Saints of the West

Feast Day/Commemorated: October 27 In the remote Alaskan tundra, surrounded by the confluence of the Kwethluk and Kuskokwim rivers, Matushka Olga Michael (born Arrsamquq, meaning "lowly, hidden, or unadorned") entered the world on February 3, 1916. Her...

Feast Day/Commemorated: August 23 Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, a pivotal figure in early Christianity, was born in Smyrna around 130 AD, where he received an excellent classical education. His deep understanding of Christian faith, however, came...

Feast Day/Commemorated: March 17 Early Life, Captivity, and Divine Calling Saint Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland, was born around 385 AD, the son of Calpurnius, a Roman tax collector, in Bannavem Taberniae, likely in Wales. At sixteen, he was...

Feast Day/Commemorated: July 2 Saint John (Maximovitch), born Michael Maximovitch in 1896, was a revered diocesan bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), whose ministry spanned across China, France, and the United States. Despite...

Feast Day/Commemorated: March 31 The Apostolic Zeal of Saint Innocent Saint Innocent (Veniaminov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomensk, born in 1797 in Anginsk, was a tireless Apostle to America and Siberia, glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church in...

Feast Day/Commemorated: December 20 Early Life, Condemnation, and Journey to Rome Saint Ignatius of Antioch, also known as Theophorus, served as the third bishop of Antioch. Details of his early life remain unrecorded, as he largely stayed out of the...

Feast Day/Commemorated: Mar 9 The Call to America and Early Monastic Life In 1793, a spiritual mission comprising monks from the Valaam Monastery was dispatched to preach the Gospel to the indigenous peoples of northwestern America, recently brought...