reign of Emperor Trajan (r. 98–117).

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.