Feast Day of “Saint” Morgan le Fay (!)

[PFJTurner]

Today (September 22) is, according to the lists kept by some medieval Breton
churches, the Feast Day of “Saint” Morgan le Fay, half-sister of King Arthur,
whose sole charitable act seems to have been her caring for Arthur after he
received his fatal injury in the Battle of Camlann.

Happy Morgan le Fay Day!

-PFJT
The REAL King Arthur, A History of Post-Roman Britannia, A.D. 410 - A.D. 593
http://members.aol.com/PFJTurner/SKS.html

[Czaerana]

Cherith told me that according to Breton tradition Kay survived Camlann,
entered the church, and was later made a saint as well! Those are saints I can
relate to!
Cynthia, aka Czaerana

[Cbaldry]

Cynthia writes:

>Cherith told me that according to Breton tradition Kay survived Camlann,
>entered the church, and was later made a saint as well! Those are saints I
>can
>relate to!

Me too! As the mother of sons, I always imagine St Kay as the patron of those
who have to deal with recalcitrant young men.

Has PJF Turner any info on this obscure saint? I'd love to know when I can
celebrate St Kay's Day!

Best regards,
Cherith

[Laurie E. W. Brandt]

_The Oxford Dictionary of Saints_ pp.279 mentiond him Kea, Ke, Quay see
also the Saints of Cornwall_ 1964, pp.89-104
Laurie Brandt

In article <19980922033100...@ng111.aol.com>, cba...@aol.com

[PFJTurner]

Saint Kea was once abbot of the monastery at Glastonbury. His feast day is
November 5. He is the Saint for whom Landkey (meaning “Church of Kea”) in
Devon was named. He is also, in some accounts, the abbot of Glastonbury who
restored Guinevere to Arthur after she had been abducted by Melwas (in the
pre-Lancelot version of the story). It is possible that Saint Kea was the
person better known as “Sir Kay” (or Cei or Caius) who had served under Arthur.
Both Saint Illtud of Glamorgan and Saint Derfel Gadarn of Bardsey Island were
former soldiers who had served under Arthur before taking up the religious
life. (Saint Derfel Gadarn will perhaps be best remembered from now on as the
inspiration for the protagonist used by Bernard Cornwall in his King Arthur
novels.) Saint Germanus of Auxerre had also been Duke of Armorica, which was
then a Roman military command in north Gaul, before becoming a Bishop and a
champion of the Church against the Pelagian heresy.

Alternatively, Sir Kay might be misidentified with an unrelated Saint of
similar name. Something like this seems to have occurred with Sir Gawain, who
is sometimes identified with Saint Govan of Milford Haven in Dyfed, who warned
ships away from dangerous shores, assisted shipwreck victims and thus became
Patron Saint of shipwreck survivors.

See, Shirley Toulson’s very interesting _The Celtic Year; A Celebration of
Celtic Christian Saints, Sites and Festivals_ (1993).

[Cbaldry]

Thanks to both of you for this information - much appreciated.

I'm also informed that there are still churches in Brittany dedicated to St
Kay.

Best wishes,
Cherith

[Thomas Green]

Cbaldry wrote:
>
> Thanks to both of you for this information - much appreciated.
>
> I'm also informed that there are still churches in Brittany dedicated to St
> Kay.

There is a detailed article on St Kay in one (I forget which) of the
recent issues of the journal _Folklore_, by Linda Gowans (author of _Cei
and the Arthurian Legend_, Arthurian Studies xviii (Cambridge 1988)).

Regards,

Tom,
Oxford

[David Nash Ford]

Peter Turner wrote:

"Today (September 22) is, according to the lists kept by some medieval Breton
churches, the Feast Day of “Saint” Morgan le Fay, half-sister of King Arthur"

If you are referring to St. Maugan (Latin - Malgandus) of La Meaugon near
Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Maugan in the old diocese of St. Malo, he was very
definitely a man and his feast day is the first Sunday after the 24th September,
not the 22nd. He was a disciple of St. Brieuc, who also has dedications in Cornwall
at St. Mawgan-in-Pydar and St. Mawgan-in-Meneage. He appears, at some point, to
have become confused with the Welsh St. Meugan (of Llanfeugan (Dyfed)) whose feast
day is often given as 25th September, but was probably actually in mid-November
(15th, 18th or 22nd being referenced).

The best study is in Doble's "The Saints of Cornwall, Part Two: Saints of of the
Lizard District". It has just been republished by Llanerch and is available via
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2/biblio.html

David Ford
"Early British Kingdoms Web Site"
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2/Early%20British%20Kingdoms.html

[David Nash Ford]

Details of St. Ké's life can be found at
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2/cynyr.html#Cai
They don't fit in very well with other traditional stories of Sir Kay's twilight
years, but an amalgam is here attempted.

The best study is in Doble's "The Saints of Cornwall, Part Three: Saints of the
Fal". It has just been republished by Llanerch and is available via
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2/biblio.html

The similar situation concerning Sir Gawain/St. Govan is outlined at
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2/gododdin.html#Gawain

For those interested in Celtic Saints, I would suggest a look at
http://freespace.virgin.net/david.ford2/saints.html

[PFJTurner]

Re: If you are referring to St. Maugan (Latin - Malgandus) of La Meaugon near
Saint-Brieuc and Saint-Maugan in the old diocese of St. Malo . . .

No, I was not. I did indeed mean the female Morgan le Fay of legend. She had
been assigned her own feast day in medieval Brittany.