Saint Piran
| Saint Piran | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
c. 6th century Unknown |
| Died |
c. 6th century Possibly Perranzabuloe, Cornwall. |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglican Communion |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Major shrine | Perranzabuloe |
| Feast | 5 March; or 18 November |
| Patronage | Tin miners; Cornwall |
Saint Piran or Pyran (Cornish: Peran) was an early 6th-century Cornish abbot and saint, supposedly of Irish origin. He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Saint Michael and Saint Petroc also have some claim to this title.[1] Traditionally, St. Piran has been identified as the Irish saint Ciarán of Saigir. Saint Piran's Flag, a white cross on a black background, is used as a symbol of Cornwall. Saint Piran's Day falls on 5 March.
Suggested Irish origins
Piran is the most famous of all the saints said to have come to Cornwall from Ireland. By at least the 13th century, since Brittonic languages and Goidelic languages regularly alternate p and k sounds (see the classification of Celtic languages for an explanation), he had become identified as the Irish Saint Ciarán of Saigir who founded the monastery at Seir-Kieran in County Offaly. The 14th century Life of Saint Piran, probably written at Exeter Cathedral, is a complete copy of an earlier Middle Irish life of Saint Ciarán of Saighir, with different parentage and a different ending that takes into account Piran's works in Cornwall, and especially details of his death and the movements of his Cornish shrine; thus "excising the passages which speak of his burial at Saighir" (Doble). However, there is no shrine to him in Ireland.
5 March is the traditional feast day of both St Ciarán of Saighir and St Piran, but the Calendar of Launceston Church records an alternative date of 18 November for the latter. In Perranzabuloe parish Perran Feast is traditionally celebrated on the last Monday in October. On the previous Sunday there are services at the site of St Piran's Oratory and in the parish church of St Piran.
Views from modern scholars
- Charles Plummer suggested that St Piran might, instead, be identified with St Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, who founded the monastery of Clonmacnoise also in County Offaly, but this is doubtful since this saint is believed to have died of yellow fever at the age of thirty-two and was buried at Clonmacnoise. His father is, however, sometimes said to have been a Cornishman.
- Joseph Loth, moreover, has argued, on detailed philological grounds, that the two names could not possibly be identical.
- G. H. Doble thought that Piran was a Welshman from Glamorgan, citing the lost chapel once dedicated to him in Cardiff.
- David Nash Ford accepts the Ciarán of Clonmacnoise identification, whilst further suggesting that Piran's father in the Exeter life, Domuel, be identified with Dywel ab Erbin, a 5th-century prince of Dumnonia (Devon and Cornwall).
- The St Piran Trust has undertaken research which[2] suggests that St Piran was either St Ciarán of Saighir or a disciple, as indicated by Dr James Brennan of Kilkenny and Dr T. F. G. Dexter, whose thesis is held in the Royal Cornwall Museum.
Legends
- The heathen Irish tied him to a mill-stone, rolled it over the edge of a cliff into a stormy sea, which immediately became calm, and the saint floated safely over the water to land upon the sandy beach of Perranzabuloe in Cornwall. His first disciples are said to have been a badger, a fox and a bear[3]
- He was joined at Perranzabuloe by many of his Christian converts and together they founded the Abbey of Lanpiran, with Piran as abbot.
- St Piran 'rediscovered' tin-smelting (tin had been smelted in Cornwall since before the Romans' arrival, but the methods had since been lost) when his black hearthstone, which was evidently a slab of tin-bearing ore, had the tin smelt out of it and rise to the top in the form of a white cross (thus the image on the flag).[3]
Death and veneration
It is said that at his death the remains of the Blessed Martin the Abbot which he had brought from Ireland were buried with him at Perranzabuloe. His own remains were subsequently exhumed and redistributed to be venerated in various reliquaries. Exeter Cathedral was reputed to be the possessor of one of his arms, while according to an inventory, St Piran's Old Church, Perranzabuloe, had a reliquary containing his head and also a hearse in which his body was placed for processionals. The churches at Perranuthnoe and Perranarworthal were dedicated to Piran and holy wells at Perranwell and Probus, Cornwall are named after him: in Brittany St. Peran, Loperan and Saint-Perran are also named after him.[4]
The earliest documented link to the design of the St Piran's Flag with St Piran is on the coat of arms of the de Saint-Péran or Saint-Pezran (pronounced Peran) family from Cornouaille in Brittany. The earliest evidence known comes from the 15th century, with the arms being De sable à la croix pattée d'argent. (a black shield with a white cross pattée).[5][6]
Mount St. Piran is a mountain in Banff National Park near Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, named after the saint.
St Piran's Day
St Piran's Day is popular in Cornwall and the term 'Perrantide' has been coined to describe the week prior to this day. Many Cornish-themed events occur in the Duchy and also in areas in which there is a large community descended from Cornish emigrants. The village of Perranporth ('Porthpyran' in Cornish) hosts the annual inter-Celtic festival of 'Lowender Peran', which is also named in honour of him.
The largest St Piran's Day event is the march across the dunes to St Piran's cross which hundreds of people attend, generally dressed in black, white and gold, and carrying the Cornish Flag.[7] A play of the Life of St Piran, in Cornish, has been enacted in recent years at the event. Daffodils are also carried and placed at the cross. Daffodils also feature in celebrations in Truro, most likely due to their 'gold' colour. Black, white and gold are colours associated with Cornwall due to St Piran's Flag (black and white), and the Duchy Shield (gold coins on black).
See also
Notes
- ↑ The cult of St Michael was largely due to the Norman Earls of Cornwall, while that of St Petroc was the most important in the Diocese of Cornwall since he was the founder of the monastery of Bodmin the most important in the diocese and, with St Germans, the seat of the bishops. He was the patron of the diocese and of Bodmin: Caroline Brett, ‘Petroc (fl. 6th cent.)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 16 December 2008
- ↑ http://www.stpiran.org/
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "St Piran - The patron saint of Cornwall", St. Piran's Day
- ↑ Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford
- ↑ Guide des drapeaux bretons et celtes (English: Guide of Breton and Celtic flags) by Divi Kervella and Mikael Bodlore-Penlaez, published by Yoran Embanner (in French), (2008) ISBN 978-2-916579-12-2
- ↑ P. POTIER de COURCY, Nobiliaire et armorial de Bretagne, A. Aubry, 1862, p390
- ↑ http://www.westbriton.co.uk/St-Piran-s-day-performers-defy-torrential-rain/story-20738983-detail/story.html
References
- Carter, Eileen. (2001). In the Shadow of St Piran
- Doble, G. H. (1965). The Saints of Cornwall. Dean & Chapter of Truro.
- Loth, J. (1930). 'Quelques victimes de l'hagio-onomastique en Cornwall: saint Peran, saint Keverne, saint Achebran' in Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Bretagne.
- Plummer, Charles. (1922). Betha Naem nErenn
- Tomlin, E. W. F. (1982). In Search of St Piran
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Piran. |
- St. Piran: Keeping the Faith
- St Piran's holiday
- St. Piran's events
- St. Piran's celebrations
- St. Piran's Day in Truro
- The Cornish Gorseth
- St. Piran's Oratory – Morley B Collins, 1910
- St Piran Trust website
- Account of Piran and Cornish poem by Tim Saunders
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