Saint Melaine (Latin: Melanius or Mellanus; Breton: Melani; Cornish: Melan; Welsh: Mellon) was a 6th-century Bishop of Rennes in Brittany (now in France).
Saint Melaine (Latin: Melanius or Mellanus; Breton: Melani; Cornish: Melan; Welsh: Mellon) was a 6th-century Bishop of Rennes in Brittany (now in France).
Melaine was born at near Redon in Plaz in Brain, to a Gallo-Roman family. [1] He became a monk and then abbot of a small monastery he established near his home. He was nominated the successor to Bishop Amand of Rennes. Traditions recounted by Baring-Gould state that on the death of Amand, he was compelled by the local population to become the next Bishop, accepting the role with great reluctance; that he performed many miracles and put an end to heathen practices; and that following his death at La Vilaine, his body was placed on a boat which then returned to Rennes against the current without the assistance of rowers or sails. [2] (However, Louis Duchesne is of opinion that the Amandus reckoned among the bishops of Rennes at the end of the fifth century is the same as Amand of Rodez. He therefore excludes him from his list of authentic bishops of Rennes. [3] )
During his rule, Clovis took over the area and Melaine became his trusted advisor. [4] He opposed immigration from Britain and attended the First Council of Orléans in 511. [1] He died at Plaz in 530 [4] and was buried in the Abbey Church of Notre-Dame en Saint-Mélaine in Rennes. [5]
Melaine quickly became revered as a saint, especially after the wooden tower above his grave burnt down and his tomb miraculously survived. Saint Melaine is the principal patron saint of the Diocese of Rennes. [6] The abbey church of Notre-Dame-en-Saint-Melaine in Rennes was dedicated to him.
His feast day is 6 November. [1] [5] In the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology, Melaine is listed under 6 November, with the Latin name Melánii. He is mentioned as follows: 'At Rhedónibus (Rennes) in Brittany, bishop, who passed to God in the place called Plácium on the River Vicenóniam (Vilaine), where with his own hands he built a church and gathered a congregation of monks and servants of God'. [7]
In the English translation of the 1956 edition of the Roman Martyrology, he is listed under 6 January with the citation: At Rennes, in France, St Melanius, Bishop and Confessor, who displayed innumerable virtues, and with his thoughts ever fixed on heaven, passed from the world in glory. [8] In the Diocese of Quimper his feast is celebrated on 6 January. [9]
In Cornwall, he is the patron of the villages of St Mellion and Mullion, where there is a tradition of his visit. [5]
In Wales, his feast is celebrated locally on 10 October rather than 11 October at St Mellons, in modern-day Cardiff, though there is ambiguity over whether Melaine is the Saint 'Mellonius' said to have been born there.
June 30 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - July 2
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January 5 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - January 7
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Melanius may refer to:
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The Diocese of Nantes is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Nantes, France. The diocese consists of the department of Loire-Atlantique. It has existed since the 4th century. It is now suffragan of the Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo, having previously been suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours. Its see is Nantes Cathedral in the city of Nantes.
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Redon Abbey, or Abbey of Saint-Sauveur, Redon, in Redon in the present Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, France, is a former Benedictine abbey founded in 832 by Saint Conwoïon, at the point where the Oust flows into the Vilaine, on the border between Neustria and Brittany.
October 21 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - October 23
Saint Teilo, also known by his Cornish name Eliud, was a British Christian monk, bishop, and founder of monasteries and churches. He was from Penalun (Penally) near Tenby in Pembrokeshire, south Wales.
Saint Goulven de Léon was a saint in Brittany in the 6th-7th century. Any knowledge of his life is derived from his vita, of which only a copy of a transcription of the original remains and whose historical accuracy is in question. According to that vita, he was the bishop of Saint-Pol-de-Léon in the seventh century, after having acquired a reputation as an ascetic and anchorite whose prayer and presence cured people and had helped fight off a Viking invasion. When he was elected as bishop, he tried to avoid that responsibility by going to Rome; after intervention by Pope Gregory I he returned and served for over a decade. He died in Rennes, where he was buried in the cathedral. He continued to be venerated in various parts of Brittany, most notably in the small commune of Goulven and other communes nearby in the Pays de Léon, the very western part of Finistère.
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