Bili II

Bili II (Bille, Bily, in Latin Bilius) was bishop of Vannes from about 891 to about 908 and the author of the Life of Saint Malo. He was born around 840 near Redon and died at Plaudren between 915 and 919. He is regarded as a martyr and venerated as a saint in the Western Church; his day is 23 June.

He was born into a family living near Redon. He was ordained deacon at Aleth and named secretary of Bishop Rethwalatr (846 to 868). As deacon he was entrusted with several missions by the bishop. The first was to rewrite the life of the founder of the bishopric of Aleth, Saint Maclou (Malo), the old document having disappeared in the burning of the city and the diocesan archives after the peasant revolts of 811. He wrote the work from surviving fragments and from oral accounts, more or less legendary, called Vita Sancti Machuti, around 867.

The return of the relics of Saint Malo, taken to Saintes, had been desired by Nominoë since 840 but was postponed because of the occupation of the banks of the Vilaine by the Normans. After the victory of Questembert in 879, Bili set out with a team, with the support of Count Alan I of Brittany, and they brought back the relics around 880, which added to Bili's renown. After the death of Kenmonoc, bishop of Vannes, the see was given to Bili, which numerous acts in the cartulary of Redon from 892 to 912 attest. In 892 he bought lands near the lordship of Kervasic in Plaudren, where he built a priory and, according to the Bollandists, the primitive chapel of the place, which bears his name today.

According to tradition he took refuge in that priory during Norman attacks and was killed on 23 June, according to the proper of the diocese of Vannes and the martyrology of the cathedral. The year of his death is not precisely known; it lies between 915 and 919. A calvary was raised at the presumed site of his martyrdom. The author of the Life of Malo and the bishop of Vannes of the same name are identified by scholars such as François Plaine, but the identification remains a hypothesis.