Dr. John (Ellsworth) Hutchison-Hall

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

            

Orthodox Saints of the Pre-Schism See of Rome

ADALBERT of MAGDEBURG, a monk at the Abbey of St. Maximin (abtei St. Maximin) in Trier in the present-day German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and missionary bishop. At the request of St. Olga, the Princess of Russia, in 961 St. Adelbert led a group of missionaries to evangelise the Slavs. There they met great resistance led by St. Olga’s son Svyatoslav, and many of St. Adelbert’s companions were slaughtered. The survivors, including St. Adalbert, escaped to Mainz where they spent several years. St. Adalbert was then appointed Abbot of the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul of Wissembourg (abbaye Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul de Wissembourg) in Alsace (eastern France). He was consecrated the first Archbishop of Magdeburg (central Germany) in 968. St. Adelbert founded the dioceses of Naumberg, Neissen, Merseberg, Brandenburg, Havelberg, and Posen, and was made Metropolitan of the Slavs. Known for his strong belief in the importance of education in general, and his monks in particular, St. Adalbert counted SS. Bruno of Querfort (15th October) and Adalbert of Prague (23rd April) amongst his disciples. St. Adalbert reposed 981.

BAGNE (BAIN, BAGNUS) of THÉROUANNE, a monk and disciple of St. Wandrille of Fontenelle (22nd July) at the Abbey of St. Peter / abbaye Saint-Pierre (later the Abbey of St. Wandrille / abbaye Saint-Wandrille) in Fontenelle, Normandy (France). St. Bagne was in 667 consecrated Bishop of Thérouanne, in Artois, Flanders (northern Belgium). After twelve years, St. Bagne resigned his See and returned to Fontenelle Abbey where three years later he was elected Abbot. Towards the end of his life, St. Bagne was appointed to serve as Abbot of the Abbey of St. Benedict on the Loire (abbaye de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire — Fleury Abbey) as well. St. Bagne reposed circa 710, and is the primary patron-saint of Calais on the English Channel in northern France.

FLORENTINA (FLORENCE) of CARTAGENA, the only sister of SS. Leander of Seville (27th February), Fulgentius of Ecija (16th January) and Isidore of Seville (4th April). St. Florentina was orphaned whilst still young, she was raised by her brother St. Leander. When older, she received monastic tonsure, and eventually served as Abbess of an unknown monastery. St. Florentina reposed circa 636.

GOBAN (GOBAIN) of PICARDY, a disciple of St. Fursey of Péronne (16th January), and companion on St. Fursey’s mission to Gaul (France). St. Goban spent the last years of his life as a hermit in the Voas forest where the present-day town of Saint-Gobain is. St. Goban was martyred by pagan marauders circa 670.

GOVAN (GOVEN, COFEN), St. Govan was most likely an Irishman who had been a disciple of St. Ailbe of Emly (12th September) before he went to Wales. He lived there as an anchorite in a fissure in a cliff at what is now called St. Govan’s Head in Pembrokeshire, Wales. St. Govan is believed to have reposed circa 586 and to be buried under the altar of his hermitage.

HELEN (HELIADA) of OEHREN, second Abbess of the Abbey of St. Mary (Kloster St. Marien) in Oehren, in Trier in the present-day German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. St. Helen reposed circa 750.

NOVATUS of ROME, presumed to have been a son of the senator Pudens of Rome, and brother of SS. Praxedes of Rome (21st July) and Pudentiana of Rome (19th May). St. Novatus reposed circa 151.

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.