(6TH CENT.)
[Anglican Martyrologies; Saussaye, in his Gallican Martyrology, the
Belgian Martyrologies. His translation from the old wooden church at
Landevenec, to a stone one, is commemorated on April 28th, and to
Montreuil-sur-Mer, on August 1st. Authorities:--Three Lives; the first
by an anonymous writer, given by the Bollandists, is full of fable,
and by no means early. The second is still less trustworthy, and is
given by Surius. The third is by Gurdestin, Monk of Landevenec. The
life by Albert le Grand is deserving of notice, but the historical
particulars are not accurate. There is great difficulty about
this saint. It is probable that there were two of his name, and
only by this means can the very different accounts of his life be
reconciled. One Winwaloe is a native of Brittany, and a disciple of
S. Corentine, and was translated to Montreuil. Another Winwaloe is a
native of Britain, a disciple of S. Sampson, of Dol, and afterwards
of S. Similian, abbot of Tauriac; and his body lies at Ghent. M. Ch.
Barthelemy, in his "Annales Hagiologiques de la France," 5th cent.,
claims for the first anonymous life to have been written by a disciple
of Winwaloe. But this is more than improbable. It has none of the
elements of a contemporary account. The writer says that the name
of the mother of the saint was not known; and he does not name his
master in the religious life, S. Corentine or S. Budock, but calls
him "a holy man," or "that man of God"; and the life, like all late
compilations, gives scanty details of persons and places, but abounds
in fables.[7]]
[7] The following is a specimen of the stories told by this author:
Winwaloe had a sister at home, who was one day playing with the geese
belonging to her father, when one of them flew at her, pecked out, and
swallowed her eye. The parents were in despair. Then an angel appeared
to the holy boy, Winwaloe, and told him of the trouble. Winwaloe at
once hastened home, singled out the guilty goose, sliced open its
belly, removed the eye of his sister from its crop, and replaced it
in his sister's head, and she saw as well as before. The boy then
miraculously healed the goose, and dismissed it to rejoin the flock.
After this he returned to his master and studies.
Winwaloe was born about the year 455; his father was Fragan, related
to Conan Meriadec. Fragan was governor of Léon (Lyoness) and
Cornonaille, under King Grallo, or Gradillon. Fragan married a noble
and wealthy lady named Gwen, of the Three Breasts, and resided with
her at Lesgwen, in the parish of Plonkin. By her he had a son, whom he
called Gwenaloe,[8] or "He that is white," on account of his beauty.
When Winwaloe was about fifteen years old he was given to a holy man,
S. Corentine, or S. Budock, it is uncertain which, together with his
brothers, Gwethenoc and Jacut, and they lived together, serving God in
the islet of Isle-vert.
[8] He is called Guennole, or Vignevale, in French. At
Montreuil-sur-Mer, of which place he is patron, he is called S. Valois.
His name has also been corrupted into Valvais and Vennole.
One day that Winwaloe was with his father, a fleet of pirates appeared
off the coast, and hovered about the harbour of Guic Sezne, near
Lauvengat. S. Winwaloe is said in the popular tradition to have
exclaimed on the occasion, _Me a vel mil Guern_, "I see a thousand
sails;" and a cross which commemorates the spot is called therefrom
to this day, _Croas al mil Guern_, "the cross of the thousand sails."
The pirates landed, but Fragan, having gathered his retainers, fell
upon them and utterly defeated them. Many were cut to pieces, and a
few escaped in their vessels. During the combat, Winwaloe, like a
second Moses, prayed with fervour; and after the victory he exhorted
his father to employ the spoil they had taken in building a monastery
on the spot where the battle took place, in Isel-Vez, in the parish of
Plou-Nevez. He did so, and the monastery was called Loc-Christ.
After some years, Winwaloe left his master, and settled in the island
of Sein, off the Point du Raz; but, finding it exposed to the full
swell of the Atlantic, and to every gale, he was obliged to desert
it, and found a more suitable place of settlement at Llandevenec, on
the opposite side of the harbour of Brest, where he established a
monastery, into which he gathered many disciples, and there, after many
years, he died, standing at the altar, after having bestowed the kiss
of peace on the brethren, on Saturday, the 3rd of March, in the first
week in Lent; a date which may be either 507, 518, or 529.
Another version of the history of S. Winwaloe makes him to have been
born in Wales, and to have had S. Budock for his preceptor.
The body of S. Winwaloe is preserved at Montreuil-sur-Mer, whither
it was translated through fear of the invasion of the Normans, after
having first just found shelter at Ghent. The chasuble, alb and bell
of S. Winwaloe, are preserved in the Jesuit Church of S. Charles, at
Antwerp.
At the same time, the body of a S. Winwaloe is also at Blandinberg,
near Ghent; and the story told of this saint is in many particulars
like that of the S. Winwaloe at Montreuil, but it differs in others.
S. Winwaloe is represented in art vested as an abbot, with staff in one
hand and bell in the other, standing by the sea, with the fish rising
out of the water as if obeying the summons of his bell.
[Illustration: Decorative motif]