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Saint Petroc (English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
: Petrock, Welsh
Welsh language

Welsh ]], is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh Marches and in the Welsh settlement in Argentina in the Chubut Valley in Argentina Patagonia....
: Pedrog, Latin: Petrocus and French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
: Perreux) (died 564) is a 6th century Celtic Christian
Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity, or Insular Christianity broadly refers to the Early Middle Ages Christian practice that developed in Britain and Ireland before and during the post-Roman period, when Germanic invasions sharply reduced contact between the broadly Celts populations of Britons and Irish with Christians on the Continent until their s...
 saint
Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
. He was born in Wales
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
 but primarily ministered to the Britons
Brython

Historically, the Britons were the P-Celtic indigenous peoples inhabiting the island of Great Britain south of the river Forth. They were speakers of the Brythonic languages and shared common cultural traditions; the surviving P-Celtic languages are Welsh language, Cornish language and Breton....
 of Dumnonia
Dumnonia

Dumnonia was a Brythonic kingdom of sub-Roman Britain, located in the West Country of modern England and covering Devon, most of Somerset and possibly part of Dorset, its eastern boundary being uncertain....
 which included the modern counties of Devon
Devon

Devon is a large Counties of England in South West England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county but often indicating a shire....
 (Dewnans), Cornwall
Cornwall

Cornwall , constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain....
 (Kernow
Kingdom of Cornwall

The Kingdom of Dumnonia somes retroactively dubbed the Kingdom of Cornwall, was a petty kingdom that existed during the sub-Roman Britain and Early Middle Ages in Great Britain's West Country peninsula; it was roughly in the area of what is today called Cornwall and Devon....
), and parts of Somerset
Somerset

Somerset is a Counties of England in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The Ceremonial counties of England of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west....
 (Gwlas an Hav) and Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
. He is also known to have ministered to the people of Brittany
Brittany

Brittany is a former independent Celtic nations monarchy and duchy, now incorporated into France. It is also, more generally, the name of the cultural area whose limits correspond to the historic province and independent duchy....
.

Welsh genealogies record that he was a younger son of King Glywys
Glywys

Glywys or Saint Glywys was an early 5th century Wales king who is seen as an important character in early Welsh history. The kingdom of Glywysing is believed to have been named after Glywys, and is the earliest place name for the land between the Rivers River Tawe and River Usk....
 of Glywysing (now Glamorgan) and a brother of Gwynllyw
Gwynllyw

Saint Gwynllyw Milwr or Gwynllyw Farfog, pronounced "G-win-th-loo", known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded was a Wales king and religious figure....
, and there are local dedications to him at St Petroc near Pembroke
Pembroke, Pembrokeshire

Pembroke is the traditional county town of Pembrokeshire in west Wales. However, the administrative centre and de facto county town is Haverfordwest....
 and Ferwig near Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion

Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in West Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire....
.






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Saint Petroc (English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
: Petrock, Welsh
Welsh language

Welsh ]], is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, in England by some along the Welsh Marches and in the Welsh settlement in Argentina in the Chubut Valley in Argentina Patagonia....
: Pedrog, Latin: Petrocus and French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
: Perreux) (died 564) is a 6th century Celtic Christian
Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity, or Insular Christianity broadly refers to the Early Middle Ages Christian practice that developed in Britain and Ireland before and during the post-Roman period, when Germanic invasions sharply reduced contact between the broadly Celts populations of Britons and Irish with Christians on the Continent until their s...
 saint
Saint

A saint in Christianity is a human being who has been called to holiness. The term is used differently by various denominations, with some, such as the Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutherans distinguishing between Saints and saints....
. He was born in Wales
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
 but primarily ministered to the Britons
Brython

Historically, the Britons were the P-Celtic indigenous peoples inhabiting the island of Great Britain south of the river Forth. They were speakers of the Brythonic languages and shared common cultural traditions; the surviving P-Celtic languages are Welsh language, Cornish language and Breton....
 of Dumnonia
Dumnonia

Dumnonia was a Brythonic kingdom of sub-Roman Britain, located in the West Country of modern England and covering Devon, most of Somerset and possibly part of Dorset, its eastern boundary being uncertain....
 which included the modern counties of Devon
Devon

Devon is a large Counties of England in South West England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county but often indicating a shire....
 (Dewnans), Cornwall
Cornwall

Cornwall , constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain....
 (Kernow
Kingdom of Cornwall

The Kingdom of Dumnonia somes retroactively dubbed the Kingdom of Cornwall, was a petty kingdom that existed during the sub-Roman Britain and Early Middle Ages in Great Britain's West Country peninsula; it was roughly in the area of what is today called Cornwall and Devon....
), and parts of Somerset
Somerset

Somerset is a Counties of England in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The Ceremonial counties of England of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west....
 (Gwlas an Hav) and Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
. He is also known to have ministered to the people of Brittany
Brittany

Brittany is a former independent Celtic nations monarchy and duchy, now incorporated into France. It is also, more generally, the name of the cultural area whose limits correspond to the historic province and independent duchy....
.

Early life

Old Welsh genealogies record that he was a younger son of King Glywys
Glywys

Glywys or Saint Glywys was an early 5th century Wales king who is seen as an important character in early Welsh history. The kingdom of Glywysing is believed to have been named after Glywys, and is the earliest place name for the land between the Rivers River Tawe and River Usk....
 of Glywysing (now Glamorgan) and a brother of Gwynllyw
Gwynllyw

Saint Gwynllyw Milwr or Gwynllyw Farfog, pronounced "G-win-th-loo", known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded was a Wales king and religious figure....
, and there are local dedications to him at St Petroc near Pembroke
Pembroke, Pembrokeshire

Pembroke is the traditional county town of Pembrokeshire in west Wales. However, the administrative centre and de facto county town is Haverfordwest....
 and Ferwig near Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion

Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in West Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire....
. He has also given his name to Llanbedrog
Llanbedrog

Llanbedrog is a village on the Llyn peninsula in Wales, situated on the south side of the peninsula on the A499 road between Pwllheli and Abersoch which is in the principal area of Gwynedd and was formerly in the county of Caernarvonshire....
, a village on the Lleyn peninsula. He studied in Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 where he is said to have been the teacher of Saint Kevin
Kevin of Glendalough

Saint Kevin of Glendalough is a Christianity saint who was the Abbot of Glendalough in County Wicklow, Ireland. "Kevin" is the English language spelling of the Irish language name Caoimhin ....
.

Travels

After studying, he began his mission to Cornwall, where he founded monasteries at Padstow
Padstow

Padstow is a small town, civil parish and cargo port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies within the administrative district of North Cornwall....
 and Bodmin
Bodmin

Bodmin is a town in Cornwall, United Kingdom, with a population of 12,778 . It was the county town of Cornwall, until the Crown Courts moved to Truro, which is also the administrative centre....
. Padstow, which is named after him (Pedroc-stowe, or 'Petrock's Place'), appears to have been his base for some time. There are numerous other dedications to him throughout Cornwall and he is even said to have converted its king, Constantine of Dumnonia
Constantine of Cornwall

Constantine was an early 6th century king of Dumnonia in West Country Great Britain, sometimes identified with a saint of the same name.All that is known for certain about Constantine comes from the writings of Gildas, who calls him "the tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Damnonia"....
, to Christianity
Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity, or Insular Christianity broadly refers to the Early Middle Ages Christian practice that developed in Britain and Ireland before and during the post-Roman period, when Germanic invasions sharply reduced contact between the broadly Celts populations of Britons and Irish with Christians on the Continent until their s...
. After thirty years, legend says that he went on the pilgrimage to Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 by way of Brittany
Brittany

Brittany is a former independent Celtic nations monarchy and duchy, now incorporated into France. It is also, more generally, the name of the cultural area whose limits correspond to the historic province and independent duchy....
.

Upon his return, Petroc passed through Devon, where ancient dedications to him are even more numerous: a probable seventeen (plus Timberscombe
Timberscombe

Timberscombe is a village and civil parish south-west of Dunster, and south of Minehead within the Exmoor National Park in Somerset, England. The parish includes the Hamlet of Bickham....
 just over the border in Somerset), compared to Cornwall's five. The position of churches bearing his name, nearly always near the coast, reminds us that in those days travelling was done mainly by sea. The North Devon towns of Petrockstowe
Petrockstowe

First mentioned in the Domesday BookPetrockstowe is a small village in North Devon at the end of the Tarka trail. Its population has fluctuated between 400 and 600....
 and Newton St Petroc are also named after Saint Petroc and the flag of Devon
Flag of Devon

The Flag of Devon is the flag of the England county of Devon. It is dedicated to Saint Petroc, a local saint with numerous dedications throughout the West Country and particularly in Devon....
 is dedicated to him.

The legendary tales surrounding Petroc are exceptionally vivid and imaginative (giving him a second pilgrimage
Pilgrimage

File:Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia.jpgIn religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long quest or search of great moral significance....
, travels to India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, taming wolves) and may represent interpolation from pagan tales.

Veneration

In iconography
Iconography

Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Ancient Greek e???? and ??afe?? ....
, Petroc is usually shown with a stag. His feast day is June 4. His major shrine
Shrine

A shrine, from the Latin scrinium is a holy or sacred place which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor veneration, hero, martyr, saint or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are veneration or worshipped....
 was always at St Petroc's Church, Bodmin
Bodmin

Bodmin is a town in Cornwall, United Kingdom, with a population of 12,778 . It was the county town of Cornwall, until the Crown Courts moved to Truro, which is also the administrative centre....
. In 1177, a Breton
Breton people

The Bretons are a distinct Celts ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythons who settled the area from south western Great Britain in the 4th to 6th centuries....
 stole his relics from Bodmin and gave them to the Abbey of St Meen. However, Henry II
Henry II of England

Henry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France....
 restored them and, though the relics were thrown out during the English Reformation
English Reformation

The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th century England by which the Church of England first broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, their beautiful ivory casket is still on public display in the church. With Saint Piran
Saint Piran

Saint Piran or Perran is an early 6th century Cornish people abbot and saint, supposedly of Irish people origin.He is the patron saint of tin-mining, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Saint Michael and Saint Petroc also have some claim to this title....
 and Saint Michael
Michael (archangel)

Saint Michael is an archangel in Christian and Islamic tradition. He is viewed as the field commander of the Army of God.He is mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation....
, he is one of the patron saint
Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges....
s of Cornwall
Cornwall

Cornwall , constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain....
 - Piran is currently favourite.

See also

  • Martyrology of Tallaght
    Martyrology of Tallaght

    The Martyrology of Tallaght, which is closely related to the Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee , is an eighth or ninth century list of saints and their feast days assembled by Maelruain and/or Aengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery, near Dublin....


External links