Saint Onuphrius
![[Saint Ohophry]](sainto14.jpg "18kb jpg detail from 'Madonna and Child with a Bishop Saint and Saint Onophry' by Lorenzo Lotto, 1508, oil on wood, Galleria Borghese, Rome; please do not write to ask about the image")
- 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.
Sought to imitate the solitude and privations of Saint John the Baptist.
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.
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;
he buried Onuphrius in a hole in the mountainside which immediately disappeared
- 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)
- Translate
-
español | français | deutsch | italiano | português