Saint Aldate Explained

Saint Aldate (; 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.^[1]

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^[2] and Oxford,^[3] as well as a famous Oxford street: St Aldate's, Oxford^[4] and a minor street in Gloucester. There is also a St Aldate's Tavern,^[5] a bed-and-breakfast, as a annex to Christ Church,^[6] and a room at the Oxford Town Hall.^[7]

He is also venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.^[8]

References

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

Notes and References

1. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199596607.001.0001/acref-9780199596607 "Aldate", The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th ed. (David Farmer, ed.) OUP, 2011
2. https://facultyonline.churchofengland.org/CHR/ChurchDetails.aspx?id=5561 "St Aldate chapel of ease", The Church of England
3. https://staldates.org.uk/about "St. Aldgate's Church"
4. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol4/pp475-477 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. https://www.staldatestavernoxford.co.uk/ St. Aldgate's Tavern
6. https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/visit/bed-and-breakfast/117-st-aldates "117 St Aldate's Building Bed & Breakfast", Christ Church, Oxford
7. https://mycouncil.oxford.gov.uk/mgLocationDetails.aspx?RID=4 "St Aldate's Room, Oxford Town Hall", Oxford City Council
8. February 17 / February 4. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/