Saint Onuphrius

Also known as

• Humphrey
• Onofre
• Onofrio
• Onophry
• Onouphrius
• Onuphrius of Egypt
• Onuphrius the Great

Memorial

• 12 June

Profile

Hermit for 70 years in the desert near Thebais, Upper Egypt. He sought to imitate the solitude and privations of Saint John the Baptist, and lived on the the fruits of a date tree and a palm-tree that grew near his cell. Popular in the Middle Ages, initially with monks and then in general, he became associated with weavers because he was depicted “dressed only in his own abundant hair, and a loin-cloth of leaves”.

Died

• c.400
• buried by Saint Paphnutius who had come to him to learn if the hermit‘s life was for him
• Paphnutius buried Onuphrius in a hole in the mountainside; the hole immediately disappeared

Canonized

• Pre-Congregation

Patronage

• Centrache, Catanzaro, Italy
• weavers

Representation

• old hermit dressed only in long hair and a loincloth of leaves
• hermit with an angel bringing him the Eucharist or bread
• hermit with a crown at his feet
• hermit being buried by two lions (his story was sometimes confused with Saint Jerome‘s)

Additional Information

• Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
• Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
• Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

MLA Citation

• “Saint Onuphrius“. Saints.SQPN.com. 15 June 2013. Web. 19 June 2013. <>