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/