Corentin of Quimper

Saint Corentin of Quimper was the first bishop of Quimper in Brittany and reposed around the year 460. He is one of the seven founding saints of Brittany, with Tugdual of Tréguier, Paternus of Vannes, Samson of Dol, Paul Aurelian of Léon, Malo and Brieuc, and the patron of Cornouaille. The Orthodox calendar commemorates him on 1 May, the Roman Catholic Church on 12 December.

According to Albert le Grand he was born in Armorican Cornouaille and became a hermit at Plomodiern near Ménez-⁠Hom. It is told that in a spring near his dwelling a miraculous fish appeared to him, from which he cut a small piece for his food, and the piece grew back; otherwise he lived on herbs and roots from the forest. When King Gradlon decided to found the diocese of Quimper he called Corentin to be its first bishop. By tradition he sent him to Tours to be consecrated by Saint Martin, accompanied by his disciples Guénolé, founder of the abbey of Landévennec, and Tudy. Gradlon also gave him a palace on the site of the present cathedral of Quimper.

He was buried before the altar of the cathedral. In 1201 King Philip Augustus dedicated an abbey near Mantes to him, called Saint-⁠Corentin. His Life was written around 1220 to 1235 by Dom Plaine.