Venerable Branwaladr of Milton Abbas, Hermit of Devon

St Brewards Church, Cornwall

The sixth of June in the Orthodox Church is the feast day of Saint Branwaladr, a sixth-century British holy man from Devon. A faithful disciple of Saint Samson of Dol who accompanied his master on his farings in Brittany and in the Channel Islands, Branwaladr may have established churches there as well as in Cornwall and in his own native Devon.

Saint Branwaladr [also Breward or Brélade] was – so the Exeter Martyrology tells us – a younger son born to the prolific Cynan Meriadoc, Brythonic king of Dumnonia in what is now the English South-West, by his second marriage to the Romano-British Dareca. He was apparently present when Saint Samson came through Cornwall, evangelising the area; and he was impressed enough by the saint to accept baptism and agree to follow him on his journeys. Little else is known about the life of Branwaladr than this, however we can infer some things about it given the toponyms that are associated with him.

Branwaladr is, like Helier, commemorated on Jersey, where he is locally known as Saint Brélade. He has given his name to a parish on the island, the one furthest to the southwest, as well as to the bay it compasses. He is also commemorated in Cornwall as Saint Breward, and is patron of a kirk in Bodmin Moor as well as of a holy well. These may be considered his places of hermitage and possible foundation of church communities. In addition, his cultus was active in Winchester and Exeter.

Branwaladr died, probably in Brittany, on the sixth of June, which is when his feast day is kept there. The Orthodox Church also recognises a feast of the translation of his relics on the nineteenth of January, which is how the saint is associated with Milton Abbas. His relics were brought from Brittany to England by Breton monks, who were fleeing the invasion of the Normans and sought to protect the relics of their beloved saints. These monks were received hospitably by Æþelstán King in 935, and the relics were installed in January of that year at the recently-founded Church of St Mary in Milton. The church would later be given to the Benedictine Order by the Éadgár King in 964, and rededicated not only to the Holy Theotokos, but also to Saints Samson and Branwaladr. Venerable Branwaladr, pray to Christ our God for us sinners!

Milton Abbey, Dorset