For the coastal town and a municipality in southwestern Slovenia please see Piran (Italian
or ''Perran'' (traditionally in
Cornwall saints are simply named, without this title) is the patron saint of
Tin -
Miners . He is also generally regarded as the
Patron Saint of
Cornwall , although
Saint Michael and Saint
Petroc also have some claim to this title.
Saint Piran's Flag is a white cross on a black background. St Piran's Day is
March 5 th.
He is the most famous of all the
Irish Saint s who came to Cornwall. He is said to have discovered
Tin and is reputed to have founded the monastery of
Clonmacnois (Clumaineteno). His name is probably a
P-Celtic form of the
Irish name
Ciaran .
It is said that at his death the remains of the Blessed Martin the Abbot which he had brought from Ireland were buried with him at
Perranzabuloe ; his own remains were subsequently exhumed and redistributed to be used as reliquaries.
Exeter Cathedral was reputed to be the possessor of one of his arms, while according to an inventory, St Piran's Church, Perranzabuloe, had a reliquary containing his head and also a hearse in which his body was placed for processionals.
The town of
Perranporth ('Piran's Port' in
Cornish ) hosts the annual
Inter-Celtic festival of
'Lowender Peran' , which is also named in honour of him.
St Piran's Day is very popular in Cornwall and the term 'Piranstide' (or alternate spellings) has been coined to describe the week prior to this day. Many
Cornish -themed events occur in the Duchy and also in areas in which there is a large community descended from Cornish emigrants.
The largest St Piran's Day event is the March across the dunes to St Piran's cross which thousands of people attend, generally dressed in black, white and gold, and carrying the
Cornish Flag. A play of the Life of St Piran, in Cornish, has been enacted in recent years at the event. Daffodils are also carried and placed at the cross. Daffodils also feature in celebrations in
Truro , most likely due to their 'gold' colour. Black, white and gold are colours associated with Cornwall due to St Piran's Flag (black and white), and the Duchy Shield (gold coins on black).
''Legend:'' The heathen
Irish tied him to a mill-stone, rolled it over the edge of a cliff into a stormy sea, which immediately became calm, and the saint floated safely over the water to land upon the sandy beach of
Perranzabulo in Cornwall, where his first converts to Christianity were animals.
''Legend:'' St Piran "rediscovered" tin-smelting (tin had been smelted in Cornwall since before the Romans' arrival, but the methods had since been lost) when his black hearthstone, which was evidently a slab of tin-bearing ore, had the tin smelt out of it and rise to the top in the form of a white cross (thus the image on the flag).
- [http://www.thisisnotcornwall.co.uk/index.html This is Kernow]
- [http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144125&command=displayContent&sourceNode=155117&contentPK=14140133&folderPk=83401 St. Piran - Keeping the Faith]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4766464.stm St Piran's holiday]
- [http://www.an-daras.com/cutoms/cu_stpirans_events.htm St. Piran's events]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/uncovered/stories/march2004/stpirans_2004.shtml St. Piran's celebrations]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/uncovered/stories/st_piran_truro.shtml St. Piran's Day in Truro]
- [http://www.gorsethkernow.org.uk/english/about.htm The Cornish Gorseth]
