Briarch

Saint Briarch (Briag, Briac) was born in Ireland, became a monk in Wales with Saint Tudwal and accompanied him to Brittany. He built a monastery at Guingamp and reposed at Bourbriac, around 627 according to the calendars.

His tomb is there. He is invoked for the healing of mental illness, and a spring at Bourbriac bears his name; the town of Saint-⁠Briac-⁠sur-⁠Mer keeps his memory. Historians note that his story rests on a text of 1632, based on older manuscripts now lost, and that his name does not appear in Irish sources, so some think he was a monk of Upper Brittany in the tenth century. He is a saint of the undivided Church and is commemorated on 17 December (New Calendar).