Ia and Breaca and Companions

ON SS. IA AND BREACA AND COMPANIONS: IA AND BREACA, VIRGINS, AND THEIR COMPANIONS UNI, SININUS, ELWINUS, MARUANUS, GERMOCHUS, CREWENNA, HELENA, THECLA OR ETHA, GWITHIAN, AND GWINNEAR OR WYMERUS, IN BRITISH CORNWALL,

ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE 6TH CENTURY.

SYLLOGE

Ia, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Breaca, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Uni, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Sininus, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Elwinus, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Marnanus, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Germocchus, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Crewenna, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Helena, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Tecla or Etha, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Gwithean, in British Cornwall. (S.)

Gwinnear or Wymerus, in British Cornwall. (S.)

BY V. D. B.

§ Single. Ireland the homeland of SS. Ia, Breaca and their companions. Their coming to Cornwall. Their principal deeds. The churches marked with their name.

Cornwall and Wales, the mountainous regions of Great Britain which look to the west, have this as it were proper to themselves, [Recent endeavours concerning the saints of Wales and Cornwall, although most monuments have perished.] that most parishes formerly venerated as patrons saints who were not foreign, but native, or at least Irish, who had taught the Christian faith there or had observed genuine piety towards God. Now for the most part their sacred buildings and other monuments have perished or are covered with thorns and moss; yet their memory persists among the people; and indeed one after another there arise among learned Protestants better judges of the former religion, whom it does not please altogether to forget distinguished men, sowers of the divine word in Britain or at least most perfect examples of Christian holiness: so that thirty years ago notable effort was spent in this matter by Rice Rees, minister of the Anglican church An Essay on the Welsh Saints, London 1836., and five years ago by an anonymous writer of Oxford The Calendar of the Anglican Church illustrated. Oxford, 1861., the former to rescue the merits of the saints of Wales from oblivion, the latter to collect the names of the blessed of Cornwall somewhat better than Lysons did half a century ago Cornwal, page XXXIII and following.. Arduous attempts indeed, since the Lives and other monuments which still existed three centuries ago seem now to be lost, rather by the hatred of certain persons for the old piety than by common neglect and sloth. Certainly (to confine myself to the saints of whom I must now treat), when Leland in the middle of the 16th century travelled through Cornwall and many other parts of Britain, the Lives of SS. Breaca, Elwinus, Ia and Wymerus or Womerus were still preserved; but now no copies of them have any longer been found by Thomas Duffus Hardy, or at least none have been listed by him in his excellent Catalogue of documents on the history of Great Britain and Ireland [Descr. Catalogue of materials relating to the history of great Britain and Ireland; compare volume I, part II, 681 and following.]; in which catalogue he has most skilfully inscribed all the monuments on the saints of England and Ireland that became known to him.

[2] Memorials of SS. Ia, Breaca and their companions preserved by Leland. Let us then render thanks to Leland that, when he turned over those Lives in his hands, he excerpted some things from them, through which we may come to some sort of knowledge of St. Ia and her companions. Speaking then of the town of St. Ia, which is now commonly called St. Ives, he hands down this [Itinerary of John Leland, the antiquary, published by J. Hearne, 3rd edition, Oxford, 1760, volume III, page 21.]: The parish church has as patroness St. Ia, daughter of a noble man from Ireland and disciple of St. Barricius. Ia and Elwinus with several others came to Cornwall and landed at Pendinas; which place is a peninsula and rocky cliff, upon which now rises the town of St. Ia (S. Iës). One Dinan, one of the magnates of Cornwall, founded a church in Pendinas at the request of Ia, as is written in the Legend of St. Ia. Before this he had handed down this from the Life of St. Breaca Ibid. page 15.: Barricius, companion of Patrick, as is read in the Life of St. Wymerus. Breaca was born in the parts of Leinster and Ulster. The plain of Breaca in Ireland, in which Brigid built an oratory and afterwards a monastery: in which St. Breaca also was. Breaca came to Cornwall, accompanied by many saints; among whom were Sininus the abbot, who was at Rome with Patrick, Maruanus the monk, Germocchus the king, Elwen, Crewenna, Helena, Tecla. (Tecla is omitted in copies B and G of the Itinerary.) Breaca landed below Revyer with her people, part of whom Tewder killed. Breaca came to Pencair. Breaca came to Trenewith. Breaca built a church at Trenewith and Talmeneth, as is read in the Life of St. Elwinus.

[3] The days on which they were formerly venerated are so far uncertain. All these names therefore cohere with one another; and all those saints are of the number of those who, leaving their homeland Ireland, came to Cornwall to illumine it by the example of their virtues [Cressy, the Church History of Brittany, book IX, chapter 19, page 194, and book XI, chapter 19, page 244.], and whom the Cornish pursued with no less veneration than their own countrymen; so that Camden Britannia, Blaeu's edition, page 89. did not hesitate to write: This nation has ever so looked up to the Irish saints and its own native ones as guardians, that it has consecrated almost all its towns to them. Not ill, then, did Richard Challoner, who had first announced at this day in his English Martyrology St. Ia alone, then in the supplement Memorial of ancient British piety, supplement page 27. associate with her St. Breaca, virgin, St. Sininus, abbot, St. Maruanus, monk, St. Crewenna, St. Helena, St. Tecla and St. Germochus; all of whom came at about the same time from Ireland to Cornwall. I think that St. Ia was at first known to Challoner only from Camden; and that according to his institutes Memorial, page 7. he referred her to the 27th day of October, which was almost vacant; but that afterwards the books of Leland or Hearne were seen by him, and thence the remaining names were reported by him into the appendix: so that he set down the memory of St. Ia and her companions on the 27th day of October on no authority at all. He was followed, however, by the anonymous writer of Oxford whom I praised above Calendar of the anglican Church, page 248.; nevertheless he understood from elsewhere that St. Breaca was formerly venerated on the 4th day of June Ibid. page 197.. For this reason, if we treat briefly of those saints today, we have been led to it chiefly for this reason, that since they lay hidden from our predecessors, it is better to tread in the footsteps of Challoner than to pass them over altogether in our work.

[4] The affairs of St. Ia and her brother St. Uni; Further, after those saints came to Cornwall, they chose a seat for themselves in the furthest recess of the peninsula. Pendinas, namely, where St. Ia had a church built, lies at the entrance of a sea-bay facing Ireland; which bay, no differently from the town, took its name from the holy virgin and was called St. Ia, St. Hya, St. Eye, and Porth-Ia. In the middle of the 16th century the town was still called S. Iës; now it is wrongly called St. Ives; which is the name of St. Ivo, given to another town of the county of Huntingdon. Dinan, who at St. Ia's request built the church, imparted his name to the most noble Cornish family of Dinan, Dinam, Cardinan or Denham Lysons, Cornwall, page LXXIX.. Lysons reports from the Itinerary of William of Worcester that the body of St. Ia was laid in this church Ibid. page 147.. This church must have ceased for some time; for the one which today bears the name of St. Ia was built as a chapel dependent on the neighbouring parish of Lelant, by virtue of a bull of Pope Alexander V, given in the year 1410; and on the 3rd day of February of the year 1434 it was dedicated by the bishop of Exeter Ibid. pages 150 and 151, from Hicks's manuscripts.. The age of St. Ia is known from that of her master. For since St. Barricius, of whom she is said to have been the disciple, is read to have been a companion of St. Patrick, who was translated to the heavenly realm in the year 492, it is hence likely that St. Ia died about the middle of the 6th century. St. Uni or Uny is said to have been the brother of St. Ia Ibid. page XXXIV., and patron of the parish of Lelant and of the town of Redruth; which latter is about the principal parish of the whole promontory Ibid. page 277, and Calendar of the anglican Church, page 290..

[5] likewise of St. Breaca in Ireland; Of St. Breaca we know a little more. She was born in the parts of Leinster and Ulster, that is in that region of Ireland which comprises the counties of Cavan, Meath and Louth in Leinster and the counties of Fermanagh, Monaghan, Armagh and Down in Ulster; most probably however in Bregia or Magh Breagh in Eastern Meath, between the rivers Liffey and Boyne, whose limits however have either been varied or so far not accurately defined [Compare O'Donovan, the Book of rights, page 11; the Four Masters, at the year 226, page 111.]. There she certainly entered the monastic life in the monastery which St. Brigid had founded and to which, coming from Ulster, she turned aside, as is reported in her fourth Life, book II, chapter VI, number 29 Acta SS. volume I of February, page 164.: And she came to the plain of Breagh in the region of Meath, and when she dwelt there in a certain cell, etc.; which cell indeed seems to be the very one which the servant of God, receiving the sacred veil, had dedicated first of all Ibid. page 120, number 16; compare page 106, number 36.. And since in most monastic institutes the law of stable domicile was not yet in force at that time, and least of all in Ireland, St. Breaca came to Cornwall with a great company of holy men and women.

[6] likewise of St. Sininus, companion of St. Patrick on the journey to Rome; Of these was St. Sininus the abbot, who was at Rome with St. Patrick. Some more recent writers have wished Compare R. King, Primer of the Church history of Ireland, volume I, page 30. that St. Patrick was never at Rome; whereby it would come about that St. Sininus himself would not be held to have gone there: but they were no happier in adorning this task [Moran, Essais on the origin, doctrines and discipline of the early Irish Church, page 19 and following.] than others in demonstrating that St. Peter the apostle himself never went to Rome. To whom

being passed over, according to the computation of Ussher, the Protestant archbishop of Armagh Britannicarum eccles. antiquitates, page 412 and following., St. Patrick went to Rome first in the year 402, second in the year 432 and third in the year 462; but Lanigan neglects the first journey; ties the second to the year 431; and altogether denies the third Eccles. hist. of Ireland, volume I, page 319 and following., despising the authority of Jocelin. For the rest this one journey, which St. Patrick made in the year 431 or the following, seems to belong here. On which journey he had as companion a presbyter assigned to him by St. Germanus of Auxerre, by name Segitius or Segetius, called by Jocelin Sergecius, by Nennius Segerus and by Probus Regirus Compare Ussher, work cited, page 436.. Whom I for one would not dare to say is the same as St. Sininus; especially since the memory survives that besides Segetius there were other companions of the blessed man on the Roman journey Compare Lanigan, volume I, page 195.. However that may be, St. Sininus imparted his name to a certain village of the people of St. Buriana, called by Lysons Sennen Cornwall, pages 282 and 359., by Carlisle St. Senan Topographical dictionary of England, under Senan (St.). It is distant from the town of St. Ia about thirteen miles and from Penzance ten, in the furthest western quarter of Cornwall. Colgan judged that this St. Senan was the same Trias thaumaturga, page 229. as St. Sannan the deacon, brother of St. Patrick; but the most excellent Irish hagiographer had not seen the Acts of St. Breaca, in which he is only called the companion of the Roman journey.

[7] likewise of St. Maruanus the monk, St. Germochus of royal blood and St. Elwinus. The second companion was St. Maruanus the monk, who imparted his name to the village of St. Maruanus, commonly St. Moran, St. Merran or St. Merryn, about three leagues distant from Padstow, to the south-west Lysons, Cornwall, pages 225 and 226.. The third companion was St. Germochus, a king or rather of royal race; who gave his name to the village of St. Germoch, St. Germoe or St. Germowe, which is as it were part of the parish of St. Breaca, and is three miles distant from St. Michael's Mount to the south-east. In the middle of the 16th century Leland still saw there in the church the tomb of the holy man Itinerary, page 16.; likewise his chair in the cemetery and his well a little outside its circuit. Which well and tomb, says Whitaker, a Protestant writer [In James Yeowell, Chronicles of the ancient British Church anterior to the Saxon era, London, 1847, page 138.], are now lost, neglected and given over to oblivion through the cold philosophy of Protestantism towards the saints and through the stupid consideration that Germochus was an old papist. The chair still exists in the northern part of the cemetery; which chair is built of stones, divided by stone columns into three parts Lysons, Cornwall, page CCXXIX.. The chapel of St. Germoch William, earl of Gloucester, gave to the priory of St. James at Bristol, King Henry II confirming the donation New Monasticon Anglicanum, volume IV, page 335.. St. Elwinus or Elwen, now commonly St. Allen, Allan and Alleyn, whose Life Leland read in the middle of the 16th century, has a church in which his body formerly lay and which has so far kept his name, together with a parish of the same name, in the hundred of Powder Lysons, Cornwall, page 12. Compare page XXXIV.. His memory is listed by Challoner and the anonymous writer of Oxford at the 22nd of February.

[8] [likewise of SS. Crewenna, Etha, Helena, Levina, Buriana, Dellyn or Dillower, St. Gwithian and St. Gwinear or Wymerus.] St. Breaca also led with her three female companions; of whom St. Crewenna, also Crevenna and Crowenna, imparted her name to the village and church of Crowan Ibid. page 72. Compare the Calendar of the Anglican Church, page 214.. Of SS. Helena and Tecla I find nothing; but I do not doubt that in place of St. Tecla there should be read St. Tetha or rather St. Etha: for what has often happened in Gaul, Spain and Italy, that the letter with which the word sant ends was joined with the following name (if it began with a vowel), is discovered to have happened in Britain and the neighbouring regions too [Compare Todd, the Book of obits and Martyrology etc. page LXXX and following. Lysons, Cornwall, page XXIX, on S. Ewe or St. Tue.]. This St. Etha, also Teath and Theha, Challoner commemorates Memorial of ancient British piety, page 126. at the 6th day of September; which example the anonymous writer of Oxford has followed Calendar of the anglican Church, page 288.. The parish of St. Teath lies in the hundred of Trigg and formerly had two prebendaries New Monasticon Anglicanum, volume VI, 1449; Lysons; Cornwall, page 302.. Among the companions of St. Breaca James Yeowell also reports St. Levina, commonly St. Levan, killed by the Saxons while she was visiting the inland parts; the ruins of whose oratory, well and baptistery are still to be seen near Land's End or the town of St. Ia. But if St. Levan is the same as St. Levina or Lewina, I would think she is the same of whom our predecessors spoke at the 24th day of July and whose relics, formerly preserved near Lewes, were in the 11th century stolen and carried off to Bergues-Saint-Winoc in Flanders. St. Buriana, whose church also exists in the vicinity, Lysons Cornwall, page 48. and Yeowell Chronicles etc. page 140. number with the same company; nothing stands in the way; but of her it was spoken in our work at the 29th day of May. In the parish of St. Buriana on the sea-shore there exists an oratory or at least the ruins of a church of St. Dellyn Ibid. at the page cited.; whom Lysons calls St. Loy or Dillower Cornwall, page 49.. To these is also counted St. Gwythian, martyr, also Gwithian, Gothian and Guivian, who gave his name to a parish and church situated on the northern bank of the sea-bay of St. Ia Ibid. page 129.. Finally it is pleasing to commemorate St. Gwinnear, whose parish church rises in the same parts. He is called also Wynnear, Gwimear, Wymer and Womer Ibid. page 128.; he is the very one whose Life Leland read there. But I do not dare to inquire further, as fearing that almost all the saints who are venerated on this promontory would have to be listed by me as companions of SS. Ia and Breaca.

[9] The coming of St. Breaca to Cornwall; the churches named from her. With those, then, and other companions St. Breaca landed near Revyer, at the mouth of the river Hayle Ibid. page 266., in the northern part of the sea-bay of St. Ia. (The village Revyer, or Rivier or Riovier, is also called Cayle-Castle.) Part were killed by Tewder, without doubt a very powerful man: of the number of which martyrs was St. Gwythian Kalendar of the angl. Church, page 243.. On a hill adjacent was Pencair, to which St. Breaca betook herself. From there she set out towards the south and came to Trenewith and from there to Talmeneth. Of these places Leland has preserved the following memorials. Trenewith, he says Itinerary, volume III, page 16., is little distant from the parish church of Pembro… Talmeneth a manor in Pembro Cairdine, the ancient seat of the Cowlings, where William Godolcan now lives. Carne Godolcan is on the top of a hill, where there was a ditch and a building and the principal seat of the Godolcans. The ditch still appears and many stones lately carried from here. It is distant from St. Michael's Mount (a small island near Penzance and Marazion) three miles, to the north-east. Cair Kenin, otherwise Gonyn and Conin, stood on the hill of Pencair. From which it is clear that there is not understood the Trenewith far removed to the north, and situated in the parish of Tintagel, on the sea-shore Lysons, page 306.; but another Trenewith situated in the northern part of the parish of Crowan. Crowan and Breage, of which presently, seem to have been parts of the parish of Pemburgus * Ibid. page XXVIII., which Leland quite often mentions. The manor of the Godolcans or Godolphins is still designated on the topographical maps Ibid. page 40 and following. and the seat of the Cowlings was also in the parish of Crowan Ibid. page CXXXI.. Cardine is now called Kerthen Ibid. page 72.. At Trenewith and Talmeneth St. Breaca built a church, as Leland read in the Life of St. Elwinus. Breage or St. Breage, which parish lies adjacent to the south, also took its name from her; unless it is the very place Trenewith; similarly St. Breock, which parish is far distant from there to the north, situated in the hundred of Pyder. Which of the two was formerly in the possession of the Cistercian abbey of Hayles, in the county of Gloucester, I would not dare to define; but that one or other was part of its endowment is established from the Account of the ministers of King Henry VIII New Monasticon Anglicanum, volume V, page 689.. Lezant, ten miles distant from Tavistock, and Lanlivery in the hundred of Powder are said also to have St. Breaca as patroness Calendar of the angl. Church, page 197.; nevertheless Lanlivery is often called Lanvorck or church of St. Vorcus, also Brevit Lysons, Cornwall, pages 178 and 179. Compare page XXXIV.: so that this assertion seems to me incredible.

[10] [The learned of Cornwall are invited some day to illustrate the memorials of their saints.] More is hidden from me; but I cannot lay down my pen without asking the learned of Cornwall that at length some day they may be willing to inquire into the history of the saints who once illumined this land. Very many documents have indeed perished, as I advised at the beginning; but there cannot but exist old copies of the Martyrology of Usuard, which were formerly in use there, as elsewhere, in monasteries and in the greater churches. If from these the names of the popular saints or those of Celtic origin were excerpted and calendars made, much light would be shed not only on their festivals, but also on their deeds. For this would first of all be learned from this, which saints are the same as their Irish and British namesakes, and which altogether different. Then to martyrological memorials are for the most part attached the principal honours of the saints, for example that they were martyrs, bishops, presbyters, abbots, virgins and other things of that kind. Whoever they may finally have been, through them the Christian faith and piety once flourished; through them vain idols were cast down and pagan superstition ceased; through them new customs and new institutes were introduced; and finally through their memory, celebrated yearly and kept at every time, there were raised up for so many centuries

men's minds to the thinking of heavenly things, and spirits stirred to the service of the one living God. How far these praises surpass both the prudence of statesmen, and the fortitude of soldiers, and the science of the wise! And yet these last are never left off from being celebrated, while the saints are wrapped in perpetual silence. This is a complaint not of us Catholics alone, but also of the better Protestants.

* Pembro