- Winwaloe
Infobox Saint
name= Saint Winwaloe
birth_date=
death_date=3 March, 532
feast_day=3 March
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church
imagesize= 250px
caption=
birth_place=
death_place=Landévennec Abbey
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beatified_place=
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patronage=invoked for fertility
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
issues=Saint Winwaloe (in French, Saint Guénolé or Guennolé; Latin, Winwallus or Winwaloeus) (d.
3 March 532 ) was the founder and first Abbot ofLandévennec Abbey , literally Lann of Venec, or Monastery of Winwaloe. It was just south of Brest inBrittany , now part ofFrance .Life
Winwaloe was the son of Fracan, a prince of
Dumnonia , and his wife,Gwen Teirbron (or 'Gwen the Triple-Breasted'), who had fled to Brittany to avoid the plague. ["Vita Sancti Wingualoei" (9th century) in Gilbert H. Doble's "The Saints of Cornwall"] He was born about 460, apparently at Plouguin [] , near Saint-Pabu [] , where his supposed place of birth, a feudal hillock, can still be seen. Winaloe grew up in Ploufragan [] nearSaint-Brieuc with his brothers, Wethnoc and Jacut. They were later joined by a sister, Saint Creirwe. He was educated bySaint Budoc on the Île Lavret, in the Bréhat archipelago, nearPaimpol .As a young man, it is said that Winwaloe conceived a wish to visit
Ireland to see the remains ofSaint Patrick , who had just died. However, the saint appeared to him in a dream to say that it would be better to remain in Brittany and found an abbey. So, with eleven of Budoc's other disciples, he set up a small monastery on the island of Tibidy [] , on the River Faou. However, it was so inhospitable that after three years, he miraculously opened a passage through the sea to found another abbey on the opposite bank of the Landévennec estuary. The saint appears in the story of the mythical sunken city ofYs , in which the legendary King Gradlon of Cornuaille is his patron. Winwaloe died at his monastery on 3 March 532.Veneration
Winwaloe was venerated as a saint at Landévennec until
Viking invasions in 914 forced themonk s to flee, with his body, to Château-du-Loir and then Montreuil-sur-Mer. Hisrelic s were often taken on procession through the town. Winwaloe's shrine was destroyed during theFrench Revolution in 1793. He apparently acquired a priapic reputation through confusion of his name with the word, "gignere" (Fr. engendrer, 'to beget') and was thus a patron of fertility as one of thephallic saints . [ [http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/taylorgr/sxnhst/chap14.htm The Minor Themes ] ]In his Cornish homeland, Winwaloe is the patron of the churches at Tremaine,
Landewednack andGunwalloe , as well asEast Portlemouth inDevon and two lost chapels inWales . The churches ofSt Twynnells ,Pembrokeshire andWonastow ,Monmouthshire may have been originally dedicated to him [Bowen E G, "Saints, Seaways and Settlements", UoWP, 1977, ISBN 0-7083-0650-0, p 189] . They were probably founded by his successor at Landévennec,Saint Guenäel , who certainly made trips to Britain. Exeter, Glastonbury, Abingdon and Waltham held small relics. He was also popular inEast Anglia where the abbey at Montreuil-sur-Mer had a daughter house.References
Main source
*cite book | last = Doble | first = Gilbert H. | authorlink = Gilbert Hunter Doble|title = The Saints of Cornwall Part II | publisher = Dean and Chapter of Truro | year = 1965 | location = Truro
External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15659b.htm "Catholic Encyclopedia" article, "St. Winwallus"]
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