Germanus

Saint Germanus, called Germain the Scot or Germain of the Wheel, was a missionary in western Gaul in the fifth century and received the crown of martyrdom around 460. He is commemorated on 2 May.

By tradition he was the son of a Scottish prince from Ireland or from the banks of the Clyde, and scholars question what kind of family he came from. According to tradition he was baptized by Saint Germanus of Auxerre, during his mission to Britain in 429, and took his name; he became a priest at the age of twenty-⁠five. Wishing to join his godfather in Gaul, he crossed the Channel: the legend says that at his prayer a cart wheel came down from heaven, which was probably a round Irish boat of the curragh type. He landed at Diélette in the Cotentin and stayed in the region more than three months.

Norman legends tell that he overcame a huge serpent in the cave of the Trou Baligan at Flamanville and similar creatures at Saint-⁠Germain-⁠sur-⁠Ay, Carteret and Querqueville, and that the people were baptized and raised churches in his name. Scholars see in these stories the allegorical figure of dying paganism.