Saint Piran

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For the coastal town and a municipality in southwestern Slovenia please see Piran (Italian Pirano)

Saint Piran or Perran (traditionally in Cornwall, saints are simply named, without this title) is an early 6th century Cornish abbot and saint, supposedly of Irish origin.

He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Saint Michael and Saint Petroc also have some claim to this title. Saint Piran's Flag is a white cross on a black background. St Piran's Day is March 5th.

Contents

1 Irish connections
2 Legends
3 Death and veneration
4 External links

Irish connections

Piran is the most famous of all the Irish saints who came to Cornwall, although he may have been actually born in Cornwall. He certainly spent much of his life in the Emerald Isle. His name is probably a P-Celtic form of the Irish name Ciaran and he may thus be identified with Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, the son of a Cornishman who founded the monastery of Clonmacnoise (Clumaineteno) in County Offaly.

Legends

The heathen Irish tied him to a mill-stone, rolled it over the edge of a cliff into a stormy sea, which immediately became calm, and the saint floated safely over the water to land upon the sandy beach of Perranzabulo in Cornwall, where his first converts to Christianity were said to be animals.
He was joined at Perranzabulo by many of his (human) Christian converts and together they founded the Abbey of Lanpiran, with Piran as abbot.
St Piran 'rediscovered' tin-smelting (tin had been smelted in Cornwall since before the Romans' arrival, but the methods had since been lost) when his black hearthstone, which was evidently a slab of tin-bearing ore, had the tin smelt out of it and rise to the top in the form of a white cross (thus the image on the flag).
The St Piran story is therefore interesting as it shows how legends can be used to retell the way things were. Therefore, in spite of being the main source of Celtic Christianity, the Irish are heathens. In addition, somehow the Cornish lost the ability to smelt tin in spite of no evidence this happened and needed divine intervention to remember.

Death and veneration

It is said that at his death the remains of the Blessed Martin the Abbot which he had brought from Ireland were buried with him at Perranzabuloe. His own remains were subsequently exhumed and redistributed to be venerated in various reliquaries. Exeter Cathedral was reputed to be the possessor of one of his arms, while according to an inventory, St Piran's Church, Perranzabuloe, had a reliquary containing his head and also a hearse in which his body was placed for processionals.

St Piran's Day is very popular in Cornwall and the term 'Piranstide' (or alternate spellings) has been coined to describe the week prior to this day. Many Cornish-themed events occur in the Duchy and also in areas in which there is a large community descended from Cornish emigrants. The town of Perranporth ('Piran's Port' in Cornish) hosts the annual inter-Celtic festival of ['Lowender Peran'], which is also named in honour of him.

The largest St Piran's Day event is the March across the dunes to St Piran's cross which thousands of people attend, generally dressed in black, white and gold, and carrying the Cornish Flag. A play of the Life of St Piran, in Cornish, has been enacted in recent years at the event. Daffodils are also carried and placed at the cross. Daffodils also feature in celebrations in Truro, most likely due to their 'gold' colour. Black, white and gold are colours associated with Cornwall due to St Piran's Flag (black and white), and the Duchy Shield (gold coins on black).

External links

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