Maglorius

Holy Hierarch Maglorius, called Magloire in Brittany, was bishop of Dol in Brittany and, at the end of his life, abbot on the island of Sark in the Channel Islands. He reposed around 575. He is a saint of the undivided Church.

The sources on him are late: the earliest were written three centuries after his death and cannot be regarded as reliable. The Life of Maglorius, probably composed toward the end of the 9th century at Lehon Abbey, says he was born in south Wales, a cousin of Saint Samson of Dol, and studied at Cor Tewdws under Saint Illtud. After ordination he ruled a monastery for fifty-⁠two years and then crossed to Brittany with Samson. Samson became bishop of Dol, and after him Maglorius, who, at an angel's prompting, gave up the see to Budoc and withdrew to the island of Sark, where he gathered a community of sixty-⁠two monks.

The Life also tells of miracles: the rescue of children carried out to sea by a storm, healings, the slaying of a dragon on Jersey. After his death the Vikings sacked Sark; seven of them who tried to open the saint's tomb were blinded. In the time of Nominoë (846 to 851) his body was taken by the monks of Lehon, who revered him as their chief saint.

He is commemorated on 24 October, the liturgical date in the Orthodox calendar (the same day number on the old and new calendars).