Saint Goulven de Léon (also Golven, Golvinus, Golvenus) was a saint in Brittany in the 6th-7th century. Any knowledge of his life is derived from his vita, of which only a copy of a transcription of the original remains and whose historical accuracy is in question. According to that vita, he was the bishop of Saint-Pol-de-Léon in the seventh century, after having acquired a reputation as an ascetic and anchorite whose prayer and presence cured people and had helped fight off a Viking invasion. When he was elected as bishop, he tried to avoid that responsibility by going to Rome; after intervention by Pope Gregory I he returned and served for over a decade. He died in Rennes (on the other side of Brittany from Saint-Pol-de-Léon), where he was buried in the cathedral. He continued to be venerated in various parts of Brittany, most notably in the small commune of Goulven and other communes nearby in the Pays de Léon, the very western part of Finistère.
Biography
According to his vita, collected by Albert Le Grand in the 1637 Lives of the Saints of Armorial Bretaigne, Saint Goulven was the son of immigrants from the British Isles who landed in 540 at Plouider. His father, Glaudan, and his pregnant mother, Gologuenn, landed in Plounéour-Trez Cove (also called Goulven Cove) in Brengorut when night fell; a local farmer, though he saw they were poor and in need, refused them lodging. That night Goulven was born, in a place called Odena. The next morning Glaudan asked at a nearby house for water to wash the child and refresh the mother but was rejected. A peasant gave him a bucket and showed him the way to a spring, but Glaudan lost his way in the forest and wandered around all day, until he found himself back with his wife and child. In agony, he prayed, and a spring with sweet water miraculously appeared. The spring (the Feunteun Sant Goulven), near which later the saint's church was built, was claimed to cure people miraculously.
After the news of the appearance of the spring became known, a rich man named Godian, a religious man without an heir, became the godfather and foster parent of the child. He named him and took care of his education; from his childhood Goulven practiced abstinence, living mostly on water and bread. Having finished his studies, Goulven retreated into the woods to continue his devotion to God. After his parents died, Godian offered to make him his heir, but Goulven declined, and built a little chapel near the coast, the Peneti Sant Goulven. The door opened to the north and, being always left open, thus exposed the interior to the cold north wind coming in from the ocean, but Goulven and his guests were as comfortable inside as if in a well-insulated manor.
Many visited him there, to learn from him and pray, or to find cures, but he would not allow any women in his hermitage or his chapel. He only took one meal a day, consisting of water and bread, and left his retreat only once per day, to take a daily journey to three stone crosses where he would pray at the foot of each one. When Vikings threatened the area, a local count named Even (a legendary figure, for whom the commune of Lesneven is named) visited Goulven and asked him to pray for him and his men; they were victorious in fighting off the invaders. In return, Goulven asked Even to give him some land to start a monastery on, and Even consented. As Goulven walked along the boundaries of the area, the land was miraculously raised on either side of him, creating a boundary that no one could violate; the area was called Menehi Sant Goulven, and became abundantly fertile. He continued his religious life now in the company of a disciple named Maden, and Even had a monastery built, but Goulven remained a hermit and turned down the offer of becoming abbot. The people of Léon built a chapel dedicated to Goulven at Odena (where he was born), where many miracles happened.
One day he sent Maden to a rich peasant, saying the man should give him whatever he was holding in his hands: the man gave Maden the three lumps of earth he was holding. When Maden gave those to Goulven, the dirt turned into gold, from which Goulven ordered three crosses and three bells made. One bell and cross were kept in the church at Goulven, but were lost in subsequent wars; the other bells were kept at Lesneven and Rennes (with the saint's relics), and a fourth one at the church of Goulven in Cornouaille. All performed miracles and punished those who swore false oaths.