ON ST. NOIALA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR,
AT PONTIVY IN ARMORICA.
Notice from the Proper of Vannes.
Noiala, Virgin Martyr, at Pontivy in Armorica (S.)
J. B. S.
[1] The cult of this Saint on this day is taught us by the Offices of the Cathedral church of Vannes in Lesser Britain Brittany, of the various editions 1630, 1652, and 1660, in these words: On 6 July, for the commemoration of St. Noiala, virgin and martyr, a prayer, Of that Saint, besides the cult indulgence, from the common. Of St. Noiala among the Martyrologists up to the 16th century, you would find not a word; the first to report her was Saussay, and that in the Appendix alone to his Gallican Martyrology, in this manner: St. Noyala (so he and Arthur write) virgin and martyr, is honored in the church of the town of Pontiny (for Pontivy) of the diocese of Vannes, where her precious body is held with fitting veneration. He could not indicate the day of the cult, doubtless because he was ignorant of the Saint's natal day, as was observed on 30 March among the Passed-over. Arthur, the general collector, copied Saussay in his Gynaeceum, having dared something beyond his guide, when he assigned that thirtieth day of March, of his own good pleasure.
[2] Concerning the particulars, our Elders signified in the cited place, now more than fifty years ago, that they awaited more certain things; but since nothing has been received, nothing has hitherto become known. we here hand down the Saint, known by name alone, whom Castellanus in the supplement to his universal Martyrology wished to be superadded to the text, not on 30 March, as Arthur, but on 30 May, thus writing: At Ponte-Vici (for Pontivy) of the diocese of Vannes, of St. Noyola, patroness of the church of that place. Truly a wonder, if not even to Castellanus was the certain day known on which the Saint is venerated, unless perhaps at one time the feast is celebrated in the Cathedral, at another in her own church: whence a judgment can be taken, that the Saint's natal day, the kind and time of her martyrdom, her country and age are unknown in the very place, which, if anywhere they had been handed down, the historiographers of British Saints, so diligent,
would in no way have escaped the diligence of Albert le Grand. In these shadows this was left, that I should recur to the place itself, to explore whether from thence any light could be acquired. I wrote, therefore, to the Rev. Father Chomel, Rector of our college of Vannes, and asked most earnestly that he himself, as nearer the place, should try to dig out whatever either history, if it existed, or at least popular tradition, circulated concerning St. Noiala. He consulted the pastor of Pontivy, the Rev. A. D. du Bonetiez, from whose response, given on 24 January 1719, you will understand that we conjectured rightly.
[3] The response from Pontivy. Of St. Noyala, he says, there is nothing that I may signify to your Reverence; no lessons are prescribed concerning her; nothing proper except the order of the office, in which her commemoration is marked on 6 July. Among us there survives of that Saint tradition alone, nor do we acknowledge her as titular of our church, since it is dedicated to St. Peter, yet we venerate her as patroness, just as the people of Vannes venerate St. Vincent. There is here her chapel, very ancient and elegant, nay even there is a neighboring parish, marked with the name of the Saint herself. In the common British Breton tongue she is called Sainte Noaluen, as though one should say St. Noyala the White. I saw in her chapel an old panel, on which her history was depicted with a rude brush, with inscriptions set in Gothic character. She is said to have arrived here from England with her nurse, the sea being crossed on a tree-leaf. They say she was beheaded not far from Beignan, near the chapel commonly called du Bezo, by order of the tyrant Nizon or Nizan; and that she came here, carrying her neck head in her hands. A tyrant of this name in the British annals I do not remember to have found; the rest of the history is so entangled that it very hardly finds credence. This is certain, that she is honored by the people with the highest piety and celebrated veneration, especially in the Lenten season, in which a huge concourse is made from the neighboring villages to the Saint's chapel. In a word I would say, that the aforesaid chapel of St. Noyala, in painting, gilding, and other ornament, yields to no other in all Britanny. This was the reward of our diligence.
He observes finally, that several villages glory in the name of Noyala, nay even that a family survives of that name, whose genealogy to weave in nothing pertains to us, nor can it confer anything to the glory of St. Noiala.