Sithney

Saint Sithney (Sezni, Setna, Sidinius) was a Celtic saint active in Cornwall and Brittany, patron of Sithney in Cornwall; he reposed around 529. He is invoked against mad dogs.

According to the English tradition, Sithney (a form of the Irish Setna) was one of a group of Irish monks who came to western Cornwall. A native of Munster, he was the son of Erc and Magna, a sister of Saint David, and had two brothers, Saint Govan and Multos. He may be the Setna, a deaf and mute boy who kept cows on Slieve Bloom: Columba of Terryglass, seeing him, pitied the child and blessed him, and Setna recovered hearing and speech and acquired the gift of prophecy. He was a student of Senán mac Geirrcinn and accompanied him to Inis Mór, where Senán established a monastery.

According to the Breton tradition, Sezny met Saint Patrick in Rome when Patrick was presented to Pope Celestine I, was named bishop and accompanied his master to Ireland. Around 477, after a long period of office, he decided to give it up and embarked for Armorica with seventy companions. They landed at Poulluhen, near the present Kerlouan, where they founded a first settlement, and afterwards built a monastery that gave rise to the parish of Guissény. He is commemorated on 4 August as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.