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Saint Hervé

statue of Saint-Hervé, date and artist unknown; interior of the church of Saint-Hervé de Lanhouarneau, France; photographed on 15 October 2011 by GO69; swiped from Wikimedia Commons Also known as

Erveo
Harvey
Herveus
Hervues
Herve
Houarniaule
Huva

Memorial

17 June

Profile

Son of the bard Hyvarnion, Herve was born blind. His father died when Herve was an infant, his mother, Rivanone, became an anchoress, and the boy was entrusted to the care of his uncles and a renowned holy man with whom he stayed until his teenage years. He lived for a while as a hermit and bard, then joined a monastic school at Plouvien, France which had been founded by his uncle. Abbot at Plouvien. He migrated with part of his community to found a new house in Lanhouarneau. Singer. Minstrel. Teacher. Miracle worker. One of the most popular saints in Brittany, he figures in the area’s folklore. Reported to have a special ministry of healing animals, and to have a domesticated wolf as a companion. Legend says that the wolf killed and ate the ox that Herve used to plow his fields; Herve then preached such a moving sermon the wolf repented his ways, moved to Herve’s hermitage, and ploughed Herve’s fields in place of the ox.