WINNOC, ST.

Monk of Wormhoudt, near Dunkirk, French Flanders; d. Nov. 6, c. 715. A vita written c. 900, valuable for the details it furnishes on St. omer, bishop of Thérouanne (d. c. 670), St. bertinus, abbot of Sithiu (d. c. 698), and St. Winnoc (Winox, Vinox), describes how four youths, Britons or Bretons, one day presented themselves at the Sithiu monastery; their names were Quadanocus, Ingenocus, Madocus, and Winnocus. At the request of Bertinus, they later built a tiny monastery, a cella, in the countryside of Thérouanne and there devoted themselves to the poor and to the practice of hospitality. At the death of his three companions, Winnoc directed the house. Legend tells that out of pity for the old superior, God caused the mill stone to turn of itself, explaining how Winnoc became the patron of millers. A young monk, whose excessive curiosity urged him to discover the miracle by a trick, was struck blind; he recovered his sight through Winnoc's prayers. Winnoc died and was interred in his monastery, but c. 900 his remains were transferred to Bergues, where an abbey was built in his honor. Until 1746, it was customary to immerse his reliquary in the waters of the Colme in memory of a drowned child he was held to have brought back to life. In 1900 his relics were placed in a new reliquary.

Feast: Nov. 6; Sept. 18 (translation).

Bibliography: Vita in Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum (Berlin 1826—) 5:735–736, 769–775, 780–786. Bibliotheca hagiographica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis (Brussels 1898–1901) 1:1292; Suppl. (1911) 1289b. Acta Sanctorum (Paris 1863—) 3:253–289. p. bayart, "Les Offices de saint Winnoc …," Annales du Comité flamand de France 35 (1926). c. de croocq in ibid. 44 (1944). j. l. baudot and l. chaussin, Vies des saints et des bienheureux selon l'ordre du calendrier avec l'historique des fêtes (Paris 1935–56) 11:198–199. a. m. zimmerman, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige (Metten 1933–38) 3:265–267.

[j. daoust]