March 5th St. Piran's Day

      A depiction of St. Piran
    in Truro Cathedral (1907)

Today is the feast day of St. Piran, the Patron Saint of Cornwall and of tinners. 

Traditionally said to have been a 5th century abbot, he has been tentatively identified as, the Irish Saint, Ciarán of Saigir.

Legend tells that Piran was tied to a millstone and thrown off a cliff into a stormy sea by Irish heathens who objected to his Christian message.  The sea immediately became calm and the millstone turned into a leaf.  The saint landed at Penhale Sands near Perranzabuloe where he built an oratory and established himself as a hermit. 

This led to his veneration and belief in his ability as a miracle worker. 

Piran ‘rediscovered’ the smelting of tin when his hearthstone, a slab of tin-bearing ore, produced molten tin which rose to the top in the form of a white cross becoming the inspiration for St. Piran’s Flag.  Over time, the shifting sands led to abandonment of the oratory and a small church was constructed further up the sand dunes. 

This, in turn,  was dismantled in the 19th century and a third church was built two miles inland using the same stone and some of its carvings and bench ends.

 

 





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