Pre-Schism Orthodox Western Saints
5th October (NS) — 22nd September (OS)
22nd September O.S.
DIGNA and EMERITA, Roman maidens who were arrested and tortured for being Christians during the persecutions during the reign Valerian (254-259). Whilst standing before their judges and praying, SS. Digna and Emerita reposed. The pagans dumped their sacred remains in open country, which were rescued by their fellow Christians and interred with those of SS. Felix and Adauctus (30th August). Their relics were later translated to the Church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome and enshrined under the main altar.
EMMERAMUS (EMMERAM), a native of Poitiers who went to Bavaria help spread Christianity. He later served as Abbot Bishop of Regensburg. St. Emmeramus was killed (circa 690) whilst on his way to Rome, and has been venerated as a martyr ever since. St. Emmeram’s Abbey was subsequently built over his grave circa 739.
FLORENTIUS (FLORENT, FLORENCE), (Fifth Century), a native of Bavaria who was a disciple of St. Martin of Tours (11th November). St. Martin ordained St. Florentius to the priesthood and sent him to evangelise in Poitou (the region surrounding Tours). In later life he went to live as a hermit at Mt. Glonne in Anjou, where he attracted so many disciples, an abbey (later Abbaye de Saint-Florent-le-Vieil) had to be built for them. St. Florentius reposed at an advanced age, some legends state 120 years, and was buried at his abbey.
JONAS (YON), a companion or disciple of St. Dionysius of Paris (9th October), who evangelised Chartres, and was martyred at some point in the third century.
LAUTO (LAUDO, LAUDUS, LÔ), a nobleman who served as the fifth Bishop of Coutances in Normandy from 528 until his repose 568. Upon inheriting his family’s estate, he donated the lands to his diocese, part of which became the village of Saint-Lô.
SALABERGA, healed of blindness by St. Eustace of Lisieux (29th March), as a child, and then married very young, but her husband died after only two months. She then married Blandinus of Laon, with whom she had five children, including SS. Baldwin (16th October), and Anstrudis (17th October). Later in life she and her husband mutually agreed to separate and enter monastic life, with her husband becoming an anchorite and St. Salaberga being tonsured at Poulangey. St. Salaberga went on to found the convent of St. John the Baptist in Laon, reposing there circa 665.
SANCTINUS, whilst there is no definitive evidence extant, St. Sanctinus is traditionally considered to have been the first Bishop of Meaux and a disciple of St. Dionysius of Paris (9th October). St. Sanctinus reposed circa 300.
SILVANUS, (Date Unknown), an early saint venerated from time immemorial in Levroux France. No reliable information on his life is extant.
THEBAN LEGION, the army of Emperor Maximianus Herculius (286 – 305) included a legion of Christians who were based in Thebes in Egypt. Whilst marching his army across the Alps to suppress a revolt in Gaul, the Emperor camped near Agaunum (present-day Saint-Maurice, Switzerland) and included in his preparation for battle public sacrifices, in which the Christians, naturally, refused to participate, and were, as a result, ruthlessly executed (circa 287). A basilica was built in Agaunum, now St-Maurice-en-Valais to enshrine the relics of the martyrs.
5th October N.S.
ALEXANDER, (Third Century), one of the countless number martyred in Trier by the Prefect Rictiovarus during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (A.D. 284 – 305).
APOLLINARIS (AIPLONAY), a member of a prominent Gallo-Roman family, and elder brother of St. Avitus of Vienne (5th February). St. Apollinaris served as the fifth Bishop of Valence in Burgundy from 486 until his repose circa 520.
ATTILANUS, a native of Tarazona near Saragossa in Spain, who worked with his friend St. Froilan (3rd October) to revitalise monastic life at Moreruela Abbey close to Zamora in Castile. St. Attilanus was consecrated Bishop of Zamora on Pentecost, 990, and reposed 1009.
AYMARD, the third Abbot of Cluny (A.D. 942 – circa 952). Succeeding St. Odo (11th May), St. Aymard ruled Cluny for about ten years before blindness led him to resign in favour of St. Majolus (11th May). St. Aymard reposed 965.
BONIFACE, (Third Century), another of the countless martyrs in Trier under the orders of Prefect Rictiovarus during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (A.D. 284 – 305).
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”.
FIRMATUS and FLAVIANA, (Date Unknown), St. Firmatus, a deacon, and St. Flaviana, a virgin, are venerated at Auxerre in France. Whilst mentioned in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, there is other no information about them extant. It is possible they may even be two of the companions of St. Placidus (vide infra #Placidus), some of whose relics appear to have been brought to France at some point.
GALLA, according to St. Gregory the Dialogist (3rd September), St. Galla was a wellborn lady who was widowed in the first year of marriage. St. Galla then founded a monastery and hospital on the Vatican Hill, where she led the life of an anchoress, until her repose from cancer circa 550.
MAGDALVEUS (MADALVEUS, MAUVÉ), a monk at St. Vannes who returned to his birth place of Verdun circa 736 to serve as the twenty-fifth Bishop of that See. As Bishop St. Magdalveus urged both the clergy and laity in his care to receive the Sacrament of Confession, and regularly attend Liturgy with appropriate reverence. He reposed circa 776.
MARCELLINUS of RAVENNA, either the second or third Bishop of Ravenna, and said by some to have been a wonderworker. Most sources place him in the second half of the third century A.D.
MEINULPH, a nobleman and godson of Charlemagne, he founded of the monastery of Böddeken in Westphalia. It is said that he chose the location for the monastery after seeing a stag with a cross in its antlers there. St. Meinulph reposed circa 857 at Böddeken.
PALMATIUS and COMPANIONS, (Third Century), a large group numbered amongst those martyred in Trier by order of the Prefect Rictiovarus during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (A.D. 284 – 305).