Saint Piran

For the coastal town and a municipality in southwestern Slovenia, see Piran. For the cycling team, see Saint Piran (cycling team).

Saint

Piran
Bornc. 5th century
Unknown
Diedc. 480
Perranzabuloe, Cornwall (possibly)
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodoxy[1]
Anglican Communion
CanonizedPre-Congregation
Major shrinePerranzabuloe
Feast5 March[1][2][3][4][5]
PatronageTinners; Cornwall

Piran or Pyran (Cornish: Peran; Latin: Piranus[6]), died c. 480,[1][7][8][9] was a 5th-century Cornish abbot and saint, possibly of Irish origin. He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Michael and Petroc also have some claim to this title.[note 1][note 2]

The consensus of scholarship has identified the "Life" of Piran as a copy of that of the Irish saint Ciarán of Saigir with the names changed.[3][4][5][12][13][note 3][note 4] While we cannot be certain of Piran’s origins, it is generally accepted that he was Irish, that he spent time in Wales and later was expelled from Ireland because of his powerful preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.[15] Having been thrown into the sea tied to a mill stone, he miraculously arrived on the shores of Cornwall where he built his tiny oratory and continued his work of evangelism, founding communities.[15]

Saint Piran's Flag, a white cross on a black background, is the county flag of Cornwall.[16] Saint Piran's Day falls on 5 March.

  1. ^ a b c Patrons - The Orthodox Church of Archangel Michael and Holy Piran. Oecumenical Patriarchate, Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Laity Moor, Nr Ponsanooth, Cornwall. TR3 7HR. Retrieved: 16 February 2016.
  2. ^ a b Rev. Richard Stanton. A Menology of England and Wales, or, Brief Memorials of the Ancient British and English Saints Arranged According to the Calendar, Together with the Martyrs of the 16th and 17th Centuries. London: Burns & Oates, 1892. p. 102.
  3. ^ a b Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). March 5 - St. Kiaran, or Kenerin, Bishop and Confessor. The Lives of the Saints - Volume III: March (Bartleby.com). 1866. Retrieved: 15 September 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Saint Ciaran of Saigir". New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge; Vol. III: Chamier - Draendorf. p. 117.
  5. ^ a b William Haslam (Rev). Perran-Zabuloe: With an Account of the Past and Present State of the Oratory of St. Piran in the Sands. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster, 1844. pp.53-56.
  6. ^ St Piran’s Oratory Archived 4 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine. St Piran Trust. Retrieved: 15 September 2015.
  7. ^ Piran (Pyran) March 5. Orthodox England on the 'net (St John's Orthodox Church, Colchester). Retrieved: 15 September 2015.
  8. ^ Matthew Bunson and Margaret Bunson. Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints. Second Edition. Our Sunday Visitor, 2014. pp. 683-684. ISBN 978-1612787169 pp. 683-684.
  9. ^ William Haslam (Rev). Perran-Zabuloe: With an Account of the Past and Present State of the Oratory of St. Piran in the Sands. London: John Van Voorst, Paternoster Row, 1844. p. 56.
  10. ^ Caroline Brett, 'Petroc (fl. 6th cent.)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 16 December 2008
  11. ^ "The Irish Monasteries in Germany." Ulster Journal of Archaeology. First Series, Vol. 7 (1859), p. 231.
  12. ^ (in Latin) Horstmann, Carl. "De Sancto Pirano Episcopo Et Confessore." In: Nova Legenda Anglie. VOL. II. Re-edited from the 1516 Edition of Wynkyn de Worde. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1901. pp. 320-328.
  13. ^ Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould (M.A.). "S. KIERAN OR PIRAN, AB. OF SAIGIR. (ABOUT A.D. 552.)" In: The Lives of the Saints. Volume the Third: March. London: John C. Nimmo, 1897. pp. 66-72. p. 69.
  14. ^ Horstmann, Carl. Nova Legenda Anglie. Re-edited from the 1516 Edition of Wynkyn de Worde. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1901. p. xxvi.
  15. ^ a b Patrons. The Orthodox Church of Archangel Michael and Holy Piran. Oecumenical Patriarchate, Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. Laity Moor, Nr Ponsanooth, Cornwall. TR3 7HR. Wayback Machine: 31 March, 2016. Retrieved: 10 February 2023.
  16. ^ "Flag of Cornwall". The Flag Institute. Retrieved 23 June 2017.


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