Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
hermit and companion of Saint Gildas who gave his name to the villages of
Bieuzy
Bieuzy (; br, Bizhui-an-Dour) is a former commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in northwestern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Pluméliau-Bieuzy.Morbihan. His name probably comes from the
Old Breton
Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of t ...
''biu'', ''bihui'', "living". His
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
is 24 November.
Life
Bieuzy was, it is said, a native of Great Britain who migrated to Brittany, and there became a hermit and a disciple of Saint Gildas. Tradition relates that in the year 538 Bieuzy went up the Blavet valley in the company of Gildas (who had previously founded the of
Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys
Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys () is a Communes of France, commune in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in north-western France. Inhabitants of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys are called in French ''Gildasie ...
): they established a hermitage or oratory consisting of a natural cave in a huge pile of rocks on the banks of the Blavet near Castennec. A few years later, Gildas returned to Rhuys, but Bieuzy remained, setting up a school nearby, around which a few inhabitants settled, at a place which has since become the village of Bieuzy. The establishments created by Gildas and Bieuzy were destroyed during the Norman invasions in the 9th or 10th century. Gildas and Bieuzy's oratory was refounded in the 16th century as the Chapelle Saint-Gildas. Saint Bieuzy became known as a holy healer of rabies, locally called ''le mal de Saint Bieuzy''.
According to the hagiographerGuy Autret de Missirien, Saint Bieuzy performed a curious miracle. Around 570, a servant asked him to interrupt his mass to go and heal his lord's pack of dogs suffering from rabies, but Bieuzy refused. The furious Breton lord came to split his skull with a sword (an axe, knife or cutlass according to other versions of the legend), the blow being so violent that the weapon remained planted there. Bieuzy found the strength to walk to the abbey of Rhuys where he died under the blessing of his master, Saint Gildas. During his journey to the abbey, Bieuzy is said to have spent a night in Bieuzy-Lanvaux (near
Pluvigner
Pluvigner (; br, Pleuwigner) is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France.
Demographics
Inhabitants of Pluvigner are called in French ''Pluvignois''.
At the 1999 census, the town had a population of 5,428. In 201 ...
) with the axe still embedded in his skull. The spring of Bieuzy-Lanvaux has since this event been under the protection of the holy healer of rabies and migraines. The legend also tells that the Breton lord, on his return home, found that all his horses and farm animals had gone mad; the dogs bit the tyrant and his servants to death.
His cult in Brittany
* Bieuzy is the patron saint of Bieuzy (Bieuzy-les-Eaux) in Morbihan, and of
Saint-Bihy
Saint-Bihy (; ; Gallo: ''Saent-Mehi'') is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany in northwestern France.
Population
Inhabitants of Saint-Bihy are called ''bihicois'' in French.
See also
*Communes of the Côtes-d'Armor depar ...
near
Quintin
Quintin (; br, Kintin) is a commune in the Cotes-d'Armor department (Brittany region) in the northwest of France from Saint-Brieuc, the department capital.
History
The area around Quintin has been occupied since the Neolithic. Early Quintin ...
in Côtes-d'Armor.
* The former parish of Bihoué in Morbihan was dedicated to Saint Bieuzy. It later became a ', or sub-division of a parish, integrated into the parish of
Quéven
Quéven (; ) is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France.
History
During World War I, Quéven lost one hundred and one of its children.
85% of the town was destroyed in World War II. In January 1945, the cit ...
in Morbihan.
* Saint Bieuzy's head is preserved in a
reliquary
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...
at the Chapelle de Notre-Dame-des-Orties in the parish of Pluvigner.
A number of springs in Brittany are dedicated to him:
:* The (in Bieuzy), built in the 16th century by the Rimaison family, whose coat of arms is at the top of the fountain. The source of the Saint-Bieuzy fountain would cure rabies in any dog that has just been bitten, and also toothache in a man provided that he goes around the
aedicule
In ancient Roman religion, an ''aedicula'' (plural ''aediculae'') is a small shrine, and in classical architecture refers to a niche covered by a pediment or entablature supported by a pair of columns and typically framing a statue,"aedicula, n." ...
three times with his mouth full of water. The statuette of Saint Bieuzy which occupied the niche at the centre of the fountain has disappeared since 1974.
:* The Bieuzy-Lanvaux spring in Pluvigner cures sufferers from toothache so long as they walk around the spring with water in the mouth.
:* The Saint-Bieuzy spring in Ploemeur, Morbihan (a hamlet in this commune also bears the name of Saint-Bieuzy). The spring is located about 300 metres east of this village; built in 1826, it was subsequently forgotten, lost in the brush, before being restored by a local association; "In the 19th century, mothers came to the spring with their babies (probably about a year old). After washing their clothes there, they went around the spring three times with their child in their arms. This was supposed to give strength to the child, who would be walking a few days later."