Saint Briag (Breton) or Briac (French) was an Irish
monk
A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
who came to
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
in the company of Saint
Tudwal
Saint Tudwal (died c. 564), also known as Tual, Tudgual, Tugdual, Tugual, Pabu, Papu, or Tugdualus (Latin), was a Breton monk, considered to be one of the seven founder saints of Brittany.
Life
Tudwal was said to be the son of Hoel Mawr (H ...
. His feast day is 17 December.
Biography
Born of Irish nobility, he lived during the sixth century. After his studies, he left his country to join a
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
in Wales led by the
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
Tudwal. They landed in
Armorica
In ancient times, Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; ; ) was a region of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, and much of historical Normandy.
Name
The name ''Armorica'' is a Latinized form of the Gauli ...
, Brittany and evangelized the entire north coast. Saint Briag is invoked for the cure of mental illnesses. He is said to have endowed the village with a miraculous spring, thus healing all these afflictions. He died around the year 555 and his tomb is today in Bourbriac in
Côtes-d'Armor
The Côtes-d'Armor ( , ; ; , ), formerly known as Côtes-du-Nord until 1990 (, ), is a department in the north of Brittany, in northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 600,582.
The communeSaint-Briac-sur-Mer is named for Saint Briag. Today, Briag is a common given name in Breton with several variant spellings and derivations, including Brian or Bryan.
Legend and reality
The entire history of Briag depends on a text written by the Breton monk Albert Le Grand in 1632, 11 centuries after the legendary life of the saint, and based on some no longer existing 12th century manuscripts. There is no other historical trace of the saint. His cult did not definitively appear until the 16th century. A more historical study of the saint shows that he probably did not live in the 6th century. Furthermore, the name Briag/Briac/Briacc does not appear in any Irish sources, but is Brittonic or even Breton similar to many names in the region which end in ''-ac''. It is more likely that Briag was a monk in Upper Brittany in the 10th century who was sent to Lower Brittany to help with the re-catechization of the Bretons after the devastation of the Vikings.