Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung upon the tree,
 

The King of the angels is decked with a crown of thorns.
 

He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.
 

He who freed Adam in the Jordan is slapped on the face.
 

The Bridegroom of the Church is affixed to the Cross with nails.
 

The Son of the virgin is pierced by a spear.
 

We venerate Thy passion, O Christ. 

We venerate Thy passion, O Christ. 

We venerate Thy passion, O Christ.

Show us also Thy glorious resurrection.

– 15th antiphon, Matins of Great Friday

Today is Great and Holy Wednesday of Holy Week. ‘Behold, the Bridegroom is coming in the middle of the night, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find awake and watching, but unworthy is he whom He shall find idle and careless. Beware, then, my soul, lest thou be weighed down with sleep, lest thou be given up to death and shut out of the Kingdom. But awake and cry: Holy, Holy, Holy, art Thou, O God: by the power of Thy Cross, save us.

In the calendar of early British saints for 7 April, we commemorate SS. Govan, Gwrnerth and Llewellyn, about whom I can discover really nothing much at all. Gwrnerth and Llewellyn were monks of Welshpool and Bardsey  (both? respectively? at different times?) in perhaps the 6th century. Govan may have been a man or a woman, or Sir Gawain, who lived very penitentially indeed in a crack in the sea cliffs, but in any case there is  St Govan’s chapel in Pembrokeshire and a ringing rock which is supposed to be a miraculous bell associated with Govan.

And how did a district of Glasgow come to be called Govan?

I sometimes think it would be much easier and perhaps more fruitful to find English material about the western saints M Lopez-Ginisty posts about than to follow the evidently pretty holey calendars of British saints…

Holy Govan, Gwrnerth and Llewellyn, pray to God for us.

Today (4 March) we commemorate St Adrian (Ethernan) and his companions, martyrs on the Isle of May, off the northeast coast of Scotland. He is also commemorated on 3 December.

The island features on the Gough Mapof medieval Britain, and it was through a repeat of Dr Alixe Bovey‘s 2008 ‘In search of medieval Britain’ series on BBC Four last October that I came across St Adrian for the first time (and wrote this post).

I couldn’t find much of anything about Adrian – except what was mixed up with St Adrian, bishop of St Andrews, including a reference by Dr Bovey to him as ‘St Adrian of Fife’, and they may well have been either thoroughly mixed up centuries ago or actually the same person – until I came across a no longer available note at answers.com, quoting the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, with footnotes leading to another interesting source: AP Forbes’ Kalendars of Scottish saints : with personal notices of those of Alba, Laudonia, & Strathclyde : an attempt to fix the districts of their several missions and the churches where they were chiefly had in remembrance (1872), available online. And searchable. So here is the article on Adrian of May from Forbes:

==

‘ADRIAN and his Companions, Martyrs. March 4. The account of these Saints in the Breviary of Aberdeen is as follows: S. Adrian was born in the parts of Hungary and province of Pannonia; he was of royal descent, and of episcopal rank ; his diligence in the sacred order being testified by the many clerics and seculars who were his companions. Desiring to benefit other nations, and inflamed with zeal for the Christian religion, he betook himself to the eastern parts of Scotia, then occupied by the Picts, having along with him 6606 companions, among whom the most notable were Glodianus, who was crowned with martyrdom, Gayus, and Monanus, white-robed confessors, Stobrandus and other bishops, adorned with the mitre. The names of the rest are written in purple blood in the book of life. These did many signs and wonders in the midst of the Picts, but at length desiring a habitation of their own, they expelled the demons and wild beasts from the Island of Maya, and there made a place of prayer. They occupied themselves in devotion until the Danes, who had devastated all Britannia, which is now called Anglia, landed on the island, when the holy confessors of God opposed them with the spiritual weapons of the heavenly warfare. The enemy not brooking this, fell violently on the blessed Adrian, the victim of the Lord, with swords, and crowned him with a glorious martyrdom; and in order that concerning them the words of the prophet should be verified anew, where the disconsolate Rachel is said to have bewailed her children, these most cruel executioners made an attack upon that holy and heavenly multitude who persevered in the confession of Christ, and who, like sheep, fell before their swords in the Isle of May, where the martyrs of God, who in this life loved to serve Him together, in death were not separated. There was one spirit in them and one faith. In that Isle of May there was anciently erected a monastery of fair coursed masonry (tabulatu), which was destroyed by the Angles, but the church remains to this day much visited for its miracles by the people, and thither women come in hopes of offspring. There is also a celebrated cemetery, where the bodies of the martyrs repose.

‘It is well known that in A.D. 795 the ravages of the Danes in Ireland, and their attacks on the monasteries, drove into exile many of the ecclesiastics. The Irish clergy were very fond of leaving their homes for foreign parts, and their irregular ministrations were the subject of much church legislation. It is probable that S. Adrian was one of these. Kenneth macAlpin (a.d. 840-855) had transferred the bishopric of the Picts from Abernethy to Cill-Righmonaigh, now the Church of S. Rule at St. Andrews. But it is not likely that an Irishman, in antagonism to a member of the stronger race of the Picts, should have been appointed to the high political office of chief bishop in Pictland. Adrian was doubtless a bishop without a see, according to a discipline then very prevalent in his native country. (Todd’s S. Patrick, pp. 36-48.)

‘One does not see why Pannonia or Hungary should be the locality whence the Irish saint is said to have come, unless, as was not uncommon in those uncritical ages, a confusion arising from similarity of name was the cause. The 4th of March in the kalendars of the Catholic Church is assigned to a S. Adrian of Nicomedia, and in the Brussels Auctarium of Usuardus, we find a S. Gagius, who seems to correspond with the Gayus of the Aberdeen legend. ” Apud Nicomediam natale beati Adriani cum aliis viginti tribus qui omnes sub Diocletiano post multa supplicia crurifragio martyrium consummaverunt. Ipso die passio S. Gagii Palatini in mare mersi et aliorum viginti septem.” (Usuard. ed. Sollerius, Antwerp, 1714, p. 138.) On the 5th of March in Usuardus (ed Molanus, p. 139), there is “Cesarese Palestinse Sancti Adriani martyres.” But the saint with whom we have to do is he whom Usuardus describes as, “in Hibemia, Sancti Moggradonis Episcopi et confessoris hactenus ignoti.” The honorific ” mo” added to the Celtic name Odran gives a name similar to Macgidran, to whom are dedicated the churches of Lindores and Flisk, where he appears as S. Muggins, both within the parochia of S. Andrew.(N. S. A., Fife, p. 601.) Here he appears also as Muckolinus. (Commissary Records, St. Andrews.) He appears in the dedication of a churchnear Dron, Exmacgirdle ; also, possibly, at Mugdrum ; and as Magidrin he appears in Macduffs Cross. There is a S. Odran at March 6th in the Martyrology of Donegal. Fordun makes the number of S. Adrian’s companions to be one hundred. The legend has this measure of corroboration – First, that there was a fight between the Scots and Danes in 875, the very year to which the martyrdom of S. Adrian is referred. Occisi sunt Scoti co Achcochlam (Pict. Chron.) Secondly, the number of bishops – “summi sacerdotes infiala decorati” – is quite in accordance with ancient Irish use. (Todd’s S. Patrick, p. 27.) Mr. Skene draws attention to Boece’s statement that the martyrs were “ex Scotis Anglisque gregarie collectis;” and surmises that the Angles may have represented the Church of Acca, who, driven from Northumberland, had founded a bishopric among the Picts in A.D. 732, and the Scotti or Irish, the Church of Adrian, who, in some of the lists, is placed at the head of the bishops of S. Andrews. (See Records of the Priory of the Isle of May, edited by John Stuart, LL.D., 1868; Notes of Early Ecclesiastical Settlements at S. Andrews, by W. F. Skene, in Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 316.)’

==

More:

Archaeological explorations on the Isle of May
celt-saints, as Ethernan

Holy St Ethernan, pray to God for us.

Today, the day before Palm Sunday, is in the Orthodox calendar Lazarus Saturday . And hats off to the Greek Archdiocese in the US for this series of pages for learning about the season and feasts (yes) of Lent and Holy Week. I’m learning lots!

Troparion, Tone I.

Thou didst give a pledge of the general resurrection before Thy Passion, O Christ our God, by raising Lazarus from the dead. Therefore, we too, like the children, carry the symbols of victory and cry to Thee, the Vanquisher of death: Hosanna in the Heights! Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord.

 

In the calendar of early western saints for 3 April, we commemorate St Burgundofara (Fara, Burgondofare) of Faremoutiers (Brie, Eboracia). From Miss Dunbar:

St. Fara, Dec. 7, April 3 (BURGUNDOFARA, PHARA), V. Abbess. + about 655). Patron of Brie and Faremoutier. Invoked for diseases of the eye. Founder and first abbess of the monastery of Faremoutier. Represented carrying a bunch of ears of corn or one single ear.

St. Columbanus, when received in her father’s house, in her childhood, saw her carry in her hand a bouquet of wheat instead of flowers. He predicted that the wheat of the elect would be the portion of this little virgin, and that Jesus Christ destined her to love no man but Himself.

She was the daughter of Agneric, an officer at the court of Theodebert II., king of Austrasia, and Leodegund his wife. Sister of St. Cagnoald, who became a monk under St. Columbanus, at Luxeuil, about 594, and of St. Faro, bishop of Meaux. SS. Faro and Fara are called, in the old writings, Burgundofaro and Burgundofara, implying their descent from the Kings of Burgundy. St. Fara was born at Pipimisium, about five miles from Meaux, whether the modern Aupigny, or Champigny (or Spigny), is not certain, nor is the date known.

St. Columbanus being banished from Luxeuil 610, St. Cagnoald accompanied him, and took him to his father’s house, where Columbanus gave his blessing to all the family, and particularly to the child Fara, whom he consecrated to God. When she was grown up her father wished her to marry. She opposed his plan, and was seized with a dangerous and lingering illness, from which she only recovered when St. Eustasius, on his way to the court of Clothaire II., came to Agneric’s house, and persuaded him and his wife to consent to Fara’s taking the veil from the hands of Gondoald, bishop of Meaux, 614. A few years afterwards, Agneric gave her an estate, and built on it a double monastery at the junction of the Aubetin and the great Morin ; it was at first called Brige. The forest and district near it are now called Brie. The abbey was afterwards called Faremoutier, from its first abbess.

St. Fara established the rule of St. Columbanus, which was very strict. It was superseded by that of St. Benedict, but at what date is unknown. The fame of her sanctity attracted many holy women from various parts of France, England, and other countries, to put themselves under her rule at Faremoutier. Among these were SS. SISETRUDE, GIBITRUDIS, HERCANTRUDIS, also SEDRIDO (Saethrith), who succeeded her as abbess, and was an English princess, daughter of ST. HERESWITHA.

Among the first monks of the abbey of Faremoutier were Fara’s brother, St. Cagnoald, who on its foundation came thither from Luxeuil, and who became Bishop of Laon, 620 ; St. Walbert, father of St. Aldegonde ; Jonas, who wrote the Life of St. Fara and of some other contemporary saints. Her brother, St. Faro, who held a high place at court and was betrothed to a young lady of rank and wealth, came to visit St. Fara, and was so impressed by her holiness that he persuaded his destined bride to become a nun while he took religious orders. He succeeded Gondoald as bishop of Meaux, 626, and died 672, having helped and comforted his sister in all the difficulties and trials of her office.

The relics of St. Fara were enshrined 695, and wrought miraculous cures. In her will she left part of her estates to her brothers and sisters, but the greater part to her monastery, including the lands of Champeaux, where a priory was afterwards erected, subject to the monastery of Faremoutier.

Baillet, Dec. 7. Butler. Brit. Sanct., April 3, from her Life ascribed to Bede, but really by Jonas, monk of Faremoutier; and from the Lives of SS. Columbanus and Eustace, abbots of Luxeuil. Cahier.

More:

wikipedia on Faremoutiers

wikipedia on Burgundofara

Butler’s Lives of the Saints on S Fara and Faro

I wish there were an icon of the three holy siblings Cagnoald, Faro and Fara.

Tropaire à sainte Burgondofare de Champigny, vierge, (Natalice 655 A.D.)

Jeune fille venant d’une noble famille,*

Le Ciel se manifestant à toi dès l’enfance,*

Saint Colomba t’imposa le voile des vierges.*

Malgré l’opposition première de ton père,*

Tu devins moniale au couvent de Faremoutiers*

Sainte Burgondofare, prie Dieu pour nos âmes!

Daughter of a noble family, *

From your childhood Heaven manifested itself in you, *

And St. Columba laid on you the veil of virgins .*

Despite initial opposition from your father *

You became a nun in the the convent of Faremoutiers. *

St Burgundofara, pray to God for our souls!

Holy Mother Fara, pray to God for us.

Today (1 April) is the feast of St Mary of Egypt, and in the calendar of early saints of the British Isles we commemorate St Tewdric (Tewdrig, Theodoric) of Tintern, martyr-hermit. From Baring Gould & Fisher:

Tewdrig (Teudiric, Teudubric, Theodric, Dietrich, Thierry) was the son of Teithpall or Teithfall, and the father of Meurig, King of Morganwg. What is really known of him we derive from the Book of Llan Dav.

Tewdrig in his old age surrendered the rule over Morganwg to his son Meurig, and retired to live an eremitical life at Dindyrn, now Tintern, on the Wye, where he found a rock suitable for him to make a cell in it.

While he was there, the Saxons burst in on Gwent, and the old king took up arms again to repel them ; for it was said of him that he had been ever victorious in all battles.

An angel had appeared to him and said, ” Go to-morrow to the aid of the people of God against the enemies of the Church of Christ, and the foe will turn to flight as far as Pull Brochuail (now Brockweir above Tintern Parva). And do thou fully armed stand in the front of the battle, and when the foe see thy face they will fly as usual. And thenceforth for thirty years, during the reign of thy son, they will not venture into the land, and its inhabitants will be in peace. But thou wilt receive a wound at Ryt Tindyrn (the ford of Tintern) and wilt die three days after.”

So Tewdrig, fully harnessed, mounted his horse and stood at the head of the troops to defend the ford over the Wye. The Saxons were put to flight, but one of them hurled a lance across the water and wounded the old king.

When it was perceived that the wound was mortal, his men were for removing him, but he forbade them to do so, and said that he would die there, and that he had desired his body to rest in the Isle of Echni, the Flat Holm, in the Severn Sea.

On the morrow, however, appeared two stags harnessed to a wagon, and Tewdrig, recognizing that they were sent by the will of God, allowed himself to be lifted into the conveyance. The wagon carried him to the bank of the Severn and there stayed, and on the spot a sparkling spring began to flow. Then suddenly the wagon dissolved, and Tewdrig gave up the ghost.

Meurig erected an oratory on the spot, which was blessed by S. Oudoceus. The spot was Mathern, below Chepstow ; there the old king was laid, and not conveyed, as he had desired, to Echni.

The land around was made over to Oudoceus for the monastery of Llandaff, and in later times the Bishops had a palace there, for about three centuries. In the Church, on the south wall of the chancel, is a tablet set up in memory of Tewdrig, with an inscription in English by Bishop Godwin (1601-18). Godwin in excavating discovered a stone coffin containing the almost perfect skeleton of the saint, and a ghastly fracture in the skull showed plainly the cause of death. At the restoration of the chancel in 1881 the stone coffin with the bones was again found beneath the tablet.

Mathern Church is still dedicated to S. Tewdrig, and was formerly known as Merthyr Tewdrig, his Martyrium.

What were the incursions of the Saxons referred to at an interval of thirty years we do not know. The Saxons did not invade the Severn Valley and destroy Gloucester till 577 ; but the reference is to earlier piratical expeditions by sea into the Bristol Channel, unrecorded in history.

The royal hermit of Tintern is credited with having founded the churches of Bedwas, Llandow, and Merthyr Tydfil. The Hermitage of Theodoric, on the east of the old mouth of the river Afan, near Aberavon, in Glamorganshire, frequently mentioned in mediaeval documents from the middle of the twelfth century, relating to Margam Abbey, appears to have been named after a hermit of noble birth who lived in the early part of the twelfth century. Its ruins were recently discovered.

William of Worcester, who lived in the fifteenth century, says, ” Sanctus Theodoricus rex et martir, cujus pater fuit fundator ecclesiae cathedralis de Landaff, primo die Aprilis dedicatur duplex festum.” Allwydd Paradwys and Wilson give January 3 as the day of S. Tewdrig. Bishop Miles Salley of Llandaff (1500-17) in his will directed “his heart and bowels to be deposited at the High Altar of the Church at Matherne, before the image of S. Theodorick.”

The following notice of Tewdrig occurs in the ” Genealogy of lestyn ab Gwrgan”: ” Tewdrig ab Teithfallt was an eminently good king, who drove the infidel Saxons and the Goidels out of the country. He founded many churches and colleges, endowing them with possessions. He founded a church at Llandaff on the spot where stood the church of Lies (Lucius) ab Coel, which was burnt down by the infidels, and endowed it with extensive lands ; he also gave property to Cor Illtyd, and instituted there four fair establishments for the votaries of religion and learning. It was through him that Illtyd brought S. Garmon to Wales ; for Cor Eurgain had now been almost entirely destroyed by the Saxons ; but a new and contiguous one was established by lUtyd through the gifts and affection of Tewdrig. … S. Garmon then founded a college at Llancarfan, after which the Saxons made a second irruption into the country, but they were opposed and vanquished by Tewdrig, who, however, was slain in the engagement, at the place called Merthyr Tewdrig.”

The document is of the seventeenth century, and these statements are only partially authentic.

celt-saints

wikipedia

Ton 4 Tropaire à saint Tewdric, prince et Ermite (Natalice au 6ème siècle)

Prince de Glamorgan, tu résignas ta charge,*

Laissant ton fils Meurig gouverner le pays,*

Et tu allas à Tintern pour vivre en ermite.*

Mais lors de l’invasion des Saxons, tu revins*

Et tu naquis au Ciel en défendant ton peuple.*

Saint Tewdric, prie le Christ d’avoir pitié de nous!

Troparion to St Tewdric, prince and hermit

Prince of Glamorgan, you resigned your office, *

Leaving your son Meurig to govern the country, *

And you went at Tintern to live as a hermit .*

But upon the invasion of the Saxons, you returned *

And you were born in heaven while defending your people .*

Holy Tewdric, pray to Christ to have mercy on us!

Holy St Tewdric, pray to God for us.

John Donne with his love of wondrous paradox delivers a sonnet worthy to follow the text of the Canon for the Annunciation, part of ‘La Corona’:

Salvation to all that will is nigh ;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo ! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb ; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He’ll wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death’s force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother ;
Whom thou conceivest, conceived ; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker’s maker, and thy Father’s mother,
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt’st in little room
Immensity, cloister’d in thy dear womb.

image

A prince of angels was sent from heaven to say to the Mother of God, ‘Hail!’ And seeing thee, o Lord, take bodily form at the sound of his bodiless voice, he was filled with amazement and stood still, crying to her thus:

Hail, thou through whom joy will shine forth:

Hail, thou through whom the curse will cease.

Hail, thou restoration of fallen Adam:

Hail, thou redemption of the tears of Eve.

Hail, thou Height hard to climb for the thought of man:

Hail, thou Depth hard to perceive even for the eyes of angels.

Hail, thou that art the throne of the King:

Hail, thou who dost hold Him who holdeth all.

Hail, thou Star who dost make the Sun appear:

Hail, thou Womb of the divine incarnation.

Hail, thou through whom the creation is made new:

Hail, thou through whom the Creator becomes a newborn child.

Hail, thou Bride unwedded!

– Ikos from the Canon of the Annunciation

Today (18 March) we commemorate St. Egbert (Ecgberht) of Ripon, Confessor (ca. 720) – though Wikipedia says his Orthodox commemoration is 24 April, on Orthodox Wiki it’s today. I don’t think there is a definitive Orthodox calendar of western saints yet, so there we are. For now… And I’m not going to include a Life because I’m completely confused between the monk of Ripon and the Archbishop of York – I can’t find any particular reference to Ripon except in connection with St Wilfrid and the Archbishop called Egbert, and the Egbert who helped to reform paschal computus made a vow of perpetual pilgrimage, so he wasn’t a a monk of Ripon. Anyway. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People is online here and the Egbert extracts are here. Don’t confuse with Egbert, king of Kent.

wikipedia
celt-saints ‘Monk of Ripon.’
Catholic Encyclopedia
Tropaire à saint Egbert, moine à Iona, (Natalice en 729 A.D.) Ton 3. By the good offices as usual of M Lopez-Ginisty of Acathistes et Offices Orthodoxes.

Tu fus moine au monastère sacré d’Iona,*
Tu tentas d’unifier les usages romains et celtes*
Concernant la date de la célébration*
De la fête de la résurrection du Christ,*
Et tu mandas saint Willibrord apôtre en Frise.*
Saint Egbert, prie le Christ pour qu’Il sauve nos âmes!

You were a monk at the holy monastery of Iona, *
You attempted to unify the Roman and Celtic customs *
Regarding the date of the celebration *
Of the feast of the resurrection of Christ, *
And you sent St. Willibrord into Frisia as an apostle.*
St. Egbert, pray to Christ that He save our souls!

Holy Father Egbert, pray to God for us.

Today (17 March) we commemorate St. Withburga (Whitburh), hermit at Holkham and East Dereham (ca. 743).

First I have a funny story about St Patrick, whose day it also is. Or rather a story occasioned by the commemoration of his feast on the Gregorian calendar but of course moved to the Sunday following… during the recent trip to Paris I had a surreal experience at St Etienne du Mont – walking in to the middle of St Patrick’s Day Mass (or something), in English, led by a woman in a stole, full of ex-pat and/or tourist Americans in green ties, singing impossibly melodically complex and textually dreadful hymns (‘For God and St Patrick’ featured strongly.) Printed on green paper of course. (I’m somewhat bemused by the way St Patrick’s Day celebrations have become such a generalised American thing. Why St Patrick, and why green beer? and more to the point, why don’t other immigrant groups’ national saints become public figures? St George’s flag doesn’t stand for good things in this country these days, very sadly. And why in St-Etienne and not the American Cathedral?) Eventually the thing wound up and the organist thundered out something rather splendid to see them off. It was gloriously sunny, so at least it was a nice reason to have to stand still for quite a few minutes and take in all that stained glass!

Now for St Withburga – also commemorated 8 July, according to celt-saints. From Miss Dunbar:

St. Withburga (1), WIHTBURG, or VITBURG, March 17, V. + 743. She was the youngest of the saintly daughters of Anna, king of the East Angles. Her sisters were SS. ETHELBURGA (3), SEXBURGA and ETHELREDA; they had an elder half-sister ST. SEDRIDO. Withburga was niece of ST. HILDA, and aunt of ST. ERMENILDA. She was sent to live with her nurse at Holkham in Norfolk, where in process of time a church was built in her honour and the place called Withburgstowe. After her father’s death she built a convent at Dereham. While she was building it she had at one time nothing but dry bread to give her workmen. She applied for assistance to the B. VIRGIN MARY, who directed her to send her maids to a certain fountain every morning. There they found two wild does which yielded plenty of milk. In this way the workmen were fed and the work prospered until the overseer of those lands, in contempt or dislike of the saint and her miracles, hunted the does with dogs and made them leave off coming to the fountain to be milked. He was punished for his cruelty, for his horse threw him and he broke his neck.

Withburga was buried in the cemetery of the abbey of Dereham, and her body being found uncorrupted fifty-five years afterwards, was translated into the church which she herself had built. In 974 Brithnoth, abbot of Ely, determined to lay the body beside those of her sisters : he went with armed followers to Dereham, where he invited the men to a feast and made them drunk. He carried off the body. They awoke and went in pursuit, and the men of Ely and the men of Dereham fought lustily for their treasure, javelins were thrown and hard blows were exchanged. At last Brithnoth triumphantly carried off the saint and deposited her at Ely.

So far I am unable to find an icon or a troparion for St Withburga. I have yet to visit Dereham, but when I do I shall visit the Norman church (another St Nicholas) and see what I can find – there is one painted rood screen panel showing a figure of Withburga.

wikipedia

geograph.org.uk

celt-saints

Holy St Withburga, pray to God for us.

Today (15 March) we return to the early British saints!!! and commemorate Hieromartyr Aristobulus of the Seventy, bishop of Britain (1st C).

Once again emrys at celt-saints has done an admirable job gathering sources into a useful  and digestible summary:

Saint Aristobulus is one of the 72 disciples commissioned by our Lord Jesus to preach the coming of the Kingdom. Saint Paul mentions him in Romans 16:11. He has been identified with Zebedee, the father of the “sons of Thunder,” Saints James and John. He is said to be St. Peter’s father-in-law, and to have been followed to Britain by his brother Barnabas. Like the others, Barnabas returned, but Aristobulus is said to have met a martyr’s death at the age of 99 in the mountainous heart of Wales.(Benedictines).

‘Ireland & the Celtic Church’ by G.T.Stokes Page 6 which says:- Aristobulus of Romans XVI said by the Greek Menaea to have been ordained Bishop for the Britons by St.Paul.

From Chapt 10 of Fr.Lionel Smithett-Lewis’s Book entitled “St.Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury.” ‘The Greek Menology for March 15 says: Arsitobulus was one of the 70 Apostles and a follower of St.Paul. He was chosen by St.Paul to be a Missionary Bishop for Britain.’

St.Dorotheus Bp.of Tyre AD303 says that ‘Aristobulus who Paul saluted, writing to the Romans, was Bishop of Britain. ‘(Synopsis de Apostol,Synops.23 “Aristobulus”).

Hippolytus makes reference to Aristobulus as being Bishop of the Britons.

St.Ado Abp. of Vienne (AD800-874) in the Adonis Martyrologia for March 17 says: “Natal Day of Aristobulus Bp.of Britain.” Said to be brother of Barnabas and father-in-law of St.Peter.

Achau Saint Prydain (Genealogies of the Saints of Britain): “There came with Bran the Blessed from Rome to Britain — Arwystli Hen (Aristobulus the Aged), Ilid Cyndaf man of Israel (Joseph of Arimathea) and Mawan
(Josephes son of Joseph).”

Troparion of the Apostles tone 5

Let us acclaim Stachys,/ Apelles, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus and Aristobulus/ as a six-stringed harp of the Spirit/ that sings of God’s marvellous gifts to mankind./ As divine apostles they pray for us.

More:

• orthodox wiki
• wikipedia
• Western Saints Icon Project
• Orthodox Outlet for Dogmatic Enquiries

We are thinking about icons, frescoes and other ways of beautifying our new church. We would like to include more western saints, preferably mixed together with saints of Russia and other – how shall I put it? more consistently? – Orthodox lands. Aristobulus sounds like a good candidate to me.

Holy Father Aristobulus, pray to God for us.