page_title: Ronan of Locronan
section_title: Miracles and cult
hierarchical_section_title: Ronan of Locronan / Synopsis of Ronan’s earliest Life / Miracles and cult
caption_attribution_description: English: Reliquary of St Ronan at Locronan, Brittany
context_page_description: Saint Ronan was an Irish pilgrim saint and hermit in western Brittany. He was a son of Saint Berach and the eponymous founder of Locronan and co-patron of Quimper, together with its founder, Saint Corentin.
context_section_description: The second part of the text focuses on events after Ronan's death, his miracles, the growth of his cult and the fate of his relics. Since he died outside of Cornouaille, a quarrel arose over where to bury his body. The issue was decided by placing the body on a cart, dragged by wild oxen, and leaving it for them to drag wherever they would. The king of Cornouaille proved to be the only person able to lift the body and place it on a bier, which healed his arm of an old wound. The wild oxen driving the cart walked straight to the saint's cell in the forest of Névez. There the body was interred and the little settlement of Locronan grew up around the burial place (§ 11).
  The text subsequently makes a few leaps through time. It is said, for instance, that following a wave of Viking incursions, a new chapel was built at the site (§ 12). Without giving any explicit explanation, the final chapters relate that the saint's relics were at some date translated, with appropriate pomp, to Quimper (Latin Confluentia). The presence of his relics in the town and the control over them by the clergy led to a series of miracles. One man is said to have been cured of dumbness after praying at the altar on which the saint's relics were placed; another was freed from demonic possession after spending a night under the saint's shrine; and the town was spared destruction by fire when the clergy used the relics to ward off the flames (§ 12–15).
  Although at Quimper, Ronan was only an 'imported' saint next to the native saint Corentin, so the manifestation of his presence through such tangible means as his relics gave him one advantage in his favour. Possession of Ronan's relics and the written word gave the clergy distinct instruments by which to defend and promote the saint's cult. By contrast, Corentin enjoyed a strong local cult, which was little disturbed by the loss of relics and did not depend for its survival on the production of a written Life (though one was produced).
caption: Reliquary of St Ronan at Locronan
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