Celtic and Old English Saints 24 June =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Gerome of Germoe =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Gerome, Bishop and King ---------------------------------------------- (also Germoe, Germoc, Germanus Mac Guill) Bishop (died 596 ?). Patron of Germoe (Cornwall), he was probably one of a party of Irish monks who settled in Cornwall before most of them moved on to Gaul. But Germoe, says Leland, was buried at Germoe; his chair was in the churchyard and his well a little outside it. The Legend of *Breage, however, makes Germoe a king; a 15th century fresco representing him with crown and sceptre survives in Breage church. Baring-Gould identifies him with the founder of a chain of churches in Brittany. Possible patron of Saint Gerrans in Cornwall and Saint Geran in Brittany. But see Saint Geraint, 10 August http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/message/529 Germoe's feast-dates correspond to this historical uncertainty: William Worcestre dates his feast as on 'die S. Johannis in festo natalis**', leaving it to the reader to interpret this as either 24 June or 27 December; Irish martyrologies commemorate him on 30 July, but The Cornish Church Kalendar places his feast on the 'Sunday after the first Saturday in May'. J. Leland, Itinerary, i.188; William Worcestre, pp. 28-9; Baring-Gould and Fisher, iii.80-1. - DH Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of the Saints, New Edition. *Breage is sometimes Breace. It is the name of a village in Cornwall, some ten miles from Penzance, and of the woman Saint who came there along with this group of Irish Saints mentioned above. **I think the St John William of Worcester refers to is certainly the Baptist. Troparion of St Gerome tone 6 O holy Gerome who didst count monastic poverty/ far more glorious than thy previous kingship/ and didst not fear the death of the body/ when thou couldst win souls for Christ:/ as thou didst thank and praise the Saviour in thy church in Cornwall,/ pray that we all may be saved. Details of this Life kindly supplied by Father Alexander Haig St Helen's Orthodox Parish, Colchester, Essex, UK Web site: www.aspects.net/~orthodox/ These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints *****************************************
