Picture: Alphonse Hénaff · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
John of the Grating
Cistercian Bishop of Aleth
SaintResearchedPre-congregation
Feast: 1 February (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
1098
Died
1168
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
In the town of Saint-Malo in Brittany, Saint John, bishop: a man of wonderful austerity and justice, he transferred the episcopal see of Aleth to this place; Saint Bernard urged him to behave as a poor bishop, a friend of the poor and a lover of poverty.
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
The Roman Martyrology remembers him on 1 February as the austere bishop who moved the see of Aleth to Saint-Malo.
Sources
- Roman Martyrology, 1 February (Italian Bishops' Conference, Santo del giorno)
- Wikidata Q3175777 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — John of the Grating (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 22 September 2026. Corrections welcome.