A book of the west. Volume 2, Cornwall : $b being an introduction to Devon and CornwallBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A book of the west. Volume 2, Cornwall : $b being an introduction to Devon and Cornwall
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Cornwall (England : County)
His mother is called Gwen the Three-breasted, and she is actually
represented with three breasts on a monument in Brittany. She was niece
of Constantine I. of Cornwall and Devon, and cousin of Geraint. Gwen
had been married before, and had become the mother of S. Cadfan. She
and her husband had a rough time of it when they landed in Brittany,
at Brehat, at the mouth of the Gouet, as the region was almost void of
population, and given up to wilderness and wood. Winwaloe was sent into
the little islet of Brehat to S. Budoc, who lived there and received
and taught disciples. It is interesting to know that the circular huts,
or foundations of the huts, of his monastery still exist there as well
as the cemetery, and the abbot’s beehive habitation is kept in repair
as a landmark for fishermen.
When Winwaloe came to man’s estate he resolved on founding a monastery
of his own. He gathered together a certain number of disciples,
thirteen in all, and they settled on a bleak island off the western
coast, and remained there for three years.
On this islet was a rocky hill, whereon S. Winwaloe sat and taught; and
far away to the east, as he taught, he saw the green forests and the
smiling pastures of the mainland golden with buttercups, and there rose
the smoke from the hearths of the inhabitants.
Now when the three years were ended, one day there came an
extraordinary ebb-tide. And when the saint saw that there was a way
dry, or almost dry, to the land, “Arise,” said he; “in God’s name let
us go over;” and he bade his disciples follow him. “But,” said he, “let
none go alone; let one hold my hand, and with his other hand hold his
brother’s, and so let us advance in chain, and we shall peradventure be
able to reach the land before the tide turns and overwhelms all. Let
us hold together, that the strong may support the weak, and that if one
falls the others may lift him up.”
Now when Winwaloe said this, he spoke like a true Cornishman, and it
shows that the great Cornish principle of One and All was seated in his
heart all those centuries ago; in fact, in the sixth century.
An old miner from Australia said to me the other day, “Never saw such
fellows as those Cornishmen; they hold together like bees. When I
was out in Australia there was a Cornishman with me, my pal. One day
someone said to us, ‘There is a Cornishman from Penzance just landed
at Melbourne.’ ‘Where’s his diggings?’ asked my pal. ‘Oh, he is gone
up country to----’ I forget the name of the mine. Will you believe it,
off went my pal walking, I can’t tell you how far, and was away several
days from his work--gone off to see that newly-arrived chap; didn’t
know his name even, but _he was a Cornishman_, and that was enough to
draw him.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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