St Piran: Cornwall's Symbol

St Piran: The patron saint of Cornwall. Everyone knows his name, but do you actually know who he was, or what he did? Well if you don't by the end of this blog you will!

The Legend
So this is how the story goes. St Piran was born in Ireland sometime in the 6th century A.D . He became a christian Abbott and decided to preach the good Lord's name to the world, Hallelujah! Unfortunately for St Piran the heathen Irish weren't too keen on the idea of God and his troublemaker son Jesus. So instead of converting, they thought it would be a better idea to tie poor old Piran up, attach him to a mill-stone and throw him into the ocean. Problem solved, except when he was thrown into the stormy ocean, the sea grew calm, the rains stopped and the giant stone floated. A miracle if I had ever seen one! So as the heathens stood in disbelief, Piran sailed off into the sunset (I imagine he was also waving the middle finger, but that probably didn't happen).

He finally came ashore on a sandy beach in Perranzabuloe, where he set up a church, and helped spread Christendom to the Cornish, who I might add were much more welcoming than the Irish!
The Cornish had also been known as skilled miners and had supplied the Romans with tin for centuries, but due to the fall of Rome the skill of tin smelting had become lost. Luckily Piran rediscovered this method, by smelting the tin out of his black hearthstone, which must of been a tin-bearing ore. The rumour is that as the molten tin came across the hearthstone it formed a white cross. White molten tin cross on a black hearthstone background? That's a great idea for a flag, and that is exactly what the Cornish flag symbolises.

After many years St Piran died and his remains were buried at his abbey in Perranzabuloe. Centuries later his remains were exhumed and redistributed to different churches across the country. Exeter Cathedral got an arm, Perranzabuloe got his head so on and so forth. Churches in Perranarworthal and Perranuthnoe were dedicated to him. And holy wells in Perranwell and Probus are named after him. There also towns in Brittany named after him and even a mountain in Canada! Thats the story or is it?

The Probable Truth
This can be quite confusing so keep up!
The Irish Saint Ciarán of Saighir, who founded the monastery at Seir-Kieran (Saighir) in County Offaly, is widely believed to also be St Piran, this is due to the fact that in the Celtic language The 
P-Celtic Brythonic (Cornish, Welsh, and Breton) 'P' can easily be transformed into the
Q-Celtic Goidelic (Gaelic, Manx, and Scottish) 'C'. I am not gonna pretend I really know what that means but if you do your research it keeps coming up! It is also believed Ciarán had travelled to Britain to spread christianity. The feast day of Saint Ciarán is also March 5. In the 14th Century the life of St Piran was written at Exeter Cathedral, where rumour has it the records were modified to distance Piran from Ciarán. Who knew the Catholic church could be so devious?

Well there you have it in a nutshell, but as I have been researching this, whether or not he was Piran or Ciarán. I thought to myself does it really matter? He certainly didn't float here on a rock! But he is a symbol for Cornish pride, and as a nation (we ARE a nation, whether England likes it or not!) you need symbols, a rallying point to share your heritage. March 5th is a day to venerate him and show the rest of the world that we are proud to be Cornish.  KERNOW BYS VYKEN!