On 4 June the church remembers Petroc, Saint Petroc of Cornwall, Confessor, Abbot, Missionary, Miracle-worker, Founder of Monasteries and Churches, Prince, died 594.

But who was Petroc?

Petroc, the foremost Cornish saint, is said to have been the son of a chieftain in South Wales. He rejected the call to rule the clan after his father’s death, opting instead to travel to Ireland to study. Eventually leaving Ireland he travelled to Cornwall. Once in Cornwall, Petroc founded a monastery at Lanwethinoc (Padstow). He remained for 30 years, only leaving to undertaking a pilgrimage to Rome.

One unsubstantiated legend tells that as he approached the monastery on his return it began to rain, whereupon Petroc confidently predicted it would soon stop. However the rain continued for three days and Petroc returned to Rome as penance for presuming to predict God’s actions.

He founded a second monastery at Petherick (Nanceventon) where he also built a mill and a chapel. Once this monastery was established Petroc moved to Bodmin Moor and began to live a solitary life. By the eleventh century the Augustinian monastery built on the site of Petroc’s cell had become a place of popular pilgrimage.

Like many early saints, an account of his life was written centuries after his death (eleventh century), and it is often difficult to distinguish between fact and embellishment. Petroc was referred to as the ‘captain of Cornish saints’ and the large number of place names and church dedications in Devon and Cornwall (and to a lesser extent in Wales) testify to his place in the pantheon of Celtic saints.

St Petroc gave his name to Padstow (Petroc’s – stow) and to Little Petherick [between Padstow and Wadebridge]. He was the Founder of Bodmin, which, for some time was an Abbey-Bishopric and remained the religious capital of Cornwall up to the end of the Middle Ages. He is also honoured in Brittany as St Perreux.

In 1177 his relics were stolen and taken to Brittany where they were housed in the abbey of Saint-Méen. Their return was only secured by the personal intervention of King Henry II.

Extract from Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship by John H Darch and Stuart K Burns