Saint Petroc

Saint Petroc
Abbot of Lanwethinoc
Born	Wales
Died	c. 564 Treravel, Padstow, Cornwall, England
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Major shrine	St Petroc's Church, Bodmin, Cornwall, England
Feast	4 June
Attributes	Wolf, Stag, Church
Patronage	Devon Cornwall

Saint Petroc or Petrock (Medieval Latin: Petrocus; Welsh: Pedrog; French: Perreux; died c. 564) was a British prince and Christian saint.

Probably born in South Wales, he primarily ministered to the Britons of Devon (Dewnans) and Cornwall (Kernow), where he is associated with a monastery at Padstow, which is named after him (Pedroc-stowe, or 'Petrock's Place'). Padstow appears to have been his earliest major cult centre, but Bodmin became the major centre for his veneration when his relics were moved to the monastery there in the later ninth century. Bodmin monastery became one of the wealthiest Cornish foundations by the eleventh century. There is a second ancient dedication to him nearby at Little Petherick or "Saint Petroc Minor".

In Devon ancient dedications total a probable seventeen (plus Timberscombe just over the border in Somerset), mostly coastal and including one within the old Roman walls of Exeter as well as the villages of Petrockstowe and Newton St Petroc. In Wales his name is commemorated at St Petrox near Pembroke, Ferwig near Cardigan and Llanbedrog on the Llŷn peninsula. He also became a popular saint in Brittany by the end of the tenth century.

The earliest Life of Petroc states that he was the son of an unnamed Welsh king: the twelfth century version known as the Gotha Life, written at Bodmin, identifies that king as Glywys of Glywysing (Orme 2000, p. 215) and Petroc as a brother of Gwynllyw and uncle of Cadoc.

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