List of Breton saints explained
Breton saints refers to both the innumerable people who lived, died, worked in, or came to be particularly venerated in the nine traditional dioceses of Brittany (Cornouaille, Dol, Léon, Nantes, Rennes, Saint-Brieuc, Saint-Malo, Tréguier, Vannes) who were accepted as saintly before the establishment of the Congregation of Rites (now the Congregation for the Causes of Saints), and those saints, blesseds, venerables, and Servants of God who have come to be recognized since that time.
Armorican saints
Before the Bretons came, the land now known as Brittany was known as Armorica within the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. The earliest saint associated with this region is Anne, mother of Mary (mother of Jesus), who purportedly appeared to Yves Nicolazic and spoke to him in Breton. Saint Anne is the patroness of Brittany.[1]
After her, the earliest saints in what is now Brittany have dates which are sometimes unclear, but tradition holds they go back to the earliest days of the church. Maximinus, said to have been sent to preach among the Gauls, was made the first Bishop of Rennes.[2] Pope Linus, the second Bishop of Rome, sent Clair and Adeodatus. Clair became the first Bishop of Nantes around AD 280 and died early in the third century;[3] Adeodatus preached primarily in the area of Vannes. Other Armorican saints include Similien, the third Bishop of Nantes, who converted the brother-martyrs Donatian and Rogatian.[4] Palladius may also have had an Armorican connection.[5]
The Seven Founders
The Bretons, coming from the British Isles, brought Christianity with them. With the coming of the Bretons, the seven ancient dioceses were established by the seven founding saints.
The other two dioceses of Brittany were founded by Clair de Nantes and Maxime de Rennes.
Medieval saints
Monarchs
Others
Modern saints
The "modern" in modern saints refers to the process, not the person, and groups those whose status has been recognized by Rome.
Saints
- Benedetto Menni, priest, canonized in 1999
- Gohard of Nantes, Bishop, canonized in 1096
- Louis de Montfort, priest, canonized in 1947
- Marie of the Cross (Jeanne Jugan), religious, canonized in 2009
- Mother Theodore, religious, canonized in 2006
- Vincent Ferrer, Dominican priest, canonized in 1455
- William Pinchon, Bishop, canonized in 1247
- Yves Helory, priest, canonized in 1347
- Of the One Hundred Twenty Martyrs of China
Blesseds (by beatification)
- Cassien of Nantes, Capuchin, beatified in 1905
- Charles of Blois, duke, beatified in 1904
- Julian Maunoir, Jesuit priest, beatified in 1951
- Marcel Callo, layman, beatified in 1987
- Mary of the Passion, religious, beatified in 2002
- Marie-Louise-Élisabeth de Lamoignon, religious, beatified in 2012
- Pierre-Rene Rouge, Vincentian priest, beatified in 1934
- Of the Twenty Martyrs of Capuchin Tertiary Fathers and Brothers of Our Lady of Sorrows in Spain, beatified in 2001
- Carmen Marie Anne Garcia Moyon
- Of the Fifteen Martyrs of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and the Ursulines of Valenciennes (of the Martyrs of the French Revolution, beatified in 1920
- Of the One Hundred Ninety-One Martyrs of the September Massacres, beatified in 1926
- Charles-Francois le Gue
- Claude-Antoine-Raoul Laporte
- Francois-Hyacinth le Livec de Tresurin
- Henri-August Luzeau de la Mulonniere
- Jean-Charles-Marie Bernard du Cornillet
- Joseph Becavin
- Louis-Laurent Gaultier
- Mathurin-Nicolas de la Villecrohain le Bous de Villeneuve
- Nicolas-Marie Verron
- Rene-Joseph Urvoy
- Rene-Julien Massey
- Rene-Marie Andrieux
- Vincent-Joseph le Rousseau de Rosencoat
- Yves-Andre Guillon de Keranrun
- Yves-Jean-Pierre Rey de Kervisic
- Of the Fifteen Martyrs of Laos
- Jean-Baptiste Malo
- Joseph Boissel
- Vincent L'Henoret
- Of the Nineteen Martyrs of Algeria
Blesseds (by confirmation of cult)
- David, cult confirmed in 1120
- Françoise d'Amboise, cult confirmed 1863
- John of the Grating, Cistercian Bishop, cult confirmed in 1517
- Yann Divotou, Franciscan priest, cult confirmed in 1989
- Ralph de la Futaye, unclear when cult confirmed
Venerables
Servants of God
Other saintly Bretons
- Corentin Cloarec, killed by the Nazis
- Joachim Nio, killed by the Gestapo
See also
Sources
- "Hagiography Circle"
- M. de Garaby, Vie des bienheureux et des saints de Bretagne, éd. J.-M. Williamson, Nantes, 1839. Réédition 1991.
- P.T. de S. Luc, C. L'Histoire de Conan Mériadec Qui Fait le Premier regne de l'histoire generale des souverains de la Bretagne Gauloise, dite Armorique. Paris, 1664.
Notes and References
- http://www.sainteanne-sanctuaire.com/?mode=histoire&langue=en "History", Sanctuaire de Sainte Anne d'Auray
- Book: Haureau, B.. Gallia christiana: in provincias ecclesiasticas distribute... opera et studio Domni Dionysii Sammarthani. Ubi de provincia Turonensi agitur. 14 (Tomus quartus decimus). 1856. Firmin Didot. Paris. la. 739–793; Instrumenta 163–170.
- Arthur de La Borderie, "Saint Clair and the origins of the Church of Nantes as the true tradition" (Plihon, 1884).
- L. Clermont, Souvenirs et notes historiques. Paroisse Saint Similien, Nantes, Vincent Forest et Émile Grimaud, 1894, 24 p. (notice BnF no FRBNF34124426, lire en ligne).
- Book: Duff, J. Wight and A. M. Duff trans.. Minor Latin Poets. 1922. Loeb Classical Library. 782f.