The Communion of Witnesses
To be found by name, by month, and by kind. No forms; no automation; the church keepeth the record of the dead, and no record of the living. Seek by name, month, or category.
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Amended 2026-09-15: the stories of John the Apostle and John Cassian on this page once carried another John's record, a copying fault of the draught; each is restored to his own witness, whole, and the fault is confessed here because the register hideth nothing.
Hildegard of Bingen, Hildegardis Bingensis
17 Sep Memorial
canon marks: E1 · L1 · confidence: Lit-L
also: abbess · visionary · writer · Doctor (2012)
Ecology/music by modern reception; abbess's crozier, book
Distinct from other Hildegards; Doctor proclamation and feast are Lit-L. Full fields: S5.
Holy Family, Sancta Familia Iesu, Mariae et Ioseph
Feast of the Holy Family, Sunday within the Octave of Christmas; 2026 status carried in S2
A collective row: its members are listed, never paged. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as a collective
canon marks: L1 · S2 · confidence: not marked
also: Jesus · Mary · and Joseph as a collective
Families; temple, carpenter's tools, child, mother and father
Deliberate collective dossier, not a fourth person or duplicate of the three individual rows; full row: S2.
Ignatius of Antioch, Ignatius Antiochenus
17 Oct Memorial
canon marks: E1 · F1 · L1 · confidence: not marked
also: bishop · martyr · apostolic father
Bishops, Eucharistic theology by reception; chains, lion, letters
One Ignatius; middle recension of seven letters separated from longer recensions/interpolations. Full row: S4.
Irenaeus of Lyon, Irenaeus Lugdunensis
28 Jun Memorial; Sunday precedence may affect 2026 display
canon marks: E1 · L1 · confidence: not marked
also: bishop · Father · Doctor (2022)
Unity and theologians by reception; book, shepherd's staff
Same person as the Block 4 cross-reference, not a second row; S6 points back to S5.
Isidore of Seville, Isidorus Hispalensis
4 Apr Memorial
canon marks: E1 · L1 · confidence: not marked
also: archbishop · encyclopedist · Doctor (1722)
Scholars and internet users by modern reception; book, quill
Distinct from Isidore the Farmer and Isidore of Pelusium; full fields: S5.
James son of Alphaeus, Iacobus Minor
3 May Feast with Philip
canon marks: F1 · L1 · S2 · confidence: not marked
also: apostle
Late local patronages; club or saw in later iconography, book
Distinct from James son of Zebedee and James brother of the Lord; full row: S3.
James son of Zebedee, Iacobus Maior
25 Jul Feast
canon marks: F1 · L1 · S2 · confidence: not marked
also: apostle · son of Zebedee
Spain, pilgrims; sword, scallop, pilgrim staff
Distinct from James son of Alphaeus and James brother of the Lord; full row: S3.
Jerome, Hieronymus
30 Sep Memorial
canon marks: E1 · F1 · L1 · confidence: Hag-D
also: priest · monk · translator · Doctor (traditional 1298 listing)
Translators, librarians; lion, book, skull
Distinct from Jerome of other local lists; full fields: S5.
John, Ioannes Apostolus et Evangelista
27 Dec Feast
The New Testament and early tradition present John as the apostle whom Jesus loved, the son of Zebedee, who stood at the cross and to whom the Fourth Gospel is ascribed by the church’s long reception. The Gospel material is early and the Ephesus death tradition is ancient, but the ascription of the Fourth Gospel to a single eyewitness, the identification of the apostle with the elder of Ephesus, and the legend of the boiling oil in Rome belong to tradition and later writing rather than to recoverable biography. The church remembers him as the witness who leaned on the Lord at supper and took the Mother into his house, while the household asks his prayer without turning the eagle, the book, or the serpent-in-the-cup into a second source of grace..
canon marks: F1 · L1 · S2 · confidence: not marked
also: apostle and evangelist
Writers, theologians; eagle, book, chalice with serpent in legend
John the Apostle and John the Evangelist are one ecclesially received figure here; distinct from John Baptist and later Johns. Full row: S3.
John Cassian, Ioannes Cassianus
No current USCCB General Calendar memorial; Marseille 23 Jul and Eastern dates held separately
John Cassian traveled the monasteries of Egypt with Germanus, recorded their teaching in the Institutes and the Conferences, founded the monastery and nunnery at Marseille around 415, and gave the Latin West the shape of its monastic reading for a thousand years. The Conferences’ Egyptian fathers speak in a voice Cassian shaped, and his teaching on grace drawn from the Semi-Pelagian quarrel was censured in the West while his monastic rule remained standard reading; his exact Egyptian itineraries and the Scythian birth are dimly lit by record. The church remembers him as the monk who carried the desert’s teaching to the cities of Gaul, while the household asks his prayer and lets the habit and the book mark a way of life, never a second source of grace..
canon marks: E1 · F1 · L1 · confidence: not marked
also: monk · abbot · teacher of monastic life
Monastics; book, pilgrim/monk's habit
Distinct from every Doctor named John; full row: S6.