Synaxis of the Saints of Britain and Ireland
The saints of the British Isles from the age of the undivided Church — Celtic and Anglo-Saxon monastics, missionaries, bishops, and martyrs.
The Synaxis of the Saints of Britain and Ireland gathers the holy men and women who sanctified the British Isles during the first Christian millennium, while these lands were still part of the one undivided Church. Theirs is the age of the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon saints — a golden age of monasticism and mission whose light reached far beyond the islands into the heart of Europe.
The faith came early, giving Britain its protomartyr Alban; it took deep root through the Celtic monastic fathers — Patrick and Brigid and Columba, Brendan the Voyager, David of Wales, Kevin of Glendalough — whose monasteries became beacons of learning and prayer. From the Roman mission of Augustine of Canterbury and from Lindisfarne came the Anglo-Saxon saints, among them Aidan and Cuthbert, Hilda of Whitby, and the Venerable Bede, historian and teacher of the English Church. Missionaries went out from these shores to convert the peoples of the continent.
Kept on the third Sunday after Pentecost, the feast honors this whole company of Western Orthodox saints together. It is an open synaxis, and as the Church recovers and glorifies more of the ancient saints of these lands, they are numbered among this assembly.
Timeline5 momentsReadHide
- c. 209Alban, protomartyr of BritainA Roman soldier is put to death for sheltering a priest — the first martyr of the isles.
- 5th centuryPatrick enlightens IrelandThe apostle of the Irish plants the faith that flowers into the great age of Celtic monasticism.
- 563Columba founds IonaFrom the island monastery of Iona the Gospel is carried to the Picts and the north.
- 597Augustine at CanterburyThe Roman mission of Saint Augustine begins the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons.
- 7th–8th centuryLindisfarne and the Venerable BedeAidan, Cuthbert, Hilda, and Bede adorn the English Church with holiness and learning.