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Saint Honoratus, haloed, receiving a bishop’s mitre and crozier beside a small church, an engraving by Jacques Callot, 1636

Saint Honoratus of Arles

Founded the island monastery of Lérins, a nursery of bishops, then led the see of Arles

Western calendar
16 January
Orthodox calendar
16 January (29 January on the old calendar)

Honoratus set out from Marseilles with his brother Venantius to visit the holy places and the monks of the East, but Venantius died suddenly at Methone in Achaia, and Honoratus came back to Provence to live alone on the wild island of Lérins. Disciples soon gathered round him, and the monastery that grew there became, in the fifth and sixth centuries, a nursery of bishops and writers of the Church. He was called from his island to be Archbishop of Arles, and he died in 429 in the arms of his disciple Hilary, who succeeded him and whose eulogy of him still survives.

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What is a saint’s feast day?

It is the day each year when the Church remembers a saint in its prayers, and for most saints it is the day they died and went home to God. Many saints here have two dates, because the Western and Orthodox Churches keep their own calendars, and some Orthodox churches still count by the old Julian calendar, which runs thirteen days behind ours.

What is a patron saint?

A patron saint is one we ask to pray for us in a particular place, work or need, as many ask Anthony of Padua for help when something is lost, and as Ireland looks to Patrick. A few patronages were declared by a pope, and most grew from long custom. A card says “Patron of” only where a source we checked names one.

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Why did you choose these saints and not others?

We began with the saints people search for most, by name, by need and by date, along with the apostles and the saints Orthodox Christians look for. Then we made sure every day of the year has at least one saint. That gives 378 so far, and we keep adding the saints readers ask for.

Every saint here, by feast day