AGUILBERTE of JOUARRE, the second Abbess of the Abbey of Our Lady of Jouarre (abbaye Notre-Dame de Jouarre) in Jouarre (north-central France). St. Aguilberte reposed circa 680.

AREDIUS (ARIDIUS, AREGIUS) of LYONS, Archbishop of Lyons (east-central France) from 603 until his repose in 615. St. Aredius was a highly regarded theologian who actively fought against heterodoxy.

ASTERIA (HESTERIA) of BERGAMO, martyred circa 307, St. Asteria has been venerated since the fourth century, in Bergamo in Lombardy (northern Italy). According to ancient tradition she was beheaded during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313). She is also associated with St. Grata of Bergamo (1st May) in the burial of the holy martyr St. Alexander of Bergamo (26th August).

BASSA, PAULA, and AGATHONICA of CARTHAGE, (Date Unknown), nothing is known of these three maidens, other than the have been listed in the major martyrologies for generations as martyrs at Carthage (a present-day suburb of Tunis, Tunisia) in north Africa.

BETTELIN (BERTRAM) of ILAM (STAFFORD), (Eighth Century), in the Anglican Church of the Holy Cross at Ilam, Staffordshire, is the Chapel of St. Bertram, built in 1618 by the Meverell, Port, and Hurt families. The chapel holds the remains and shrine of St. Bertram, an Anglo-Saxon saint, whose existence is most likely entirely legendary. All the information on St. Bertram, or Bettelin, seems to come from a Life in the 1516 edition of the Nova Legenda Angliæ. St. Bertram is described as a seventh or eighth century Mercian King who renounced his title and wealth, and abandoned the world. He became a hermit in the area that is present-day Stafford, of which he is patron saint. This Life is confused and intertwined with that of St. Bettelin (9th September), and it is possible, if not probable, that they are one and the same person.

BLANE (BLAAN, BLAIN), (Sixth Century), according to the Aberdeen Breviary St. Blane was a disciple of SS. Comgall of Bangor (10th May) and Canice (Kenneth) of Aghaboe (11th October). He was consecrated Bishop of Kingarth in the Isle of Bute in Scotland at the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century. Following his repose, St. Blane was buried at Dunblane, where the Cathedral and several churches are dedicated to his honour. However, there is debate regarding the dates generally given for his life. If, as it is thought, he was a disciple of SS. Comgall and Kenneth then his birth must have been after 550. However, English Roman Catholic priest and renowned hagiographer Fr. Alban Butler (†1773), and Scottish scholar, antiquarian, and historian, Thomas Dempster (†1625) insist that St. Blane flourished in the tenth or eleventh century, perhaps confusing St. Canice (Kenneth) with Kenneth, King in Scotland (†c. 1000). The pre-eminent hagiographic scholars of the Société des Bollandistes (the Bollandists) reject the theory that St. Blane studied under of SS. Comgall and Canice. This leads to the contemporary hypothesis that there were two different St. Blanes, one who lived in the sixth century, and a second who lived in the eleventh century.

DEUSDEDIT the COBBLER, (Sixth Century), a poor shoemaker in Rome. According to St. Gregory the Dialogist (3rd September), who was a contemporary, each Saturday, St. Deusdedit gave away to the poor all that he had earned during the week beyond the minimum necessary for basic sustenance.

GERONTIUS (GERAINT), (Sixth Century), St. Gerontius was a King of Dumnonia (present-day Devon England) who fell circa 508 in battle against the pagan Saxons. Numerous romantic legends have evolved over time about his life and that of his wife, Enid, all of doubtful veracity. The first known mention of him is in the 12th century Exeter Martyrology, which refers to a King Gerontius, though not as a saint. An Exeter Litany attributed to Bishop Leofric of Exeter (†c. 1072) mentions a St. Gerontius. Another Gerontius, a King of Cornwall who reposed in 596, is listed as a saint in some works, though without a feast date, and may be the same person. A modern scholar with the Société des Bollandistes (the Bollandists) has speculated that the first Gerontius was a local saint who was elevated to the status of king in the writings of later hagiographers.

Icon of the holy, glorious, and right-victorious Archdeacon and Martyr St. Laurence of Rome

LAURENCE of ROME, the holy, glorious, and right-victorious Archdeacon and Martyr St. Laurence was an archdeacon of the Church of Rome as well as a companion of Pope St. Sixtus II (6th August), both of whom were martyred in 258 in the persecutions during the reign of the Emperor Valerian (r. 253–260). Little is known about St. Laurence’s life. According to legend he was a native of Northern Spain, and possible accompanied Pope St. Sixtus to Rome when he was elevated to Bishop of that See. The Basilica of San Lorenzo in the Via Panisperna, Rome was built over the place of his martyrdom.

MARTYRS of ROME, one hundred and sixty-five Christian soldiers martyred in 274 at Rome in the persecutions during the reign of the Emperor Aurelian (r. 270–275).

THIENTO (THIENTE) of WESSOBRUNN and COMPANIONS, an Abbot of the Abbey of SS Peter and Paul (Kloster Wessobrunn) near Weilheim in Bavaria (Germany). St. Thiento in 955 was martyred, along with six of his monks, by invading Magyars.

ALTIGIANUS and HILARINUS, two monks martyred by Saracens at Saint-Seine in Burgundy (east-central France) in 731.

EBBA (ÆBBA, EBBE) the YOUNGER and COMPANIONS, St. Ebba the Younger was Abbess of Coldingham, an abbey in the Scottish Borders, which had been founded two centuries prior by St. Æbba the Elder (25th August). During a Viking raid on Scotland in 879, St. Ebba mutilated her nose and upper lip with a razor, in the hopes of discouraging the invaders from raping her. With her encouragement, the entire community followed suit. The act is one of the possible origins of the expression ‘cutting off the nose to spite the face’. While it did result in revolting the Vikings, they set fire to the monastery in retaliation, killing the entire community.

ÉOGHAN (EUGENE, EUNY, OWEN) of ARDSTRAW, born in Leinster, Ireland, St. Éoghan spent a great deal of time missionising, with great success both in Britain and on the Continent. He returned to his native land where he was consecrated the first Bishop of Ardstraw, which later became the See of Derry of which St. Éoghan is patron saint. St. Éoghan reposed circa 618.

FLAVIAN (FLAVINIAN, FLAVIUS) of AUTUN, the twenty-first Bishop of Autun, Burgundy (France). It is generally believed he lived in the first half of the seventh century.

MINERVIUS, ELEAZAR, and COMPANIONS of LYONS, although the extant details leave much to be desired; it is fairly safe to say SS. Minervius and Eleazar, along with eight children, were martyred at Lyons (east-central France) in the early third century.

QUIRIACUS, MAXIMUS, ARCHELAUS, and COMPANIONS of OSTIA, St. Quiriacus, Bishop of Ostia (Metropolitan Rome); Maximus, a priest; and Archelaus, a deacon; along with an unknown number of Christian soldiers seem to have been martyred at Ostia. The Roman Martyrology places their martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Severus Alexander (r. 222–235), however contemporary scholarship places it at some time after 255.

TYDFIL, according to legend, St. Tydfil was a daughter of King St. Brychan of Brycheiniog (6th April). She is said to have been martyred, with others, circa 480, by marauding Picts and Saxons at the location now known as Merthyr Tydfil in Mid Glamorgan, Wales.

VICTOR VITENSIS (VICTOR of VITA), a Bishop of Vita, in the Roman Province of Byzacena (present-day Tunisia). He is mainly remembered as the author of the Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, temporibus Geiserici et Hunirici regum Wandalorum, his eyewitness accounts of the suffering afflicted upon orthodox Christians of northern Africa by the Arian Vandals. St. Victor was banished by the Vandals and reposed in exile on the Island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea at the beginning of the sixth century.