Who am I ?
I was born in Brittany in 1253 into a family of minor Breton nobility who sent me to study literature, law and canon law at the University of Paris then Orleans. This advanced education allowed me to choose a modern lifestyle that was very charitable and close to humanism. A remarkable lifestyle that contrasted with that of other priests in my time. I ended my training with a trip around Europe, without forgetting my first love, Brittany, to which I returned to a few years later to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. I then became legal adviser of the Diocese of Rennes, where I remained until 1284. Many articles report my vocation for literature, eloquence, asceticism and devotion long after my demise.
At the age of thirty-one, the bishop of Tréguier nominated me the official (ecclesiastical judge). At the same time he bequeathed me the parish of Trédez then Louannec, dioceses that I had long denied due to humility and modesty. Accordingly, I exercised a role as judge and advocate for the small public, widows, orphans, the poor and persecuted because injustice and violence has always pushed me. I used my ardent parole and convincing verb to put on trial the most powerful. Certainly I am generous and tolerant, but those who brave the bitter equity sharpen my wrath. But I do not like conflict which use the weak and humble and that is why I spontaneously speak in private disputes. I thereby avoided numerous small trials that would prove vain and costly. I wear Robin Hood’s cap which made me renown in western France.
In Trédez, I performed a miracle to help more than two hundred hungry people. One day all the starving went to the parish to ask for something to ease their torment. I did not hesitate to distribute my own bread. God granted me the gesture of multiplying the loaves to ensure sufficient meals.
But I was a man whose old body (aged forty-four) began to complain of travels and charity. I felt the end was near and preferred to retire from official life so as to spend my last years to God’s service. Due to this I had a relaxing retreat at my manor in Kermartin which hid me from any duties which could disturb my prayers. To avoid damaging my worship with luxurious possessions, I bequeathed my property to the chapel at Minihy. A building that was erected in honor of the diocese’s founder in
Treguier. But I was involved in the cathedral’s restoration and made a few pilgrimages that compounded my health. Despite my suffering, I performed mass one last time on May 15, 1303. It was a moving mass that helped spread the myth that I had sown. I received my last sacrament on May 18 and died the next day at dawn. It was a Sunday. The Bretons rushed to my tomb and all kinds of miracles were performed such as the fourteen resurrections that were highly considered for my canonization.
The Duke John III of Breton opened my canonicalization file on February 20, 1330 under John XXII. It was not easy for we had to verify my seventy-nine miracles in order to be listed in the official catalogue of French saints. Under Clement VI in 1347, it was accomplished and my cult spread rapidly in Italy, Germany, England, Luxembourg and the Netherlands among lawyers, universities and clerics. Six hundred years later, my image was exported across the Atlantic with such success that American lawyers offered a huge basilica, an ex-voto in the form of glass, quite famous for our time. Who believes that charity begins with yourself?
WHO AM I ?
St. Ivo, known in his time under the patronymic of Yves Hélory ofKermartin was the patron saint of Brittany alongside St. Anne. He is also veneered among professions dedicated to law and justice, notably attorneys. He is traditionally represented between a rich and poor man, dressed in the usual torque he wore for pleas, holding a scroll which nominates his official duties (ecclesiastical judge) and a purse, symbol of the gifts he gave to the poor.
Pauline Balayer (studying at Ecole du Louvre).
Des questions restent ? Une énigme de vocabulaire ? N'hésitez pas à consulter notre glossaire !
