Holy Hierarch Mellon, Protobishop of Rouen

Saint Mellon of Rouen

The twenty-second of October is the Orthodox feast-day of Saint Mellon, a Romano-Briton of the early fourth century who became the first bishop of Rouen. Little reliable information exists about the life of Saint Mellon, but his cultus is active in both Wales and in France. He is confused with the Breton Saint Melaine, Bishop of Rennes (commemorated on 10 October), in much the same way that the two Custennins of Cornwall and Scotland are. Given that the constructed language Sindarin was based on Brythonic and Finnic-Ugric influences, it seems to be no accident that JRR Tolkien used the name of this saint as the Sindarin word for ‘friend’, and thus as the password in The Lord of the Rings to the Doors of Durin!

According to the hagiographical legend, Mellon [also Mello or Mellonius Probus] was born a pagan in a small village near Cardiff around the year 229, and throughout his youth he worshipped the old Roman gods. Being a youth of admirably athletic form and pleasing countenance, he was chosen in his twenty-eighth year to bear the tribute from his province to Rome. While in Rome he stopped at the Temple of Mars Ultor to make sacrifice. However, he was met by the strong-willed Pontiff of Rome, the holy martyr Saint Stephen I, as he was coming down from the Temple. Apparently this holy Pope had a strong impression on the youth Mellon, because Mellon had a conversion experience and asked to be baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity. This, Saint Stephen did for him, shortly the Pope and twelve others with him were assassinated in the Temple of Mars on the orders of the wicked Emperor Valerian.

Mellon stayed some time afterward in Rome. He sold all that he had and distributed the wealth among the poor. He was then ordained a priest, but was soon sent back to his native Britain. He went on foot. As he was passing through Gaul, he attended the Divine Liturgy at a church along the road. While the Holy Gifts were being presented, he saw behind the altar an angel of the Lord standing on the right hand of the altar. This angel emerged from the altar with a staff in its hands, and held it out to Mellon, saying:

Receive this staff, by which you will govern the people of the city of Rouen. Do not worry that your way is unknown and your work will be hard, for the Lord Jesus Christ will protect you under the shadow of his wings.

Mellon used the staff on his way as a walking-stick, and his feet were much eased by its use. When at last he came to the town of Rouen, which was then called Rotomagus, he was greeted by a throng of people who thirsted to hear the word of life. The new priest began to preach to them, and among them was a young man named Præcordius, who – like Zacchæus – had clambered up a rooftop the better to see and hear Mellon. Poor Præcordius did not watch his footing, sad to say. He fell from his perch; the fall killed him at once. Mellon hastened to the dead youth’s side and prostrated himself, making the Sign of the Cross and invoking the name of the Holy Trinity. The young man revived, and by this wonder many of the people of Rouen who had been heathens hitherto came to believe.

Mellon was afterwards given the honour of a bishopric in Rouen, and he held this position for forty years until his blessed repose in his old age, in the year 311. During his bishopric he was met with wondrous success, having made firm converts of the Gallo-Roman people who lived there, as Alban Butler says:

In the primitive ages, the surprising light of the gospel breaking in at once upon minds before clouded with darkness, men were startled at such great and infinitely important truths, and at the wondrous works and dispensations of the divine mercy, and the incomprehensible mysteries of love.

Saint Mellon was succeeded as Bishop of Rouen by Saint Avitus [or Avitianus], who is numbered among the Church Fathers of the Council of Arles in 314, and his relics were purportedly removed from Rouen to Pontoise (the Cathedral of Saint Malo) in 880 to preserve them from the depredations of the Normans, but they were destroyed in the French Revolution. Holy hierarch Mellon, pray unto Christ our God for the salvation of our souls!

Cathedral of Saint Malo, Pontoise, France