View source for Miliau

{{Short description|Breton saint and eponym of the village of Guimiliau}}
{{Refimprove|date=August 2024}}
{{Expand German|Miliau|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox saint
|name= Saint Miliau
|birth_date=
|death_date= 6th century?
|feast_day= 24 July
|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]]
|image= Guimiliau05.JPG
|imagesize= 250px
|caption= [[Retable]] of St Miliau at [[Guimiliau]], showing a polychrome statue of the saint, surrounded by scenes from his life and martyrdom. The lower panels show him holding his own severed head.
|birth_place= Brittany
|death_place= Brittany
|titles= Martyr
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes= depicted as a [[cephalophore]]; in royal garb
|patronage=against rheumatism
|major_shrine= Guimiliau, Brittany
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''St Miliau''' or '''Miliav''' is a [[Brittany|Breton]] saint and [[eponym]] of the village of [[Guimiliau]], where he is particularly venerated.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=j3IsAQAAIAAJ&dq=Miliau&pg=PA94-IA3 Gostling, Frances Marion. ''The Bretons at Home'', Methuen, 1909, p. 94]</ref>  He is said to be a good saint to invoke in cases of [[rheumatism]]. St Miliau is a figure of some importance in Breton cult and legend. He is sometimes represented as a [[cephalophore]], i.e. holding his own severed head. It is hard to be sure what historical core there might be to the legends.
==Legend==
The legend of St Miliau, as retold in Brittany, pictures him as a good and just prince, slain by his evil brother. Miliau was the son of Budic and grandson of Alain le Long, kings of [[Armorica]] in Brittany. His brothers were Theodoric and Rivod. [[Sabine Baring-Gould|Baring-Gould]] says Miliau may have had his residence at [[Plonévez-Porzay]] near Quimper. After the death of Budic, Miliau held the chiefdom of [[Saint-Pol-de-Léon|Léon]]. For seven years no rain nor snow fell, but the land still yielded an abundance.<ref name=sabine>[https://books.google.com/books?id=5-UtAAAAIAAJ&dq=Miliau&pg=PA469 Baring-Gould, Sabine. ''The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain'', Vol. 3,  C. J. Clark, 1911, p. 468]{{PD-notice}}</ref>
Miliau is said to have married Haurille, a woman from [[Domnonée|Domnonia]]; their son was [[Melor|St Melar]].<ref name=sabine/> Miliau was famous as a protector and benefactor of the poor, and is represented as dividing his cloak with a beggar, like [[St Martin of Tours]]. When he succeeded to the throne, Rivod had him assassinated by [[decapitation]], around 531. A few years later, Rivod eliminated Melar in the same way.<ref>[https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/12282/Saint-Miliau.html "Saint Miliau", Nominis]</ref>
[[Image:St Miliau Martyrdom.JPG|thumb|left|245px|Detail from the [[Retable]] of the [[Passion (Christianity)|Passion]] at [[Lampaul-Guimiliau]], showing the martyrdom of St Miliau. [[Blood gush]]es from his neck as he holds his severed head.]]
However, the historical [[Alan I, King of Brittany]], flourished in the 9th century and died in 907. He really did have a son called Budic, who did not succeed him as king. The date 892 is sometimes given for the martyrdom of St Miliau, making him a contemporary of the [[Carolingian]] emperors, rather than the early [[Merovingian]] kings. This seems a better fit with the alleged ancestry of St Miliau, and it is reasonable to suppose that Budic might have had two sons who quarrelled over their ranking within the kingdom. This dating separates Miliau from [[Melor|St Melar]] by more than three centuries. On the other hand, the paternity, and even the geographical origins, of Melar are disputed, and it is possible that the connection between the two is based on a misunderstanding.
A further confusing factor is that [[Saint Hervé|St Hervé]], whose date of death (as an old man) is generally given as 556, is also regarded as a native of [[Guimiliau]]. Even the earlier dating for Miliau would make it improbable that Hervé was born in a village of that name, though it would not exclude the possibility that he was born in that locality sometime before Miliau.
Miliau is the patron saint of [[Trébeurden]].<ref name=sabine/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Medieval Breton saints]]
[[Category:Cephalophores]]
[[Category:6th-century Christian saints]]
{{France-saint-stub}}