Picture: not specified · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Romanos the Melodist
Greek hymnographer
SaintResearchedByzantine EmpirePre-congregation
Feast: 1 October (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Born
490
Died
556
Beatified
—
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began
Who they were
Romanos, a Syrian and deacon of Berytus, came to Constantinople and, the story says, received the gift of sacred song in a dream on Christmas Day, when Our Lady gave him a scroll to eat.
He is counted the greatest of Greek hymn-writers, credited with about a thousand kontakia for the feasts.
The miracles
The Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe how he came to be honoured as a saint.
Why that counted as sanctity
The greatest of the Greek hymn-writers.
Connected on this site
- Kassia Saint“Like her predecessors Romanos the Melodist and Andrew of Crete, the earliest surviving manuscripts of her works are dated centuries after her lifetime.” — Wikipedia
Sources
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Romanos
- Wikidata Q221059 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Romanos the Melodist (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.