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The Romanian parish in Wellingborough, England, celebrated its patron Saint Raphael and Parthenietranslated

July 24, 2026 · 1 min read

The Romanian Orthodox Parish "Holy Great Martyr Catherine" in Wellingborough, Great Britain, celebrated its dedication to Saints Reverend Raphael and Partenie from Old Agapia.

The Holy Liturgy was celebrated on the day of commemoration of the two Romanian saints, honored by the Orthodox Church on July 21. At the same time, the Sacrament of the Holy Olive was performed.

The event brought together Romanian believers from Wellingborough and the surrounding area, who for the first time honored the summer patron saint of the parish community.

Honest Romanian saints in the diaspora Saints Cuvioși Raphael and Partenie were patrons of the Old Agapia Monastery in Neamț County and are commemorated annually on July 21. Their canonization was approved by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2008, together with other Romanian saints from the Neamțu area.

The parish "Saint Catherine the Great Martyr" in Wellingborough was established in 2025 and is part of the Archdiocese of the Midlands of the Archdiocese of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The community conducts its liturgical activity at Salem Lane, Wellingborough, England. The parish priest is father Dumitru Catarig.

Photo credit: Archdiocese of…

Source: Агентство Basilica (română) · Read the full story →

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💬 Comments (5) 🌐 Show original

Тарас Панченко

Glad for them. It is good that in the diaspora they managed to establish a new parish in 2025 and immediately began to honor these Romanian saints from Neamts. I wonder how they manage to get people to Butter on a normal weekday in Wellingborough.

Елена Соколова

Council for the Romanian community - they managed to found a parish in 2025 and are already celebrating these saints from Neamts, about whom I had heard little before. I wonder how they manage to get people to Maslo on a weekday in Wellingborough, it's always difficult here in New York either. Well done guys holding on.

Javier López

How great that the new parish of Wellingborough already has its first summer hram with St Raphael and Partenie. It caught my attention that they celebrated it on July 21, which is a working day; Here in Barcelona it is also difficult to gather people for Maslu during the week. Father Dumitru Catarig must have a good hand at encouraging the Romanian people there.

Jan Szymański

It's good that the new parish in Wellingborough immediately took these saints from Agapia Veche as patrons of the summer festival. Here in Gdańsk, sometimes Butter falls on a regular Tuesday and I'm always surprised that people come after work. I wonder how they manage to do it in England.

Елена Зайцева

I’m glad that you are also curious about these saints from Neamets - I also only recently learned about them when I read about the canonization in 2008. In Novosibirsk, too, rarely does anyone come to Maslo on a weekday, except for the most faithful. And in 2025, opening a new parish will probably be a lot of work for Father Dumitru; I wonder how they manage with the hall on Salem Lane.