Saint Hervé

Did You Know?

• His relics were moved to a silver shrine in the chapel of the Château de Brest for fear of the Normans.
• Given to the Bishop of Nantes, his relics were lost during the Revolution.
• In Lanrivoaré, the hermitage of Saint-Hervé houses the ruins of a chapel, a fountain and a stone cell said to have housed the saint.

Legend

Hervé was born blind, the son of Hyvarnion, a Welsh bard who studied under Cadoc and later performed at the court of Childebert I. His mother, Rivanone, was known for her great beauty and her knowledge of herbs and plants. Hervé was also the nephew of the hermit Saint Urfold. When his father died while Hervé was still young, he inherited the harp. His mother then became an anchoress and placed the seven-year-old boy in the care of his uncles, who sent him to live with a learned hermit in the forest. Around age fourteen, Hervé studied at the monastic school in Plouvien, where his maternal uncle Gourvoyed served as abbot. He later became a teacher and minstrel. With his follower Guiharan, Hervé lived as a hermit and bard near Plouvien. He could heal animals and kept a tame wolf. When this wolf ate the ox or donkey Hervé used for plowing, Hervé gave such a moving sermon that the wolf begged to take the animal’s place. From then on, the wolf pulled the plow. Disciples gathered around him, but Hervé refused all earthly honors and higher ordination, agreeing only to be made an exorcist. He died in 556 and was buried at Lanhouarneau.