MAGLORIUS, ST.

Bishop and abbot also known as Magloire and Maelor; b. Britain (probably Wales), sixth century; d. Island of Sark (English Channel), c. 595. His predominately legendary vita (from the tenth century) claims that Maglorius was a pupil of illtud in the monastery of Llantwit Major in Glamorgan and a companion of Samson of Dol. He supposedly accompanied the latter to Brittany, where he succeeded him as abbot and bishop of Dol. It is further alleged that he spent the last years of his life as abbot of the monastery that Lascon, the chieftain of the island of Sark, gave him in gratitude for a miraculous cure. Legend ascribes many posthumous miracles to Maglorius. His relics were translated (c. 850) from Sark to the Abbey of Lehon near Dinan and subsequently (c. 963) to Paris to the former Abbey of St. Magloire. Maglorius is specially venerated as a Breton saint, but his cult spread into Italy. He is pictured as a pilgrim or as a monk being crowned by an angel.

Feast: Oct. 24.

Bibliography: Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis, 2 v. (Brussels 1898–1901; suppl. 1911) 5139–47. Acta Sanctorum Oct. 10:772–793. a. de la borderie, Les Miracles de Saint Magloire (Rennes 1891). The Book of Saints (4th ed. New York 1947). j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes, ed. by the Benedictines of Paris, 12 v. (Paris 1935–56) 10:823–825. a. butler, The Lives of the Saints, rev. ed. h. thurston and d. attwater, 4 v. (New York 1956) 4:192–193. g. lucchesi, Il culto di s. Maglorio a Faenza (Faenza 1957). l. rÉau, Iconographie de l'art chrétien, 6 v. (Paris 1955–59) 3.2:860–861. d. attwater, A Dictionary of Saints (new ed. New York 1958). m. bateson, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900, 63 v. (London 1885–1900; repr. with corrections, 21 v., 1908–09, 1921–22, 1938; suppl. 1901–) 12:767–768. f. duine, Memento des sources hagiographiques de l'histoire de Bretagne (Rennes 1918).

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