Romanus of Rouen

Holy Hierarch Romanus of Rouen was bishop of Rouen in Gaul in the time of King Dagobert I and reposed around 639 or 640. He is venerated throughout the diocese of Rouen. His life is known mainly from legend and tradition, and historians see little historical value in it.

He was sent as a boy to the king's court, as many young aristocrats were, and there he met Saints Eligius and Audoin. When the see of Rouen fell vacant, the canons elected him and the king consented. As bishop he cared for prisoners, especially those condemned to death, and preached actively against paganism. Stories ascribe to him the overthrow of a pagan temple and the stopping of a flood of the Seine; they are legends rather than history. A later Norman tale, first recorded in 1394, tells of a dragon, the Gargouille, that he subdued with the sign of the cross. His feast is kept on 23 October, and around 1090 the autumn fair of Saint-⁠Romain at Rouen was fixed to it.

He is commemorated on 23 October, the liturgical date in the Orthodox calendar (the same day number on the old and new calendars).