Felec or Felix was an obscure 5th- or 6th-century British saint active in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

. The church of St Felicitas and St Piala's Church, Phillack near

Hayle Hayle ( kw, Heyl, "estuary") is a port town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately seven miles (11 km) northeast of Penzance. ...

is dedicated to Saint Felec (as he appears in a 10th-century

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum The Holy See * The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...

codex). Later generations mistook him for the female Saint Felicity (alias Felicitas) of Rome.Orme, Nicholas. ''The Saints of Cornwall'', OUP Oxford, 2000
, p. 121 Saint Felix was said to have had the miraculous gift of being able to communicate with lions, cats, and other

feline Feline may refer to: Zoology * Loosely, Felidae, a member of the cat family, which includes the subfamilies Pantherinae and Felinae (conventionally designated a felid) ** Following the taxonomic convention, Felinae, the subfamily of Felidae that ...

creatures. There is also a Mount St Phillack in

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

not far from Mount St Gwinear. Felec could be equated with Felix, a supposed early king of either

Lyonesse Lyonesse is a kingdom which, according to legend, consisted of a long strand of land stretching from Land's End at the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, to what is now the Isles of Scilly in the Celtic Sea portion of the Atlantic Ocean. ...

and the father of

Mark of Cornwall Mark of Cornwall ( la, Marcus, kw, Margh, cy, March, br, Marc'h) was a sixth-century King of Kernow (Cornwall), possibly identical with King Conomor. He is best known for his appearance in Arthurian legend as the uncle of Tristan and the h ...

, according to the Prose ''Tristan'' (c. 1235) and later Italian

Arthurian romance The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

s, but this reference is very late. The character is probably mythical, having been confused with the 7th-century saint

Felix of Burgundy Felix of Burgundy, also known as Felix of Dunwich (died 8 March 647 or 648), was a saint and the first bishop of the East Angles. He is widely credited as the man who introduced Christianity to the kingdom of East Anglia. Almost all that is k ...

. Like Lyonesse,

Dunwich Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was ...

, the centre of his diocese, was inundated by the flood that led to the destruction of Lyonesse. Piala is said to have been the sister of

Saint Gwinear Saint Gwinear was a Celtic martyr, one of only two early Cornish saints whose biographies survived the Reformation. The ''Life of Gwinear'' was written in the early 14th century by a priest named Anselm, and has sometimes been printed among ...

References

External links

"Saint Felec", The Saints of Great Britain and Ireland - a synaxarion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felec Of Cornwall Christian saints in unknown century Arthurian characters Medieval Cornish saints Year of birth unknown

See also

References

External links