Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Home » Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome 30th December (NS) — 17th December (OS) 2024


Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism
See of Rome
30th December (NS) — 17th December (OS) 2024

by | 30th December 2024 | Orthodox Western Saints

17th December (OS)

BEGGA, daughter of SS. Pepin of Landen (21st February) and Ida of Nivelles (8th May), sister of St. Gertrude of Nivelles (17th March), and grandmother of Charles Martel, wife of Angisilus (Ansegis), son of St. Arnulf of Metz (18th July). Following her husband's untimely death in a hunting accident in 691, St. Begga received monastic tonsure, founded seven churches, and a monastery in Andenne on the Meuse in present-day Namur, Belgium, where she served as first Abbess until her repose in 698.

BRIARCH, a member of the Irish nobility who received monastic tonsure in Wales, where he became friends with St. Tudwal (30th November). St. Briarch accompanied St. Tudwal to Brittany where he was Founding-Abbot of a monastery in Guingamp. St Briarch reposed in Boubriac, Brittany circa 627.

EIGIL (AEIGILUS), a nephew of St. Sturm of Fulda (vide infra), and author of Vita Sancti Sturmii. St. Eigil served as fourth Abbot of Fulda from 817 until his repose in 822.

JUDICÄEL, a brother of St. Judocus (13th December) and much loved king of Domnonia, a minor kingdom in Brittany. St. Judicäel abdicated to live out the rest of his life as monk at a monastery in Gäel near Vannes, where he reposed in 658.

MAXENTIOLUS (MEZENCEUL), (Fifth Century), a disciple of St. Martin of Tours (11th November), and founding-Abbot of the monastery of Notre-Dame de Cunault, near the Loire River about 12 km (7 miles) North-West of Saumur.

STURM (STURMI), following an education under the direction of St. Boniface (5th June) at the Abbey of St. Peter in Fritzlar (present-day northern Hesse), St. Sturm was ordained to the priesthood, and spent three years as a missionary in Westphalia. Then as a hermit in Hersfeld, where he attempted to establish a monastery (742), unsuccessfully as he had to flee the Saxon marauders. In 744, at the direction of St. Boniface, St. Sturm founded Fulda Abbey. Serving as first Abbot, St. Sturm’s guided the growth of the Abbey, which soon became an important centre of scholarship and spirituality. St. Sturm reposed 779.

TYDECHO, (Sixth Century), it is believed that St. Tydecho and his sister, whose name is lost to us, came from Cornwall to Gwynedd where they settled in what is now Mallwyd. There he founded the church which is now dedicated to him. St. Tydecho was also a brother of St. Cadfan (1st November). Nothing further is known of his life or that of his sister.

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30th December (NS)

ECGWINE (ECGWIN, EGWIN, EEGWINE) of EVESHAM, the details of St. Ecgwine’s life are rather incomplete, and he is not mentioned by either St. Bede the Venerable (25th May), nor in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. However, St. Ecgwine’s name is recorded in the witness lists of seven charters issued between 692 and 717, and named as beneficiary, on Evesham's behalf, of three others. He is generally considered to have been the third Bishop of Worcester (circa 693 – 717), and founder of Evesham Abbey (circa 700 – 710), in present-day Evesham, Worcestershire, England. It is known without question that his final episcopal act was his participation at the First Council of Clovesho (Clofesho) in July 716. As bishop, St. Ecgwine endeavoured to get his flock to embrace Christian morality, especially regarding marriage and clerical celibacy, however, he met with great resistance, and was at one point forced to appeal to Rome. St. Ecgwine is generally considered to have reposed on 30th December, 717, though at least one scholar claimed it was 720. He was buried at Evesham Abbey, and in 1183 his relics were translated to a shrine in the Abbey, which, unfortunately, was destroyed, along with the abbey church, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England and Wales (1536–1540) by Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland, (r. 1509–1547).

EUGENE, (Date Unknown), a Bishop of Milan, of whose life nothing is known.

LIBERIUS, an early Bishop of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna, who is considered to be one of the founders of that diocese. St. Liberius reposed circa 200.

SABINUS, EXUPERANTIUS, MARCELLUS, VENUSTIAN, and COMPANIONS, a group of Christians martyred in Spoleto during the Diocletianic Persecution (303–313). In some martyrologies they are called the Martyrs of Spoleto.

SEBASTIAN, consecrated Archbishop of Esztergom, Hungary in 1002. St. Sebastian worked with St. Stephen (16th August) in the evangelisation of the Hungarian people. St. Sebastian reposed circa 1036.

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.