Cornwall: Saints and Holy Wells

During this concentration of Cornish material, I’m trying to focus on folklore that can be easily turned into story hooks. The problem with Hunt’s chapter on saints is that there’s not a lot of useful material, so for the first time, this podcast will boil down two chapters in a week.

Saints

Cornish saints are literal giants. There are several sets of stones that were physically thrown by saints, and they are described as completely titanic.  St Just steals a chalice from Saint Keyene and when the wronged saint flings boulders, he creates the monoliths now known as the Crowza Stones. When Saint Sennen and Saint Just got annoyed and threw stones at each other. God in his wisdom made the stones strike each other and fall from the sky, again making a set of monoliths.

They are petty.  St Leven curses anyone baptised “Joanna” in his parish to imbecility, after he has a minor dispute with a housewife of that name. St Leven also left a couple of other miracles floating around in 1220: the path from his house to his fishing spot is greener than surrounding land, and the rock he sat on to fish is cracked in half. This is because the saint struck it, and then prophecied that when a horse with panniers could walk through the crack, the world would be over. Leven once had two fish miraculously strike his hook at once, not once, but three times in succession. This was god’s way of telling him he had guests at home. The bones from the fish caught in the throats of the children who had dinner with him, so the Cornish call them choke-children.

Saint Brechan was a king in Wales. He 28 children, 15 of whom were saints after whom Cornish parishes are named. The most famous is Saint Kenye, whose holy well has the property that if newlyweds drink from it, the one who partakes first will have the power in the relationship.

Saint Denis is named for the patron of Paris. When he was beheaded, blood fell from the sky in St Denis in Cornwall, hence the name. The bloodstains reappeared before plagues struck in London.

St Kea floated to Cornwall from Ireland on a lump of stone, transformed into an impromptu raft by God.

St Neot is only 16 inches high. He seemed to get disciples in an instant: animal or human.

St German was sent to Cornwall to defeat the Pelegian heresy, but failed. When a mob formed to martyr him, his tears became a well, and a burning chariot guided by two angels whisked him away. The burns from the wheels of the chariot are still visible, and Germans cursed his church as he left, stripping it of its holiness.

St Piran

Saint Piran had done various miracles in Ireland, but he was to be put to death. He’d fed the armies of ten kings for ten days with just three cows, bought his hounds back from the dead, and then raised fallen warriors. The kings turned against him and sentenced him to death. He was chained to a millstone, which was rolled off a seacliff. In a miracle, it floated to Cornwall.

Piran was baking in an oven he’d made out of stones, and a line of silver metal dripped from it. He discussed this with his friend St Chiwidden, “knew the mysteries of the East”. They worked out that the black rock that made up part of the oven was an ore, and how to smelt it properly. The called the Cornish together and explained the nature of the treasure they’d found. Days of feasting followed, which is the ancestor of the current saint’s day celebration. The flag of Cornwall: a white cross on black ground, represents the metal and ore.

A possible covenant?

St Nectan’s Kieve is a waterfall and lake near Tintagel. When Saint Nectan was dying, he dropped his silver bell into the pool. After his death two sisters came from the East and tided up all of Nectan’s effects, and his body, and buried them. They diverted the river, drained the kieve, interred the saint and his treasures, and then allowed the river to resume its course.

This pair strike me as a potential covenant. Time for some Hunt. “The oratory was dismantled, and the two ladies, women evidently of high birth, chose it for their dwelling. Their seclusion was perfect. Both appeared to be about the same age, and both were inflexibly taciturn. One was never seen without the other. If they ever left the house, they only left it to walk in the more unfrequented parts of the wood ; they kept no servant ; they never had a visitor ; no living soul but themselves ever crossed the door of their cottage. The berries of the wood, a few roots which they cultivated, with snails gathered from the rocks and walls, and fish caught in the stream, served them for food. Curiosity was excited; the mystery which hung around this solitary pair became deepened by the obstinate silence which they observed in everything relating to themselves. The result of all this was an anxious endeavour, on the part of the superstitious and ignorant peasantry, to learn their secret. All was now conjecture, and the imagination commonly enough filled in a wild picture : devils or angels, as the case might be, were seen ministering to the solitary ones. Prying eyes were upon them, but the spies could glean no knowledge. Week, month, year passed by, and ungratified curiosity was dying through want of food, when it was discovered that one of the ladies had died. The peasantry went in a body to the chapel ; no one forbade their entering it now. There sat a silent mourner leaning over the placid face of her dead sister. Hers was, indeed, a silent sorrow no tear was in her eye, no sigh hove her chest, but the face told all that a remediless woe had fallen on her heart. The dead body was eventually removed, the living sister making no sign, and they left her in her solitude alone. Days passed on ; no one heard of, no one probably inquired after, the lonely one. At last a wandering child, curious as children are, clambered to the window of the cell and looked in. There sat the lady ; her handkerchief was on the floor, and one hand hung strangely, as if endeavouring to pick it up, but powerless to do so. The child told its story the people again flocked to the chapel, and they found one sister had followed the other. The people buried the last beside the first, and they left no mark to tell us where, unless the large flat stone which lies in the valley, a short distance from the foot of the fall, and beneath which, I was told some great person was buried may be the covering of their tomb. No trace of the history of these solitary women have ever been discovered.”

I think perhaps the snails and roots are vis sources, harvested and used to create sufficient food that they are entirely self-sufficient. Are they refugees from the loss of Lyonesse? Are they really sisters, or are they a maga and a familiar able to take human shape? Pets look like their owners in a literal sense in Ars Magica, and familiars often die slightly before or after their magi.

Holy Wells

Holy Wells are kind of like dependable miracles embedded in the landscape. Players can use them for their miracles, or to get bonuses for the Covenant’s Environment modifier since so many cure disease.

The Well of St Ludgvan: After arriving from Ireland and building a church, this missionary prayed for a holy well to appear, to draw people. Time for a bit more Hunt: “The holy man prayed on, and then, to try the virtues of the water, he washed his eyes. They were rendered at once more powerful, so penetrating, indeed, as to enable him to see microscopic objects. The saint prayed again, and then he drank of the water. He discovered that his powers of utterance were greatly improved, his tongue formed words with scarcely any effort of his will. The saint now prayed, that all children baptized in the waters of this well might be protected against the hangman and his hempen cord ; and an angel from heaven came down into the water, and promised the saint that his prayers should be granted. Not long after this, a good farmer and his wife brought their babe to the saint, that it might derive all the blessings belonging to this holy well. The priest stood at the baptismal font, the parents, with their friends around. The saint proceeded with the baptismal ceremonial, and at length the time arrived when he took the tender babe into his holy arms. He signed the sign of the cross over the child, and when he sprinkled water on the face of the infant its face glowed with a divine intelligence. The priest then proceeded with the prayer ; but, to the astonishment of all, whenever he used the name of Jesus, the child, who had received the miraculous power of speech, from the water, pronounced distinctly the name of the devil, much to the consternation of all present. The saint knew that an evil spirit had taken possession of the child, and he endeavoured to cast him out ; but the devil proved stronger than the saint for some time. St Ludgvan was not to be beaten ; he knew that the spirit was a restless soul, which had been exorcised from Treassow, and he exerted all his energies in prayer. At length the spirit became obedient, and left the child. He was now commanded by the saint to take his flight to the Red Sea. He rose, before the terrified spectators, into a gigantic size ; he then spat into the well ; he laid hold of the pinnacles of the tower, and shook the church until they thought it would fall. The saint was alone unmoved. He prayed on, until, like a flash of lightning, the demon vanished, shaking down a pinnacle in his flight. The demon, by spitting in the water, destroyed the spells of the water upon the eyes and the tongue too ; but it fortunately retains its virtue of preventing any child baptized in it from being hanged with a cord of hemp. Upon a cord of silk it is stated to have no power…The peasantry of the neighbouring districts began to send for the renowned water before christenings ; and many of them actually continue, to this day, to bring it corked up in bottles to their churches, and to beg particularly that it may be used whenever they present their children to be baptized.” Redruth’s Well has similar properties.  This saint is known for always wearing a scarlet cloak, which seems odd.

Gulval Well predicts death and sickness of absent friends and family members. The querent prays by the well, and if the answer is good, the water bubbles, but if the person is ill, mud bubbles up instead.  If the named person is dead, there is no change in the surface of the well..

Well of Saint Keyne as mentioned in previous podcasts, whichever of a newly-married couple is first to drink from the well will have the power in the relationship.

Maddern or Madron Well: This well has several properties in folklore. People take the water away, because it slowly cures bodily infirmities including, in some cases, being crippled. Some sources say you drink the water, others that you bathe in it. It’s also handy for lesser problems, like colic. Those who dip their hands in are burned of they are untrue in love. There’s a minor ritual which involves lying on the ground and offering little things, like pins to activate the well.

Time for a bit of Hunt: “I once witnessed the whole ceremony performed by a group of beautiful girls, who had walked on a May morning from Penzance. Two pieces of straw, about an inch long each, were crossed and the pin run through them. This cross was then dropped into the water, and the rising bubbles carefully counted, as they marked the number of years which would pass ere the arrival of the happy day. This practice also prevailed amongst the visitors to the well at the foot of Monacuddle Grove, near St Austell. On approaching the waters, each visitor is expected to throw in a crooked pin ; and, if you are lucky, you may possibly see the other pins rising from the bottom to meet the most recent offering. Rags and votive offerings to the genius of the waters are hung around many of the wells. Mr Couch says : At Madron Well, near Penzance, I observed the custom of hanging rags on the thorns which grew in the enclosure.”

The Well at Altar-Nun: Hunt quotes Carew “The water running from St Nun’s well fell into a square and enclosed walled plot, which might be filled at what depth they listed. Upon this wall was the frantic person put to stand, his back towards the pool, and from thence, with a sudden blow in the breast, tumbled headlong into the pond ; where a strong fellow, provided for the nonce, took him, and tossed him up and down, alongst and athwart the water, till the patient, by foregoing his strength, had somewhat forgot his fury. Then was he conveyed to the church, and certain masses said over him ; upon which handling, if his right wits returned, St Nun had the thanks ; but if there appeared small amendment, he was bowssened again and again, while there remained in him any hope of life or recovery.” The 2d of March is dedicated to St Nun, and the influence of the water is greatly exalted on that day….Its position was, until lately, to be discovered by the oak-tree matted with ivy, and the thicket of willow and bramble which grew upon its roof. The front of the well is of a pointed form, and has a rude entrance about four feet high, and spanned above by a single flat stone, which leads into a grotto with arched roof. The walls on the interior are draped with luxuriant fronds of spleenwort, hart’s-tongue, and a rich undercovering of liverwort. At the further end of the floor is a round granite basin, with a deeply moulded brim, and ornamented on its circumference with a series of rings, each enclosing a cross or a ball. The water weeps into it from an opening at the back, and escapes again by a hole in the bottom.

Keby’s Well: This well is almost impossible to move, and to attempt it causes miraculous death. Are the plants Corpus or Mentem vis sources?

Saint Cuthebert’s Well is obviously a vis source. It’s sometimes called Holy Well because it was discovered on All Hallows Eve. Time for some more Carew in Hunt.  “The same stands in a dark cavern of the sea-cliff rocks, beneath full sea-mark on spring tides, from the top of which cavern falls down or distils continually drops of water from the white, blue, red, and green veins of those rocks. And accordingly, in the place where those drops of water fall, it swells to a lump of considerable bigness, and there petrifies to the hardness of ice, glass, or freestone, of the several colours aforesaid, according to the nature of those veins in the rock from whence it proceeds, and is of a hard, brittle nature, apt to break like glass. ” The virtues of this water are very great. It is incredible what numbers in summer season frequent this place and waters from counties far distant.”

Cuthbert’s Well is also used to dip children with rickets on the first three Wednesdays in May, so that may point to a better harvesting time. The crowd is sometimes so large that there’s an impromptu fair.

The Well at Chapel Uny is similar, but for mesenteric diseases, remembering that Hunt claims changelings were really children with intestinal diseases.

Penan’s Well has similar healing properties.

On Palm Sunday the Holy Well at Little Conan tells the future. People pay the priest, and throw a cross in, and if it floats they will live until next year.

Time to finish with a bit more Hunt:

“It is a very common notion amongst the peasantry, that a just retribution overtakes those who wilfully destroy monuments, such as stone circles, crosses, wells, and the like. Mr Blight writes me ” Whilst at Boscaswell, in St Just, a few weeks since, an old man told me that a person who altered an old Holy Well there, was drowned the next day in sight of his home, and that a person who carried away the stones of an ancient chapel, had his house burned down that very night.” If I were a magus, I’d let slip a rumour to my enemies that a weakness of mine was concealed beneath one of these wells, so they are killed when they look for it. There must be more examples, like building a stone into a wall, without moving it, so that if people lay siege to your castle the curse strikes them down.