Austol

Saint Austol, also recorded as Austell or Austolus, was a Christian ascetic of the sixth century whose cult is found in Cornwall and in Brittany. Almost nothing about him can be established from contemporary evidence. What is known derives from later medieval hagiography, from church dedications, and from place-names. He is the eponym of St Austell, a major parish and later town on the south coast of Cornwall, and he is closely linked in tradition with Saint Mewan, known in Brittany as Saint Méen.

The principal narrative source is the Life of Saint Méen, a Latin vita written at the monastery of Saint-Méen in Brittany, probably in the ninth century or somewhat later. In that text Austol appears as Méen's godson. Both men are said to have come from Gwent in south-east Wales, and Méen is presented as a kinsman of Saint Samson of Dol. According to the vita they left Britain for Armorica. Méen founded a monastery in the forest of Brocéliande, at the site later called Saint-Méen-le-Grand. Austol lived as his companion and fellow monk. The same legend states that when Méen died, Austol was overcome by grief and died fifteen days afterwards, and that the two were laid in one tomb.

A corresponding devotion existed in Cornwall. The church and parish of St Austell were dedicated to Austol by the later Middle Ages, and the place-name itself preserves his name. Early medieval movement of clergy and cults between Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany was common, so it is historically plausible that a single figure, or a pair of associated holy men, was remembered on both sides of the Channel. Modern historians, however, cannot confirm the biographical details of the Breton vita. Some regard Austol as essentially a Cornish hermit later attached to the better-documented Breton founder Méen; others accept a Welsh origin and a missionary career in Armorica. No writings by Austol survive, and no reliable year of birth or death is recorded.

Austol's feast is customarily observed on 28 June, often together with that of Saint Mewan. He belongs to the large company of local saints whose sanctity was recognized by popular cult and diocesan custom long before the centralized papal processes of canonization. He is not known to have been a bishop, a pope, or the holder of any patriarchal see, nor is there evidence that he married or had children; the tradition uniformly presents him as a monk and hermit. His patronage is associated above all with St Austell in Cornwall. Beyond that dedication, the companionship with Mewan, and the shared burial legend in Brittany, the historical Austol remains obscure.