Misplaced Pages

Saint Aldate (/ˈɔːldeɪt/; died 577) was a bishop of Gloucester, venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church with the feast day of 4 February. Aldate's life is not detailed historically, but he was probably a Briton killed by the Anglo-Saxons at Deorham.

He is reported to have roused the countryside to resist pagan invasion forces. But nothing seems to be known of him: it was even suggested that his name was a corruption of "old gate".

Veneration

Aldate is mentioned in the Sarum and other martyrologies; his feast occurs in a Gloucester calendar (14th-century addition); churches were dedicated to him at Gloucester and Oxford, as well as a famous Oxford street: St Aldate's, Oxford and a minor street in Gloucester. There is also a St Aldate's Tavern, a bed-and-breakfast, as a annex to Christ Church, and a room at the Oxford Town Hall.

He is also venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

References

1. "Aldate", The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th ed. (David Farmer, ed.) OUP, 2011 ISBN 9780199596607
2. "St Aldate chapel of ease", The Church of England
3. "St. Aldgate's Church"
4. Chance, Eleanor et al. "Street-Names". A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 4, the City of Oxford. Ed. Alan Crossley, C R Elrington(London, 1979), , British History Online
5. St. Aldgate's Tavern
6. "117 St Aldate's Building Bed & Breakfast", Christ Church, Oxford
7. "St Aldate's Room, Oxford Town Hall", Oxford City Council
8. February 17 / February 4. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/

• Baring-Gould and Fisher, ii. 426–8; Early British Kingdoms after 1100, ii. 40

• Southwestern Brythonic saints
• 577 deaths