St James’ Church, Jacobstow, Cornwall
The eighth of February is the feast day of Saint Iago, fifth-century Cornish founder of churches and abbeys in eastern Brittany. Saint Iago is traditionally venerated alongside his brothers Ss Gwyddnog and Gwenolau, his sister Saint Creirwy, and the founding hermit of Padstow, Saint Pedrog. He is the half-brother of Saint Cadfan of Ynys Enlli.
Saint Iago [Cornish Jago, Breton Iagu, Gallo-French Jacut, also occasionally called James in English] was the twin brother of Saint Gwyddnog of Padstow. The two were the elder sons by Saint Gwen ‘Teirbron’ of Dorset by her second husband, Saint Fragan of Armorica. The four of them lived at first in Cornwall, but they were forced to flee for Brittany by the plagues and warfare with the Saxons that were then ravaging Devon. Iago and Gwyddnog grew up together in the home their parents Fragan and Gwen hewed out of the woods for them at Ploufragan. The saintly husband and wife soon gave the two twins a younger brother, Gwenolau, and a young sister, Creirwy.
Both Gwyddnog and Iago were sent by their parents to be tutored by Saint Beuzeg of Dol, then living in nearby Île-de-Bréhat, when they came of age. Saint Beuzeg doted on them both, and gave them the very best of educations he could provide. The twins responded enthusiastically to his mentorship.
It is known that Gwyddnog returned to Cornwall in his adulthood, and that he was known to Saint Pedrog and Saint Samson – with whom he seemed to have something of a territorial dispute over Padstow. However, it also seems likely that Saint Iago returned to his Cornish homeland as well. There is a Jacobstow – in Cornish Lannjago, or ‘Jago’s Church’ – northeast of Tintagel, where the Church of Saint James is dedicated to his memory. There is also a holy well at St Breward which is actually attributed to Saint Iago. There are several other chapels named for Saint James in Cornwall, but these chapels lack the same clear toponymic attribution to a local saint, and they may in fact be dedications to Saint James the Apostle or Saint James the Brother of the Lord.
It was in his adoptive home rather than in his birthplace, however, that Saint Iago was to spend most of his life and his career, first as a hermit and then as the head of a monastery. When he returned to Brittany in his adulthood, he settled down at Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer, where he founded an abbey. Even today, the fingering jut of land that stabs northward into the sea between Arguenon and Le Drouet, on which stands L’Abbaye de Saint-Jacut, has a solitary and contemplative atmosphere. No doubt Saint Iago found it ideal for the eremitical life of struggle against the passions that he sought to pursue.
Even so, though this was where Saint Iago spent the rest of his life, he did not stay wholly stationary there. His preaching and missionary work took him far inland, as the toponyms again attest. He is the patron of Saint-Jacut-du-Mené (now part of the commune of Le Mené) and Saint-Jacut-les-Pins, in both of which places he founded churches. It is unclear which year he reposed in the Lord, but his feast day is attested with a high degree of reliability on the eighth of February. In art and iconography he is depicted with a star shining above him and a ship in his hand. Holy abbot Iago, founder of churches in Cornwall and Brittany, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
L’Abbaye de Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer, Bretagne, France
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