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Welcome » » Britanny: a "Land of Saints"
Britanny: a "Land of Saints"

Britanny has about 1000 saints

 

Between 450 and 600 AD, second or third-generation Christians coming from England, Wales or Ireland, harrassed by Pict, Scot and Saxon tribesmen, crossed the Channel to find shelter in Armorica. The vast majority of the Saints who converted Brittany to Christianity came from Cornwall or Wales.

 

Each saint belongs in a place where he left his mark and his name, which turned Brittany into “the Land of the Saints”

Example: Saint Pol Aurélien. Born in 492 in southern Wales, he is one of the 7 saints who created Britanny. He created the bishopric of Saint Paul de Léon, in northern Finistère. He lived a momentous life, the account of which was confirmed by historians.

 

Here is an extract from the legend of Saint Pol Aurélien

The island of Batz, in front of Saint pol de Léon, was plagued by a dragon who devoured men and beasts. Nobody was able to beat the monster. Pol, safe in his trust in the word of the Gospel, which endows one with the ability to master dragons, got close to the invincible animal, caught him with his stole, dragged him on the ground to the tip of a rock where he told him to jump into the water.

The foot of the rock is still called “Toull ar Sarpent” (the Snake pit).