Gwinear (Guigner, Fingar) (date unknown), patron of Gwinear (Cornwall). He seems to have been a Welsh missionary like his companion Meriasek, who with him evangelized the district of Gwinnear and Camborne, and later went to Brittany, where also their cults are found side by side. At Pluvigner, in the diocese of Vannes, there is a stained-glass window of Gwinear hunting a stag with a cross between its antlers (through confusion with the legend of Eustace), and a well near the church to which processions go on the day of the Pardon. Guigner was supposed to have struck the ground with his lance, while thirsty, out hunting: three fountains sprang up, one for himself, one for his horse, and one for his dog. A Life was written by Anselm, perhaps a Cornish canon, c.1300. According to this, Gwinear and his companions were martyred by Theodoric, king of Cornwall. Among the miracles recorded was one of two lovers who embraced while seated on the tomb of a bishop, one of Gwinear's companions, and could not be disentangled until they were brought to Gwinear's tomb. Feast. 23 March.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- G. H. Doble, The Saints of Cornwall, i (1960), pp. 100–10; AA.SS. Mar. III (1668), 455–9
