Macarius of Ghent

Saint Macarius of Ghent was a pilgrim bishop from the East who reposed at Ghent in Flanders in the year 1012. Western tradition calls him bishop of Antioch in Pisidia, while an 1890 dictionary has him as archbishop of an Antioch in Armenia, who came into exile at Ghent; the see remains unclear.

It is told that he made a pilgrimage and was received by the monks of the monastery of Saint Bavo at Ghent, where he died of the plague; another account says he was captured by Saracens but escaped and travelled across Europe working miracles. He is venerated as a protector against epidemic diseases. The Western calendar commemorates him on 10 April, and in our calendar he appears on 8 May.