Hierarch Paul Aurelian

HONEST CAVEAT: unlike St. Patrick of Ireland, added by the ROC Synod's decision of March 9, 2017 (Journal No. 14) to a list of 15 ancient Western saints, Paul Aurelian is NOT on that list, and no later Synodal act adding him has been found. No dedicated article exists on pravenc.ru, azbyka.ru, or drevo-info.ru — a strong negative signal, since every other saint processed in this database has such an article. He is known primarily from Western (Celtic-Breton) sources and general compilations of ancient Western saints used in Western Rite Orthodoxy (ROCOR, Antiochian Western Rite). The March 12 date is given per Western (Gregorian) tradition; converting it to O.S./N.S. by analogy with the method used for St. Patrick is inferential and not confirmed by any specific document.

Paul Aurelian (Welsh: Pawl Hen, "Paul the Old") is venerated in the Western tradition as one of the "Seven Founder Saints of Brittany." Born c. 480–490 in Wales to a noble Welsh family, he trained at the monastery of St. Illtud at Llanilltud Fawr, alongside fellow students who became Saints Samson of Dol and Gildas the Wise. Declining an offered Welsh bishopric, he sailed with disciples to Armorica (Brittany).

Around 512 he settled on the island of Ushant, founding a monastery there, and continued preaching and establishing communities along the Breton coast. Around 530, at the request of the Frankish king Childebert I, he was consecrated bishop of the newly established see of Bro-Léon (Saint-Pol-de-Léon), becoming its first bishop. He died, by tradition, around 570–590 on the island of Île-de-Batz at an age approaching a century. He is honored as a father of Breton monasticism.