What do we know about saint Quay?

Statue de saint Quay dans la vallée des saints à Carnoët (22)

Saint-Quay’s representations

Saint Quay is sometimes depicted as a bishop, sometimes as an abbot, sometimes as a hermit.

Statue de saint Quay – Eglise de Saint-Quay

L’apostolat de saint Quay – Eglise de Saint-Quay

Saint Quay – Chapelle Saint-Michel de Glomel (22)

Saint Quay navigue dans son auge de pierre

But what do we know about him?

Saint Quay is thought to be one of the many religious who came to Brittany from the islands in the 5th century, and whom we know from late hagiographic accounts, the “vitae” (lives of the saints), written between the 11th and 13th centuries for the edification of the faithful and influenced by the literature of the time, particularly the novels of the Round Table.

Whether named Ké, Kennan, Kerrien or Colledoc, Saint Quay has given his name to numerous communes and places of worship. He is venerated on both sides of the Channel. However, there is no certainty as to who is behind these different names.

What was this saint’s life, real or imagined? Hagiographic accounts and folk tales tell different stories…

Between hagiographic accounts …

A chapter of the work entitled “Les vies des saints de la Bretagne Armorique” , written in 1636 by Albert le Grand, relates the life of Saint Quay. This Dominican friar from Morlaix based his account on ancient oral tradition and a now lost 12 eh century manuscript.

In an era deeply imbued with spirituality, every event in life was considered to be the result of divine intervention. The saint’s life was made up of a succession of marvellous and miraculous episodes, with divine power enabling him to triumph over the forces of evil.

So, before settling in Armorique, Saint Quay decided to give up his episcopal office to found a hermitage for himself and his companions in Cornouaille. One day, a deer chased by the local lord took refuge and hid there. The angry lord then seized the oxen that enabled Saint Quay to pull his plough. The next day, deer showed up, allowed themselves to be harnessed to the plough and served the saint and his followers… In memory of this marvel, the field was named “the deer field”. Shortly afterwards, the cruel lord fell from his horse and broke his neck.

Livre de la chasse de Gaston Phébus – 1507 – BNF

While crossing to Armorica with his disciples, Saint Quay asked a wealthy Cornouaille merchant for some provisions. The merchant mockingly pointed to a large wheat barge that had run aground and challenged them to take the whole thing. And the wheat barge alone followed the ship of Saint Quay and his companions to Cléder, near Roscoff, where he founded a monastery around which grew the most opulent wheat crops ever seen.

As his reputation for holiness spread, he was asked to take part in peace negotiations between King Arthur and his nephew Mordred, who had rebelled against him. He crossed the sea again, but arrived too late; Arthur and Mordred had died at the battle of Camlann (Salisbury).

Unwilling to see the ruin and desolation of his country, Saint Quay returned to Cléder, where he died around the year 495. At his tomb, several sick people who had asked for his intercession received relief from their infirmities…

Fontaine Saint-Quay – Cleder (22)

… and legends

There is no mention of a grounding in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc in this story….

The miraculous crossing in a stone trough or on a floating stone is a theme often encountered in stories about Breton saints. Although Saint Quay’s story does not appear in Albert le Grand’s account, it does belong to folk tales, and its variants are numerous.

Saint Quay is said to have arrived at the end of his strength at Kertugal in a stone trough, with no sail, no oars and no food, as recounted in the text engraved on the fountain. At the sight of him, the washerwomen took fright, whipped him with broom and left him for dead. A miraculous spring sprang up beneath his body and healed him of his wounds.

Other variants exist, including the one recounted in 1879 by Ernest Du Laurent de la Barre (one of the forerunners in the collection of tales and legends that circulated during wakes).

It is entitled: Saint Quay et les femmes curieuses. The podcast is available after the summary.

Summary:

On his way back from Jerusalem, Saint-Quay saw a village[Kertugal?] and asked some chattering women for a drink. Frightened by his appearance as a skinny, shaggy pilgrim, they chased him away. The saint then made a spring by sticking his finger into a rock. Mistaking him for a sorcerer, the women whipped him with broom branches, seized him and carried him to a trough, which they threw into the sea from the cliff top. Miraculously, this curious skiff landed on its feet and began to sail. All the women leaned over the cliff and stretched their necks to observe this prodigy. Since that day, local women have kept their necks long and crooked…

The devil appeared in a black boat and tried to seize Saint Quay. But having blessed some rainwater that had fallen into his hat, Saint Quay sprinkled it on the devil, who immediately disappeared.

Saint Quay et les femmes curieuses