Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Home » Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome 22nd December (NS) — 9th December (OS) 2023


Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism
See of Rome
22nd December (NS) — 9th December (OS) 2023

by | 22nd December 2023 | Orthodox Western Saints

9th December (OS)

BALDA, the third Abbess of Jouarre (Abbaye Notre-Dame de Jouarre) in present-day north-central France. St. Balda reposed in the late seventh century and her relics were enshrined at the Abbey of Nesle-la-Reposte in the Champagne-Ardenne region.

CYPRIAN, a monk at Périgueux, who ended his life as a hermit near the Dordogne River, where the present-day village of Saint-Cyprien, Dordogne is located. Saint Cyprian reposing in 586. St. Gregory of Tours (17th November) was the author of a biography of St. Cyprian.

ENGUERRAMMUS (ANGILRAM the WISE), a monk and later Abbot of Saint-Riquier in Picardy. St. Enguerrammus reposed in 1045.

ETHELGIVA (ÆTHELGIFU), a daughter of King St. Alfred the Great (26th October), St. Ethelgiva received monastic tonsure and lived a life of great sanctity, culminating in serving as the first Abbess of Shaftesbury. St. Ethelgiva reposed in 896.

LEOCADIA (LOCAIE), a martyr in Toledo, who was condemned to death at the beginning of the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313), but miraculously died in prison before she could be tortured.

PETER, SUCCESSUS, BASSIAN, PRIMITIVUS, and COMPANIONS, (Date Unknown), aside from being listed in ancient martyrologies, nothing is known of the group of martyrs in North Africa.

PROCULUS, an early Bishop of Verona. Though he suffered greatly for the Faith during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313), St. Proculous reposed peacefully circa 320.

RESTITUTUS, (Date Unknown), little is known of this saint, save he was a Bishop of Carthage, possibly a martyr, and a sermon in his honour was preached by St. Augustine of Hippo (28th August). However, any further information, including the sermon, is no longer extant.

SYRUS, (First Century ?), the first Bishop of Pavia in Lombardy. A tradition states he was appointed by the Apostles, and there is a legend that St. Syrus was the boy with the five loaves mentioned in John 6:9.

VALERIA, said to have been converted by, and a spiritual daughter of, St. Martial of Limoges (30th June), martyred by beheading. It is highly likely her existence is apocryphal.

WOLFEIUS, William of Worcester writes that St. Wolfeius was the first hermit of St. Benet Hulme in Norfolk, England. Nothing further is known of him, it is believed he reposed in the early eleventh century.

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22nd December (NS)

AMASWINTHUS, a monk and later abbot for over forty years at the Abbey of Silva de Málaga in Andalusia. St. Amaswinthus reposed in 982.

DEMETRIUS, HONORATUS, and FLORUS, (Date Unknown), believed to have been martyrs in Ostia, however there are no details, including dates, of their lives which have survived. It is possible that they are the same saints as SS. Demetrius and Honorius venerated on 21st November.

FLAVIAN, a former prefect of Rome who is said to have been the husband of St. Dafrosa of Acquapendente (4th January), and father of SS. Bibiana (2nd December) and Demetria (21st June). Julian the Apostate had him branded on the forehead as a slave and exiled to Acquapendente, Tuscany. St. Flavian reposed in 362 from torture and abuse.

HUNGER, consecrated the thirteenth Bishop of Utrecht in 856, he was forced to flee his See by Norman invaders. St. Hunger sought refuge in Roermond, then Deventer in present-day Netherlands, and finally in Prüm, in present-day Rhineland-Palatinate Germany. He reposed at Prüm in 866.

MARTYRS of ROME, a group of thirty Christians martyred at Rome circa 303 during the Diocletianic Persecution. They were buried on the Via Lavicana outside of Rome which has led to them also being known as the Martyrs of Via Lavicana.

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.