Saint Petroc, Abbot of Lanwethinoc (born 483, died 4th June 564)

Feast day: 4th June

St. Petroc was a Welsh nobleman who was educated in an Irish monastery and then sailed with a small band of followers to Camel estuary. He arrived in the estuary and built a church at Padstow with a Celtic monastery as a centre for spreading the Christian faith. In his travels he also started churches in Bodmin and Little Petherick, as well as in many parts of Britain, Wales and Brittany.

King Constantine ruled the area at this time and was said to have been converted to Christianity by St. Petroc when he rescued the deer that the King was hunting.

There are many legends about St. Petroc's healing, miracles and banishing monsters.

He was buried at Padstow. In the 12 th Century St. Petroc's Church in Bodmin got his relics and put them in a painted ivory casket, which can still be seen today.