Saint Primael

Saint Primel, or Primaël, was a native of Wales. He became a hermit in Cornouaille during the time of Saint Corentin in the 5th century. The two saints associated with one another, as reported in 1636 by Brother Albert Le Grand, a priest of the Order of Preachers in Morlaix, in his Lives of the Saints of Armorican Brittany: At the same time lived a holy solitary priest named Primael, or Primel, who led a very holy life in a forest in Cornouaille. Saint Corentin went to visit him to receive some salutary instructions from him; Saint Primel received him graciously, and the two saints spent the rest of the day in holy conversation and spiritual colloquies, and the following night in prayers and orisons. In the morning, Saint Corentin wished to say Mass in Saint Primael's oratory; having arranged everything required and necessary, Primael went to fetch water from a fountain quite far from his hermitage. Saint Corentin, having waited for him a long time, left the chapel and saw the holy old man coming very slowly and with small steps, both because of his weariness and the distance of the fountain, and because he was lame. Saint Corentin, seeing him quite out of breath, took pity on him and begged Our Lord to grant him water closer to his hermitage; then he said Mass, during which he reiterated his prayer. God answered his request, for in the very place where he placed his staff in the ground after Mass, a spring of water gushed forth, for which the two saints gave thanks to God; and, having stayed a few days with Saint Primael, he returned to his hermitage in Plovodiern. In the calendar of Breton saints, his feast is celebrated on May 15. In the commune of Saint-Thois (Canton of Châteauneuf-du-Faou, Finistère), there was once a Saint-Primel chapel, built on the site of a primitive oratory. It is now destroyed. A fountain was located under the sacristy. The parish church of Primelin is dedicated to him, and he is the namesake of the commune.