Fructus of Sepúlveda

Holy Venerable Fructus of Sepúlveda (Frutos) was a Castilian hermit who died around 715. Tradition counts him with his brother and sister, Valentine and Engratia, the patron saints of Segovia. They are saints of the undivided Church, venerated also by Western Rite Orthodox communities.

According to tradition they were born into a noble family of Segovia, sold their possessions after their parents' death and gave the money to the poor. To escape the city and the turbulent times they settled in the rocks near Sepúlveda, today the Hoces del Duratón, each in a separate cave, for complete solitude. Valentine and Engratia are said to have been killed by the Moors around 715, while Fructus died a natural death the same year, aged seventy-⁠three. A legend says that the Moors, pursuing some locals who wished to join Fructus, came to the door of his hermitage; Fructus drew a line on the ground and asked them not to cross it. When they tried, the earth opened and swallowed them in a crack in the rock, now called La Cuchillada, and from then on the Moors did not trouble him.

Their relics stayed in the hermitage of San Frutos from the 8th to the 11th century, when they were moved to Segovia Cathedral, where they are kept.

He is commemorated on 25 October, the liturgical date in the Orthodox calendar (the same day number on the old and new calendars).