St. Clether
Feastday: October 23
Death: 520
Welsh saint also called Cleer, Clydog, Scledog, Citanus, or Cleodius. He was a descendant of a local king in Wales. Clether left Wales and went to Cornwall, England. Churches including St. Clear near Liskeard were built in his honor. He is reported to have been martyred. A second Clether is commemorated on November 3.
St. Benedict of Sebaste
Feastday: October 23
Death: 654
Bishop and hermit. Traditionally a bishop in the city of Sebaste, Turkey. During the persecutions of the era, he fled to Gaul. He built a hermitage near Poitiers, later transformed into the abbey St. Benedict of Quincay
St. Amo
Feastday: October 23
Death: 4th century
Bishop of Toul, France.The successor of St. Mansuetus.
St. Allucio
Feastday: October 23
Birth: 1070
Death: 1134
Allas giver, founder, and miracle worker. He was a shepherd in Pescia, Tuscany, in Italy, when he became the director of the almshouse in Valdi Nievole. Allucio also built shelters in mountain passes and at rivers. The group with which he worked became the Brothers of St. Allucio. A miracle worker known throughout the region, Allucio ended the war between the city states of Ravenna and Faenza.
St. Verecundus
Feastday: October 22
Death: 522
Bishop of Verona, Italy. The details of his labors are lost but the Goths ruled Verona at the time. St. Valens succeeded him.
St. Philip of Heraclea
Feastday: October 22
Death: 304
Bishop of Heraclea and martyr. During the persecution of the Church under Emperor Diocletian, Philip was arrested along with his deacon Severus and two other clergy, Hermes and Eusebius. Taken before the magistrate, Blassus, they were ordered to hand over the Sacred Scripture, but refused. Moved to Adrianople, they were burned at the stake. All four share the same feast day.
St. Philip
Feastday: October 22
Death: 270
Martyr. He was bishop of Fermo, Italy. He suffered martyrdom in the reign of Emperor Aurelian. Little is known of him save that his relics are preserved in the local cathedral of Fermo.
St. Nunctus
Feastday: October 22
Abbot and martyr, also called Noint. The abbot of a monastery near Merida, Spain, he was murdered by a group of robbers. He was venerated as a martyr.
St. Nepotian
Feastday: October 22
Bishop of Clermont, also listed as Neptiamus. He succeeded the famed St. Illidius in 386. Clermont was blessed with a vast roster of sainted bishops. Nepotian's successor was St. Artemius.
St. Moderan
Feastday: October 22
Death: 730
Benedictine bishop of Rennes, France, from 703-720. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and resigned his see to become a hermit in Berceto Abbey, in Parma, Italy. He is also called Moran and Moderammus.
St. Mellon
Feastday: October 22
Death: 314
First bishop of Rouen, France. A native of Cardiff, Wales, he is listed as Mallonous, Mellouns, and Melanius. He was converted while in Rome and sent to France as a missionary by Pope St. Stephen.
This article is about the 4th-century, possibly legendary, Bishop of Rouen. For the Bishop of Rennes, see Melaine.
Saint Mellonius (229-314) was an early 4th-century Bishop of Rotomagus (now Rouen) in the Roman province of Secunda Provincia Lugdunensis (now Normandy in France). He is known only from a 17th-century 'Life' of little historical value, meaning the historicity of his existence is uncertain.[3]
Contents
1 Legend
2 Veneration
3 Legacy
4 References
5 External links
Legend
Detail of a stained glass window in Saint Ouen's church, Rouen portraying Mellonius, 1325/1339
Mellonius (surnamed Probus)[1] is said to have been born near Cardiff in Wales, presumably at St Mellons, although the saint there is generally thought to be Saint Melaine, Bishop of Rennes. The two have, unfortunately, been hopelessly confused in many biographies. Mellonius' story tells how he travelled to Rome to pay the British tribute. He was there converted to Christianity by Pope Stephen I,[4] who ordained him priest and later consecrated him a bishop.
Shortly after the martyrdom of Pope Stephen in 257, Mellonius set out for Gaul. He succeeded Nicasius of Rouen as Bishop of Rouen in 261. After a long episcopate, in 311, he retired to a hermit‘s cell at a place called Hericourt, where he died A.D. 314.[5] Mellonius was succeeded by Avitianus.
He is sometimes confused with Mellonius, Bishop of Troyes, from 390 to 400.
Veneration
His feast day is 22 October. In the English translation of the 1956 edition of the Roman Martyrology, 'St Mellon' is listed under 22 October with the citation: At Rouen, St Mellon, Bishop, who was ordained by Pope St Stephen and sent thither to preach the Gospel.[6]
In the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology, Mellonius is listed under the same date, 22 October, with the Latin name Mallóni. He is mentioned as follows: 'At Rothómagi (Rouen), bishop, who in that city announced the Christian faith and handed on the episcopate'.[7]
Bishop Mellonius is depicted in a fifteenth-century illuminated Book of Hours.[8]
Mellonius was buried at Rouen, but his remains were subsequently translated to a church in Pontoise towards the end of the eighth century to protect them from Norse warbands. They remained there until they were lost during the French Revolution.
Legacy
St. Mellon's Church in St. Mellons, Cardiff id dedicated to Mellonius of Rouen. A fair used to be held on his feast day in the village of St Mellons.[2] The church was previously dedicated to St. Lucius, but was changed upon the arrival of the Normans.[1] The church at Thiédeville is dedicated to him at Héricourt, where there was a holy well. There is also a church dedicated to St. Mellon in Plomelin, Brittany.
St. Mark
Feastday: October 22
First bishop of Jerusalem not of Jewish descent. He is reported to have been martyred after two decades.
St. Donatus of Fiesole
Feastday: October 22
Death: 874
An Irishman who became bishop of Fiesole, Italy Traveling through that city while returning from a pilgrimage to Rome in 829, Donatus entered the cathedral. Candles caught light and bells rang, prompting the people to elect him bishop. He wasa noted scholar and became advisor to Lothair I and his son, Louis II.
Saint Donatus (Donat, Donnchad) of Fiesole was an Irish teacher and poet, and Bishop of Fiesole, about 829–876.
Donatus was born in Ireland of noble parents towards the end of the eighth century. There is good reason to believe that he was educated in the monastic school of Inishcaltra, a little island in Lough Derg, near the Galway shore, now better known as Holy Island: so he was probably a native of that part of the country. Here he studied with great industry and success. He became a priest, and in course of time a bishop: he was greatly distinguished as a professor.[1]
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, in an ancient collection of the Vitae Patrum, of which an eleventh-century copy exists in the Laurentian library of Florence, there is an account of the life of Donatus, which states that about 816 Donatus visited the tombs of the Apostles in Rome with his friend, Andrew Scotus (meaning "the Irishman"). They remained in Rome for a considerable time, and then having obtained the Pope's blessing, set out once more, directing their steps now towards Tuscany, till at length they reached Fiesole, where they entered the hospice of the monastery, intending to rest there for a week or two, and then to resume their journey.[1]
According to tradition, he was led by Divine Providence to the cathedral of Fiesole, which he entered at the moment when the people were grouped around their altars praying for a bishop to deliver them from temporal and spiritual evils. When Donatus entered, the bells spontaneously began ringing and the candles lit. The people believed God meant this stranger to be their bishop. They elected him, although some said it's possible no one local wanted the position because the feudal lords had drowned the previous bishop.[2] Raised by popular acclaim to the See of Fiesole, Donatus instituted a revival of piety and learning in the church over which he was placed. Donatus made Andrew his deacon. This was in or about the year 824.[1]
He founded the abbey of San Martino di Mensola. Supposedly he was a teacher in service to the Frankish kings; there is a record, from 850, of his giving a church and hospice, St. Brigid's at Piacenza, to the abbey founded by St. Columban at Bobbio.[3] Donatus not only battled sin, he was also a military leader, organising armies to lead two expeditions against the Saracens. He was an advisor to Emperor Louis and Frankish King Lothair I. He judged a disagreement between the bishops of Arezzo and Siena. He also attended the Roman synod of Pope Nicholas I on 18 November 861.[4]
According to St. Donatus, St. Brigid of Kildare visited his deathbed to give him spiritual strength and comfort. His story, preserved in manuscript in the Laurentian Library in Florence, tells of this miracle: the great saint flew to his deathbed, and before she touched him, she hung her cloak on a sunbeam to dry.[5] He was buried in the cathedral, where his epitaph, dictated by himself, may still be seen.[6]
Works
A Life of the St. Brigid printed by Colgan is attributed to Coelan, an Irish monk of the eighth century, and it derives a peculiar importance from the fact that it is prefaced by a foreword from the pen of St. Donatus, who refers to previous lives by St. Ultan and St. Aileran.[7]
He himself did not disdain to teach "the art of metrical composition". His Life of Saint Brigid is interspersed with short poems of his own composition. The best known of these is the twelve-line poem in which he describes the beauty and fertility of his native land, and the prowess and piety of its inhabitants. Donatus also composed an epitaph in which he alludes to his birth in Ireland, his years in the service of the princes of Italy (Lothair and Louis), his episcopate at Fiesole, and his activity as a teacher of grammar and poetry.
Like St. Columkille, Donatus always cherished a tender regretful love for Ireland; and like him also he wrote a short poem in praise of it which is still preserved. It is in Latin, and the following is a translation, made by a Dublin poet many years ago:
Far westward lies an isle of ancient fame, By nature bless'd; and Scotia is her name,
Enroll'd in books: exhaustless is her store, Of veiny silver, and of golden ore.
Her fruitful soil, for ever teems with wealth, With gems her waters, and her air with health;
Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow;Her woolly fleeces vie with virgin snow;
Her waving furrows float with bearded corn; And arms and arts her envied sons adorn!
No savage bear, with lawless fury roves, Nor fiercer lion, through her peaceful groves;
No poison there infects, no scaly snake Creeps through the grass, nor frog annoys the lake;
An island worthy of its pious race, In war triumphant, and unmatch'd in peace![1]
Veneration
His feast day is 22 October.[3] The numerous locations and churches incorporating his name, San Donato, provide evidence of his influence and popularity throughout Tuscany.[6]
