Celtic and Old English Saints 26 June =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= * St. Brannock of Braunton * St. Babolenus of Fosses * St. Corbican of Ireland =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
St. Brannock, Abbot of Braunton (also known as Barnoc, Brannoc) ---------------------------------------- 6th century. Saint Brannock appears to have migrated from southern Wales into Devon. Some say that he floated over from Ireland in a stone coffin. He founded a monastery at Braunton, near Barnstaple in Devonshire, where William Worcestre and Leland say he was buried. The traditions concerning him are confused. Some hagiographers identify him as the 6th-century Welsh missionary Saint Brynach (Bernach or Bernacus). Because there are two separate feasts at Exeter on April 7 and January 7 for the respective saints, it is unlikely that they are the same person (Benedictines, Farmer). The parish of St. Brannock's is a legacy of St.Brannock who first founded the church in the sixth century. The church was built in a wooded valley away from the main Celtic settlement, near to the trackways which came through gaps in the river Caen and went onwards to the saltpans of nearby Saunton or to cross the river Taw/Torridge estuary and on down towards Cornwall. Tradition has it that St Brannoc first built his church on a hill overlooking Braunton but it fell down, and in a dream he was told to look for the sow and her piglets and there to build his church. The story is still commemorated in one of the stained glass windows and one of the roof bosses of the present St Brannocks where if you look carefully you will see the sow and her litter. Three churches have been built on the site and the present church dating from the 13th century contain elements of the church of 837 AD. The exact locality of Saint Brannoch's tomb is now unknown, but some of his relics are in the church and it is a place of pilgrimage for Greek Orthodox from London. Later the church became a minster, giving the name Brannocminster to the Saxon settlement which grew up on both sides of the river Caen. By the time of the conquest, the village was a royal manor of importance, equal to Barnstaple. Troparion of St Brannock of Braunton tone 1 Righteous tutor of the children of Brychan and great wonderworker, O Father Brannock,/ thou didst win many souls for Christ by thy tireless endeavours./ As Braunton's church may yet hold thy precious relics,/ Pray that we, being ever mindful of our Orthodox heritage,/ may never deviate from the true Faith/ and, thereby, receive the reward of the blest. St. Babolenus of Fosses, Abbot -------------------------------------------- Died c. 677. Babolenus migrated to France, where he became a monk at Luxeuil under Saint Columbanus. Later he was appointed the first abbot of Saint Peter's near Paris, which was renamed Saint-Maur-des-Fosses when the relics of Saint Maurus where brought there from Anjou. He was helped by Saint Fursey in the erection of many churches and hospitals in the diocese of Paris. Together they served the whole diocese under Bishops Audebert and Saint Landry (Benedictines, Husenbeth). St. Corbican of Ireland, Confessor in the Low Countries ----------------------------------------------------------------- 8th century. Corbican was an Irish recluse in the Low Countries who spent part of his day helping and instructing the peasants (Benedictines). Sources: ======== Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The Book of Saints. NY: Macmillan. Farmer, D. H. (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Husenbeth, Rev. F. C., DD, VG (ed.). (1928). Butler's Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints. London: Virtue & Co. For All the Saints: http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm An Alphabetical Index of the Saints of the West http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/saintsa.htm These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints ***************************************** ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
