Before the Bretons came, the land now known as Brittany was known as Armorica within the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis. The earliest saint associated with this region is Anne, mother of Mary (mother of Jesus), who purportedly appeared to Yves Nicolazic and spoke to him in Breton. Saint Anne is the patroness of Brittany.[1]
After her, the earliest saints in what is now Brittany have dates which are sometimes unclear, but tradition holds they go back to the earliest days of the church. Maximinus, said to have been sent to preach among the Gauls, was made the first Bishop of Rennes.[2]Pope Linus, the second Bishop of Rome, sent Clair and Adeodatus. Clair became the first Bishop of Nantes around AD 280 and died early in the third century;[3] Adeodatus preached primarily in the area of Vannes. Other Armorican saints include Similien, the third Bishop of Nantes, who converted the brother-martyrs Donatian and Rogatian.[4]Palladius may also have had an Armorican connection.[5]
The Bretons, coming from the British Isles, brought Christianity with them. With the coming of the Bretons, the seven ancient dioceses were established by the seven founding saints.
Of the Fifteen Martyrs of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and the Ursulines of Valenciennes (of the Martyrs of the French Revolution, beatified in 1920
^Arthur de La Borderie, "Saint Clair and the origins of the Church of Nantes as the true tradition" (Plihon, 1884).
^L. Clermont, Souvenirs et notes historiques. Paroisse Saint Similien, Nantes, Vincent Forest et Émile Grimaud, 1894, 24 p. (notice BnF no FRBNF34124426, lire en ligne).
^Duff, J. Wight and A. M. Duff trans. (1922). Minor Latin Poets. Loeb Classical Library. pp. 782f.
M. de Garaby, Vie des bienheureux et des saints de Bretagne, éd. J.-M. Williamson, Nantes, 1839. Réédition 1991.
P.T. de S. Luc, C. L'Histoire de Conan Mériadec Qui Fait le Premier regne de l'histoire generale des souverains de la Bretagne Gauloise, dite Armorique. Paris, 1664.
2.jpg)
