A LITTLE-known Irish saint is about to be wiped off the church calendars and to lose his place in the history books.
But St Disen is not to be written off completely: he will stay on as patron saint of a village church in the south of England.
The only church named after St Disen is in the small Devon village of Bradnich in the Diocese of Exeter.
According to local lore, Disen was an Irish monk who stopped off in mid-Devon and built the church before moving on, like many Irish monks of the day, to Germany.
The saint is so popular locally that the parishioners forged special links with the parish of Disibodenburg in Germany, believing it too had been named after the Irish monk.
The church has a banner to its Irish patron and a statue of St Disen sculpted 20 years ago by a local craftsman, Mr Jim Vallis.
An extensive, if fanciful, biography of the hermit was written almost 100 years ago by the Rev Charles Crossliegh, a former rector. Dr Crossleigh claimed St Disen crossed from Ireland to Cornwall.
On his way across southern England, he found no church in mid-Devon and built one of wood with his own hands.
The present rector of Bradnich, the Rev David Robottom, points out that, unfortunately, Dr Crossliegh gave no sources for his biography of St Disen.
Now, a new study by a history professor dismisses the notion that the parish has any claims to ancient Irish links. In fact, Prof Nicholas Orme of Exeter University says the whole story is based on "a romantic myth".
In researching the dedication of English churches and their saint names, Dr Orme realised that Irish hermits were unlikely "to turn up in mid-Devon and found churches".
Dr Orme says there was no Irish saint by the name of Disen; to make it even more embarrassing for the parishioners of Bradnich, he says St Disen never existed. The church was named after St Denis until the last century, and the name was misspelled in the parish records by a dyslexic scribe in 1831.
A 19th century stained glass window to St Denis survives in the church porch.
But the disappearance of St Disen poses no dilemmas for the rector of Bradnich. He suggests the parish might celebrate both saints' days: for more than 100 years they have been celebrating St Disen's day on September 8th; St Denis's Day falls on October 9th.
"Bradnich has got used to the idea that the church is dedicated to St Disen," says Mr Robottom. "Why should we alter what we have got used to?"
And for anyone who doesn't believe in St Disen, there's still St Nicholas, also known as Santa Claus.