Ecumenical Patriarchate
Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain
The Orthodox Church of St. Cosmas & St. Damian
Ipswich Suffolk
British and Irish Saints
(Including saints having a connection with these lands)
"When the Church in the British Isles begins to venerate her own saints, then the Church there will grow" – St Arsenios of Paros. (1877)
MAY
1st St Asaph, Bishop of Llanelwy (6th-7th).
Very little is known about this saint since no Welsh biography exists, and only meagre accounts in a medieval life of St Kentigern who went to Wales and founded a monastery at Llanelwy. There are however, many place names that attest to his veneration in early times. It is said that St Kentigern recognised the sanctity of Asaph who became abbot and bishop. One account says he died in 596.
3rd St Conleath (Irish: Conláed), Bishop of Kildare (519).
He was a hermit and skilled metalworker who made chalices and other church items. He was asked by St Brigid of Kildare to make metal items for her monastery. He became the first Bishop of Kildare. Legend has it that, against the wishes of St Brigid, he went on pilgrimage to Rome but was attacked and killed by wolves whilst still in Ireland.
4th St Ethelred, King of Mercia and monk (716).
He was a powerful king and regarded as overlord of other kings. He founded a monastery at Bardney in Lincolnshire and involved himself very much in the matters of the Church and was a close friend of St Wilfrid of York. He abdicated in 704 and retired to Bardney monastery as a simple monk but later was elected abbot.
5th St Hydroc, hermit (Cornwall 5th).
He was a revered Christian figure in Cornwall but very little information about his life has survived. Even so, it seems St Hydroc's impact on the Cornwall region and his patronage of Lanhydroc made him a beloved saint. He was born during a time when Cornwall was undergoing intense religious transformation as Christianity began to spread throughout the region. Although details of his birth and upbringing are unknown, it is widely believed that he was a native of Cornwall and played a pivotal role in the propagation and establishment of Christianity there.
6th St Edbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne (698).
Edbert succeeded St Cuthbert as seventh Bishop of Lindisfarne. St Bede described him as a priest of great learning, famous for his knowledge of the Bible, and for his great generosity. He used to give a tenth of his livestock, fruit, grain and clothing to the poor each year. While he was Bishop of Lindisfarne, he roofed the wooden church with lead. He also built a new shrine for St Cuthbert. Each year during Lent he would make a retreat to St Cuthbert's Isle. His relics were removed to Durham when Lindisfarne was attacked by Vikings in 793.
7th St John of Beverley, Bishop of York (721).
Born in Yorkshire, he studied at St Theodore’s school in Canterbury before returning to become a monk of St Hilda’s double monastery in Whitby. He was consecrated Bishop of Hexham in 687, during which time he ordained Bede, and later became Bishop of York. He was known for his sanctity, and indeed, many miracles accompanied his ministry, including the famous healing of a young nun who was dying of septicaemia. He also founded a monastery at Beverley to which he retired after serving as a bishop for thirty-three years. His shrine was a popular place of pilgrimage, and despite being destroyed during the Reformation, John of Beverley was re-buried at the east end of the nave. This is now marked with an inscribed marble slab.
10th St Comgall, Abbot of Bangor (Ireland c 601).
He served as a soldier in his younger days but then resolved to take up the religious life. He was instructed by, among others, St Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. He was ordained deacon and priest by Bishop Lugidius, probably at Clonmacnoise. He founded a monastery at Bangor near Belfast. He was extremely austere, some brethren dying from cold and hunger. He himself died in 601.
12th St Ethelhard, Archbishop of Canterbury (805).
He lived in troubled times politically but was a staunch upholder of the Orthodox faith. In 803, he required each newly elected bishop to make a written profession of Orthodoxy and pledge obedience to his metropolitan bishop. St Ethelhard passed away two years later but left a legacy of defending the Church from political interference.
15th St Colman of Oughaval (6th).
St Colman was a disciple of St Columba, Abbot of Iona and St Fintan, Abbot of Clonenangh. From the province of Leinster, he was a pious youth and determined to dedicate his life to prayer and ascetic labour. He travelled to Iona to seek counsel from St Columba, and to that end, he remained several years in order to learn the disciplines of monastic life. Colman later returned to Ireland with the blessing of St Columba. He was miraculously directed to St Fintan by way of a vision imparted to St Columba. Oughaval was the town that Colman chose as the place for his monastic settlement. The exact date of the founding of the monastery is not known, however, it is thought to have been a short time before the repose of St Fintan. The site can still be identified, but it is impossible to recognise the actual buildings.
16th St Brendan the Voyager, Abbot of Clonfert (c 575).
​Brendan of Clonfert is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Brendan was baptised by the Irish Saint Erc the Bishop of Slane. He was educated by two other Irish saints, St. Brigid of Munster and St. Finnian of Clonard. He was ordained a priest at age twenty-six by St Erc of Slane and entered the monastic life, first as a hermit and later as spiritual father to a community of fellow monks who gathered around him. Together they took to sea and founded a monastery on the rugged Aran Islands. From their home monastery, St Brendan and his sailor monks founded monastic settlements on Argyll Island off the coast of Scotland, along the coast of Wales and in Brittany on the coast of France. After years as missionaries, Brendan and his monks returned to the Bay of Tralee and established their monastic cells on the highest mountain of the region, now known as Mount Brendan. From here he undertook a seven-year voyage of exploration in the northern Atlantic Ocean which began in AD 530. In the ninth century the adventures of St. Brendan and his fellow voyager monks were recorded in the famous Latin text the ‘Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis’. The saga relates how the monks made a boat of oak timber and covered it in leather hide, put up a mast in the form of a cross and decorated a broad sail. St. Brendan and his band of monks then prayed and fasted for forty days before dedicating themselves to the protection of the Holy Trinity and setting sail in search of the Earthly Paradise.
The narrative describes for the first time such natural wonders as a volcanic island – associated with Iceland where ‘lumps of fiery slag fell into rivers of gold fire’ and ‘giant crystal pillars floated on the waters’ – a reference to icebergs. The saga also describes the northern lights, giant whales, migratory birds, an island of wild sheep and vineyards of wild grapes. Based on the description of geography, sea life, plants and animals, some have suggested that the account describes the first voyages to Iceland, Greenland and Labrador. The entire saga is also described as a diary of ‘salvation, obedience and faith needed to undertake the pilgrimage of Christian life’. On his return to Ireland, St Brendan retired to the region of Galway on the west coast and founded a monastery at nearby Clonfert. He also assisted his sister St Briga to establish a convent. He reposed in peace in 577 and was buried at the monastery in Clonfert. Following his death pilgrims flocked to visit his burial site and eventually a church was built over St Brendan’s grave.
19th St Alcuin of York (804).
Born in York and studied at the school established by Egbert. He became a monk, probably a disciple of Bede at Wearmouth-Jarrow. Known as a scholar, he returned to become head of the school attached to York Minster. At that time, the library at York was famed in England and beyond for its great collection of classical works and early Christian texts. Sadly, the library was destroyed by the Vikings in 866. Alcuin went to the court of Charlemagne as his chief advisor, and established a school there, and a library. He was also for a time Abbot of St Martin’s Monastery at Tours.
19th St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury (988).
Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, Bishop of Worcester, Bishop of London, and Archbishop of Canterbury. The tenth century saw a decline in Church and political life, and when King Edgar became king, the two men embarked on reforms to restore high standards in the Church, the monasteries, and political life. St Dunstan it was, who composed the Coronation service for King Edgar and which he modelled on the rites used for Byzantine emperors, Frankish kings, and the Holy Roman emperors. In its essential elements, this service has been used for the crowning of all English monarchs, most recently of King Charles III. St Dunstan reposed in the Lord in 988, after ruling the English church for twenty-seven years, working and preaching until the end.
​20th St Ethelbert, King and Martyr (c 793).
Born in 779, King of East Anglia at the age of fourteen, Ethelbert was educated at the monastery in Bury St Edmunds and was a very devout young man. It was arranged that he should marry the daughter of King Offa of Mercia, but King Offa was influenced to regard Ethelbert as an enemy; as Ethelbert approached King Offa’s palace, he was attacked and beheaded. Later, the relics of St Ethelbert were found and placed in Hereford Cathedral, and many accounts of miracles soon followed.
​21st Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine (337) and his mother Helen (c 330).
Not British by birth, these two saints yet have a close connection with England. Constantine followed his father Constantius who came to England to re-assert Roman authority and restore order. Constantius wintered in York (Eboracum) but became ill and died on 25 July 306. Constantine was proclaimed Emperor at York. At some stage, Constantine and Helen must have spent time in Colchester (Camulodunum), and tradition has it that St Helen’s Chapel there was built on her orders and was her place of worship. St Helen is the patron saint of Colchester.
25th St Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne (709
Aldhelm was renowned for his scholarship and wisdom. He was a student of St Adrian of Canterbury. Later, Aldhelm returned to join Malmesbury Abbey where he later became Abbot. In 705, he became Bishop of Sherborne though remained Abbot of Malmesbury. Though advanced in years, he was a very active bishop. On his death, he was buried at Malmesbury Abbey.
26th St Augustine of Canterbury, Evangelizer of England (c 605).
Called, Apostle of the English. This appellation should not obscure the fact that the Christian faith was planted here by St Aristobulus of the Seventy in the middle of the 1st century. Augustine sought to bring the Celtic Christians to Roman ways but he was not entirely successful, and the following account explains why. A meeting was arranged with the Celtic bishops who asked a holy hermit whether or not to accept Augustine as their leader. The hermit replied, “If he rises to greet you, then accept him. If he remains seated, then he is arrogant and unfit to be your leader, and you should reject him.” Unfortunately, Saint Augustine did not rise to greet them. Nevertheless, Augustine had success in parts of south-east England and the see of Canterbury was established.
27th St Melangell, Hermit at Pennant Melangell (c 590).
She has attracted a great deal of interest and veneration in recent times. She was a hermit in Powys in central Wales. She has been venerated by local people for many centuries and is more widely venerated now than ever before. Her shrine and relics survive in the parish church of Pennant Melangell.
27th St Bede the Venerable (735).
So famous is Bede, he hardly needs any introduction. Famed above all for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People which he finished about 731, Bede spent his life at St Paul’s Monastery at Jarrow in the north-east of England, on Tyneside. He spent his life in the monastery in prayer, teaching and writing. He refused high office because he thought it would distract him from his labours which proved to be of such great benefit not only to his fellow monastics but to the whole Church. Many of his writings were esteemed so greatly that, even in his lifetime, they were read publicly in the churches. His relics are in a stone tomb in Durham Cathedral next to the relics of St Cuthbert.