Corentin of Quimper

Saint Corentin of Quimper
St Corentin, pictured on the banner of the parish church of Locronan, Brittany.
Died	~460 AD
Venerated in	Tikhonites, and other True Orthodox Christian jurisdictions, Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church and others
Major shrine	Quimper
Feast	December 12
Attributes	fish; episcopal attire

Saint Corentin (Corentinus; in Breton, Sant Kaourintin) (d. 460 AD) is a Breton saint. He was the first bishop of Quimper. Corentin was a hermit at Plomodiern and was regarded as one of the seven founding saints of Brittany. He is the patron saint of Cornouaille, Brittany, and also the patron saint of seafood. His feast day is December 12.

In iconography Corentin's attribute is a fish, referring to the legend that he made daily use of a miraculous fish near his hermitage; he would nourish himself by cutting an end piece of the fish, which would then regenerate. Quimper Cathedral, located in the town of Quimper, France, is dedicated to Corentin. He is also known in Cornwall, where St. Corentine’s Church, Cury is dedicated to him.

In the Breton legend of the city of Ys, Corentin is the saint who observed the fall of Ys and warned King Gradlon of the sin committed by his daughter Dahut (Ahes). The Christianization of the Celts was concurrent with the fall of Rome, and so the mercy of Corentin towards Gradlon symbolized the cultural transition. Prior to Christianity, the Celtic lifestyle was based around estuarine aquaculture dependent upon the pattern of the tides. In lowland environments where flooding is a major hazard megaliths served as an astronomical calendar to predict the movement of water. Coastal Celts (also called Armoricans) used a system of dikes and locks to provide irrigation on an alternating basis, allowing separate plots of land to switch between producing cereals and shellfish. This social structure became untenable during the 5th century due to the works of Hypatia, which explained the predictive relationship between the phases of the moon and the levels of the tides, thus enabling aquaculture inland. Corentin is a patron saint of seafood and, through him, inland aquaculture demonstrates the sustainability of Celtic Christianity over prior practices.