ST. HERBOT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1938, Page 7

ST. HERBOT

MANY MIRACLES PERFORMED. Few saints are more venerated in Brittany than St Herbot, a saint who was born in England but crossed to Brittany in the eighth century, living the life of a hermit in its forests. The tomb of St Herbot, on which his stone effigy reclines, is in a little chapel erected to him in the fifteenth century. Strangest of thanks-offerings, a number of cow’s tails are laid on a side table, close to the altar. St Herbot, the saint alike of man and beast, performed many miracles, healing men and cattle and causing wild beasts to obey his command. A custom connected with the saint is observed still in many farms of Brittany. No animal is allowed to work on the day set aside each year in honour of the saint. Cattle are driven right round the little church, so that they may be preserved from illness for a whole year.

Although small, the church of St Herbot is among the most beautiful in Brittany. It has a porch of the fifteenth century, an entrance door and fine stained glass window of the Passion of the sixteenth century, and in architecture it is a curious but beautiful blending of Gothic and Renaissance.