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Icon of Holy Abbot
Petroc of Cornwall
Feast: June 4
Petro was the younger son of King Glywys. On
his father's death, the people of Glywysing called for Petroc to take
the crown of one the country's sub-divisions, but Petroc wanted to
embrace the angelic life, and went to study in Ireland.
Several years later he returned to Britain, landing on the River Camel
in Cornwall. Directed by Saint Sampson to the hermitage of Saint
Wethnoc. Wethnoc agreed to give his cell to Petroc in order that he
could found a monastery on the site.
After 30 years as abbot, Petroc made a pilgrimage to Rome. On his
return, just as he reached Newton Saint Petroc, it began to rain.
Petroc predicted it would soon stop, but it rained for three days. In
penance for presuming to predict God's weather, Petroc returned to
Rome, then to Jerusalem, then to India where he lived seven years on an
island in the Indian Ocean.
Petroc returned to Britain with a wolf companion he had met in India.
Founded churches at Saint Petrox and Llanbedrog. In Cornwall, with the
help of Saint Wethnoc and Saint Sampson, he defeated a mighty serpent
that King Teudar of Penwith had used to devour his enemies. He then
left his monastery at Llanwethinoc to live as a hermit in the woods at
Nanceventon, some fellow monks following his example at Vallis Fontis.
While in the wilderness, a hunted deer sought shelter in Saint Petroc's
cell. Petroc protected it from the hunter, King Constantine of
Dumnonia, and converted the king to Christianity in the bargain.
Petroc later moved deep into the Cornish countryside, encountering the
hermit Saint Guron. Guron moved south allowing Petroc, with the backing
of King Constantine, to establish a monastery called Bothmena (the
Abode of Monks) at the site of the hermitage.
Top Icon: of unknown
provenance.
Next Icon: by the hand of
iconographer Jivko Donkov of Bulgaria.
Beneath the Icon: the reliquary of St. Petroc
of Cornwall.
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