Austol

Austol was a saint of Cornwall, of the sixth century, who spent most of his life in Brittany. He was a friend of Saint Mewan, the founder of the abbey of Saint-⁠Méen in Brittany. The town and parish of St Austell in Cornwall bear his name. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, with a Breton feast on 28 June and a Cornish feast on the Thursday of Whitsun. In Orthodoxy he is also venerated, in the Synaxis of the saints of the British Isles and Ireland, under the name Austell of Cornwall.

According to the Life of Saint Mewan, Austol died within a week of the death of Méen. Before the Reformation, the parishes of St Austell and St Mewan celebrated together, because of the friendship between the two saints. The sources do not agree about the bond between them: one says that Mewan was his godfather, the other that Austol was Mewan's godfather. The same source says that he founded with Mewan a Benedictine abbey in Brittany.