Hello. This is Lize Kergonan. Today, I tell you the story of Tugdual de Tréguier. Tugdual was born in the late 5th or early 6th century, probably in Wales like Pol, and is somewhat younger than him. As you can see, the information is approximate.
His father, Hoël I, was king in Armorica. His mother, Pompeïa, a Welsh woman, is also known as Saint Coupaïa. He had two brothers : Hoël who became Hoël II on the death of his father and Lunaire, Saint Lunaire. He also had a sister, Sainte Sève. In his family you are either king or saint.
The Breton “saints” are not martyrs thrown to the lions, they are monks who studied in a monastery, to then organize the arrival in Armorica of migrants from Great Britain, they clear the forests in order to cultivate the lands… A few miracles on that, and it’s all good ! Hoël, his father was a nephew of King Arthur. This is why in his youth he joined him on the island of Great Britain to lend him a hand. In Wales he met Pompeia, and it was there that Tugdual was born. When he was old enough to study, his parents sent him to the monastery of Saint Illtud, which I already told you about in the first video about Pol. Embracing the monastic path did not displease him. Lannilltud was a famous place and he loved to learn. He loved manuscripts more than weapons and he immediately felt good at school. Pol had been trained there a few years before and Samson, David, Gildas, remained his friends all their lives. Then Lunaire, his little brother, joined him there. Aside from prayer and the Gospel, Illtud taught them crazy things : making a spring flow with a stick, healing the sick, resurrecting the dead, taming dragons… It was the beginning of the 6th century, and there were still dragons in Brittany.
Fortunately the Breton saints came to exterminate them, otherwise we would be in trouble ! Very quickly, Tugdual loved fasting, the feeling of lightness and euphoria that it caused, he became completely addicted to fasting. So as soon as Illtud considered that he was ready, he retired to a hermitage. He slept on the floor, prayed all day. Despite himself, his reputation spread around. The villagers and peasants asked him for advice and prayer recommendations. Above all, they asked for healing from illnesses. Tugdual prayed to God, laid hands, healed. He was happy to apply Illtud’s teachings.
It is also said that he stayed in Ireland long enough for people to believe him to be Irish. When Tugdual became abbot of a monastery, he thought he would end his life there. But an angel appeared to him one night. He said to him : “Tugdual, God commands you to leave Great Britain, your homeland, and move hastily to little Britain. » Tugdual found this vocabulary and this intrusion strange, he assumed that it was due to an abuse of prolonged fasting or that Satan was tempting him ; he replied to the angel that he was asking for double validation. The next night the angel returned…
Tugdual was still not convinced… on the third night the angel spoke more firmly, Tugdual resolved to obey, God’s patience is not his main quality .
It must have been around 525/530, at which time Hoël I died. Hoël II, brother of Tugdual, became king in Armorica, his mother, a widow, very much wanted to return to continental Brittany where she had spent several years in her youth. She was the sister of Riwall, Rivallon, the first great Breton king installed in Armorica. As for Sève, as long as she was left to pray in peace and was not asked to marry, she was ready to follow them wherever they wished.
FYI, don’t be confused by this back and forth between Britain and Armorica : at that time, kings could have a kingdom in each country. For example, Domnonée which corresponds to most of northern Armorica was also a kingdom on the other side of the Channel, with the same king. I won’t talk about how the migration happened.
I will tell you the “Vita” of our saint and will provide a historical overview in another video. “Vita” is a Latin word, which means… “life”. In the form of a book ( originally a manuscript) the lives of the saints are recounted. But these are not simple biographies ! They are saints, all the same. So we devote “hagiographies” to them, from the ancient Greek [ἅγιος] “saint”, and [γράφω] “to write”, the hagiographies are written by… hagiographers ! But since the hagiographers in question were monks of the Roman Church who wrote several centuries later, I will leave it to you to assess the historical reliability. Moreover, it was very coded : a childhood of a little saint, dragons, miracles, etc. Finally, you will see clearly.
So… at the urgent request of the angel representing God, Tugdual went to the nearest port, with seventy-two monks, his mother Pompeïa-Coupaïa, his sister Sève and the widow Maheleu who had imposed herself, claiming she would be needed to do the laundry. As hermit monks, it was their responsibility to ensure their cleanliness, that said, they nevertheless remained men and if it really pleased this lady too much, they could not oppose her vocation. On the coast of Cornwall a ship was waiting for them. He led them to the shore of Leon in Armorica the next day, then immediately after their disembarkation he disappeared. Which, as everyone will admit, was irrefutable proof of its miraculous nature. On reflection, the captain looked strangely like the angel in the dream. They were on the Kermorvan peninsula, in a small port in the parish of Ploumoguer, not far from Le Conquet.
They needed to find a place to settle. Pompeïa wanted to walk to Hoël II, to ask him for land. But Tugdual had enough family around him as it was and he told her that she could go there with Sève if she wanted, but that he felt that his mission was in the land of Léon. We can’t say he lied. The fact is that he “didn’t feel it” to find himself among his brother’s rough-hewn troops ! He then inquired about the master of the region. It was Count Withur who we already met during the episode on Pol. And as it happened, he was going to come to Ploumoguer soon. Tugdual therefore prepared for the interview as Illtud had taught him : upon entering the city, he spotted at the gate a poor lame man, so weakened by illness that he was left with nothing but skin and bones, and who asked him for alms.
He gave him some coins and commanded him : “In the name of Jesus Christ, arise and walk !” » Which he did. He went to proclaim in the streets that a holy man had restored his health. Count Withur, who already had Pol at home, was delighted to host miracle-working saints. He gave him land to found his monastery. This place is called today “Trébabu”, “Babu” is one of the names of Tugdual, I will tell you about it later, in a second video, it is his singularity compared to the other saints. But barely had they settled in when the angel sent from God ordered him to go and evangelize “towards the East”.
Towards the East ! “Obviously, you big idiot, look at the map ! We are not going to evangelize sperm whales ! » thought Tugdual. After this fit of bad temper, he understood that God’s will was for him to go to Domnonea and that there would be no point in complaining.
The Armorican Domnonée extends generally from Trégor to the Pays de Dol. With the monks, his mother, his sister, and Maheleu, they had landed at the north-west end of the Pays du Léon, whose episcopal seat was “Saint-Pol-de-Léon”, near the eastern limit of the country. . Now, the king of Domnonée was Deroch, son of Riwall, himself brother of Pompeia, so if you follow carefully, Deroch is his cousin. All of this is “Family”.
On the way, he still performed miracles on request, at each stop he left a few monks who founded a hermitage or a monastery, and they eventually arrived at Deroch.
He was very happy to also have a holy hermit on his domain, he told him to take the land he wanted and he recommended himself to his prayers. All that remained was to find the right location. Arriving at the valley called Trecor, today Tréguier, when he saw this beautiful little port, he had the intuition that it was there. He immediately founded a sanctuary and a hermitage. While waiting for the church to be built, he had a small chapel built to celebrate mass and teach the Gospels to the population.
Not very far away, there was… a dragon which sometimes came out of its cave and devoured men, women, children and livestock so that this territory remained fallow, no one daring to live there or cultivate the land. The owners came to him and told him about the situation.
The next morning, after mass and the “dragons” prayer taught by Illtud, Tugdual undertook to rid the country of them. Dressed in priestly vestments and armed with the Cross as a staff, he was led to the monster’s cave, ordered him to come out, tied his stole around his neck and quietly dragged him to a rock from the top of which he ordered to rush. Which it did. We never saw it again.
The owners of the land were grateful but their gratitude did not extend to financing the church that Tugdual wanted to erect in his monastic enclosure. The monks had to be content to pray in the modest wooden chapel covered with thatch. He was very sad about it and often, in the evening, he prayed to God to find a solution. Now it was the Devil who responded and proposed a deal : he would build a splendid church in one night on one condition : that the souls of all those who would die the following Sunday between high mass and vespers celebrated in this building return to him . Tugdual thought for a moment and agreed.
Satan was surprised to have won his assent so quickly and, suspicious, he made him sign the pact that bound them with his blood. After which he went off happily telling people all over Hell that these little Celtic saints did not have a strong faith, and that it was enough to show them a prestigious building for them to abandon the souls of their parishioners.
The devil kept his word and the next day, a Sunday, the monks and the population were amazed to find a splendid church in place of the old cabin. It was Tugdual’s turn to play ! He gathered everyone and showed them the “omnipotence of God capable of transforming hovels into palaces. » He continued with Sunday high mass and ended, as he should, with “Ite, missa est”, “Mass is said » Satan stood on alert, ready to take the soul of anyone who died before vespers, but Tugdual immediately sang the first song of vespers and no one had time to die. The Devil was furious but the man of God had been smarter than him and he left him alone for a moment.
On the other hand, those who began to be demanding, even harassing, were “the Family”.
Indeed, after all these miraculous manifestations, the surrounding lords wanted to attract divine good graces and donated numerous properties to the monk. His mother Pompeïa, saintly as she was, his brother Hoël and his cousin Deroch insisted that he have these property titles validated with King Childebert, king of the Franks. They insisted so much that Tugdual decided to leave for Paris. He didn’t feel very proud to ask Childebert anything. Why ? This is what I will tell you in the next video. Kenavo everybody !
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