Picture: Michel Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (Text: Hartmann Schedel) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Gennadius of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople
SaintResearchedByzantine EmpirePre-congregation
Feast: 17 November (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
—
unknown
Died
471
verified
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
Gennadius became Patriarch of Constantinople in 458, succeeding Anatolius. Pope St Leo warned him against the Monophysite intruder at Alexandria.
He held a great council of eighty-one bishops against simony, and ordained St Daniel the Stylite priest. He died in 471.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
A patriarch who fought simony.
Connected on this site
- Daniel the Stylite Saint“He held a great council of eighty-one bishops against simony, and ordained St Daniel the Stylite priest.” — this site's research
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Gennadius
- Wikidata Q463201 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Gennadius of Constantinople (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.