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Tro Breizh (Breton for "Tour of Brittany") is a Catholic pilgrimage that links the towns of the seven founding saints of Brittany. These seven saints were mostly Celtic monks from Britain from around the 5th or 6th century who brought Christianity to Armorica and founded its first bishoprics.

The Tro Breizh originated in the middle ages at a time of prosperity in Brittany when manifestations of religious belief became fervently pursued. The parish closes were one manifestation of this religious fervour and the Tro Breizh pilgrimage another.

The original tour was pursued on foot covering approximately 600 kilometres and one month was allowed to complete the journey to all seven sites, but when relaunched in 1994 by Les Chemins du Tro Breizh ("The Paths of the Tro Breizh" in French), it was decided to limit the tour to one week-long stage every year, still following the original path:

The seven towns are:-

Quimper, Saint Corentin's town, Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Saint Pol's town, Tréguier, Saint Tudwal's town, Saint-Brieuc, named after its founder Brioc, Saint Malo, similarly named for Malo, Dol-de-Bretagne, Samson of Dol's town and Vannes, Saint Patern's town.

An old Breton legend says that those who do not complete the Tro Breizh in their lifetime will be sentenced to complete it in their afterlife, walking the length of the tour from within their coffin every seven years.

Saint Corentin was born in 375, the son of an Irish Celt who had settled in Armorique. Corentin became a priest and established a hermitage in the parish of Plomodiern. It was Gradlon who took Corentin under his wing when he came across the latter's hermitage whilst hunting. The king was made welcome and his hospitality touched Gradlon who granted him some land upon which he built a monastery and a school. Several years later Gradlon, anxious to found a bishopric in his province, and seeing Corentin as a suitable and popular candidate, arranged to send him to Martin of Tours whose jurisdiction included Brittany. Martin consecrated Corentin as a bishop and when he returned to Brittany, Gradlon gave him his castle at Kemper to convert into a church and he became the first bishop of Quimper and one of the group of seven called the "seven saints of Brittany". He died in 460.

Malo, also known as Maclovius was born in around 520, probably in Wales, and was baptized by St. Brendan. He is thought to have accompanied St Brendan on some of his voyages and spent several years in Llancarrven Abbey. After visits to the Orkney Islands and Scotland, he arrived in Brittany and placed himself under a venerable hermit named Aaron and helped with Aaron's missionary work. When Aaron died in around 543, Malo succeeded to the spiritual rule of the district, subsequently known as St. Malo, and was consecrated first Bishop of Aleth, the modern Saint-Servan. His work attracted opposition and he was driven from the St Malo area, settling in Saintes in France.

Paul Aurelian (known in Breton as Paol Aorelian or Saint Pol de Léon and in Latin as Paulinus Aurelianus) was a 6th-century Welshman who became the first bishop of the See of Léon and one of the seven founder saints of Brittany. He was a pupil of Saint Illtud at Llantwit Major and later studied on Caldey Island with Samson of Dol and Gildas. He went to Brittany, establishing monasteries in Finistère at Ouessant on the northwest coast of Brittany, at Lampaul on the island of Ushant, on the island of Batz and at Ocsimor, now the city of Saint-Pol-de-Léon, where he is said to have founded a monastery in an abandoned fort. He was consecrated bishop there under the authority of Childebert, King of the Franks.

Saint Brioc ( Brieuc in French or Brieg in Breton) died in around 502 and was also from Wales. He became the first abbot of Saint-Brieuc.

Saint Brioc
St Brieuc

Saint Sampson was born in around 496 in what is now called Glamorganshire. At seven years of age, he was put under the care of St. Iltutus and was subsequently ordained priest by St. Dubritius, bishop of Caërleon.

Saint Tugdual

Saint Tudwal also known as Tual, Tudgual, Tugdual, Tugual, Pabu, Papu, or Tugdualus (Latin) died in around 564 and was also from Wales. He immigrated to Brittany, settling in Lan Pabu with 72 followers, where he established a large monastery under the patronage of his cousin, King Deroch of Domnonée. Tudwal was made Bishop of Tréguier on the insistence of Childebert I, King of the Franks. Tudwal is shown in iconography as a bishop holding a dragon, now the symbol of Tregor.

A native of France’s Bretagne region, Padarn journeyed to the British Isles, and settled in Wales as a monk. He founded a monastery at Llanbadarn Fawr, near to Aberystwyth, which became the seat of a new diocese, with him as its first bishop. Later in life he returned to Brittany and built a monastery in Vannes.

Saint Padarn

In Brittany the "Vallée_des_Saints" has statues of most of the Breton saints.<ref> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vallée_des_Saints?uselang=fr

INTRODUCTION

The seven articles which form the heart of this book are drawn from Wikipedia and each gives a comprehensive description of the cathedral, basilica or church involved in the pilgrimage. To ensure the complete accuracy of the descriptions given, I have during the year 2017, visited each of the seven locations, completing as it were a personal "Tro Breizh".

I started in Saint-Malo. This vibrant seaport and popular holiday resort and terminus of the sea ferry crossing from Portsmouth has much to see apart from the Saint-Vincent cathedral. The port is the birthplace of Jacques Cartier who sailed the Saint Lawrence River and visited the sites of Quebec City and Montreal and is thus credited as the discoverer of Canada. He lived in and sailed from Saint-Malo, as did the first colonists to settle the Falkland Islands, hence the Islands' French name "Îles Malouines," which eventually gave rise to the Spanish name "Islas Malvinas". A person born in Saint-Malo is known as a "Malouin"

Saint-Malo was also the birthplace of the "privateers" René Duguay-Trouin and Robert Surcouf and the great thinker François-René de Chateaubriand who was buried, as he had requested, on the tidal island Grand Bé near Saint-Malo, accessible only when the tide is out. There is a fine statue of Chateaubriand on St.Malo's Esplanade Saint Vincent. This is the work of Émile Armel-Beaufils and was commissioned for the celebrations surrounding the 100th anniversary of Chateaubriand's death in 1948. There had been a bronze statue of Chateaubriand in Saint-Malo dating to 1875 and the work of Aimé Millet but this had been melted down by the occupying German army in 1942 as part of their insatiable need for bronze to make weapons of war. Émile Armel-Beaufils was also the sculptor of both the Saint-Malo and Saint Servan war memorials, two thoughtful compositions. Other Saint-Malo statues are that of Robert Surcouf by Albert Caravaniez and Jacques Cartier by Georges Bareau and, in the Enclos de la Résistance. a moving tribute to the victims of the Nazi regime by Eugéne Dodeigne. For the Saint-Malo war memorial, Armel Beaufils sculpted a relief depicting the heads of a soldier and a sailor and this is placed at the very top of the monument whilst Armel Beaufils' statue of a widow and her son stand to the side of the monument. The inscription reads "Aux enfants de saint-malo morts pour la France 1914 -1918". For Saint-Servain Armel Beaufils's involved a bas-relief profile of a soldier and a sailor, as with Saint Malo, and a widow in mourning clothes stands in front of the monument with head bowed. The Croix de Guerre is carved above the bas-relief profile. On either side of the main monument are two black marble stones listing the names of those honoured. 353 men were killed in the two World Wars.

One notable Saint-Malo landmark is the majestic Solidor tower which stands in the estuary of the river Rance. It was built between 1369 and 1382 by John V, Duke of Brittany (i.e. Jean IV in French) to control access to the Rance at a time when the city of Saint-Malo did not recognise his authority. Over the centuries the tower lost its military interest and became a jail. It is now a museum celebrating Breton sailors exploring Cape Horn. The Solidor tower is in fact located in the former city of Saint-Servan, which merged with Saint-Malo in 1967.

Saint-Malo and her populace have always had an independent streak and where-ever possible asserted its autonomy in dealings with the French authorities and even with the local Breton authorities. Indeed from 1590 to 1593, Saint-Malo declared itself to be an independent republic, taking the motto "not French, not Breton, but Malouin".

The Solidor tower in the estuary of the river Rance was built between 1369 and 1382 by John V, Duke of Brittany to control access to the Rance at a time when the city of Saint-Malo did not recognise his authority. Over the centuries the tower lost its military interest and became a jail. It is now a museum celebrating Breton sailors exploring Cape Horn. The Solidor tower is located in the former city of Saint-Servan, which merged with Saint-Malo in 1967.
A view of Chateaubriand's tomb
A panoramic view of Saint-Malo seen from the island of Ble at low tide.

The Saint-Malo cathedral holds many treasures including the breathtaking high altar, the work of the painter Arcabas and Étienne Pirot the sculptor. The theme of the altar is the tetramorph or the four Evangelists appearing in animal form.

From Saint-Malo, my next destination was Dol-de-Bretagne and the imposing cathedral dedicated to Saint Samson. The vast 12th/13th-century cathedral has two fine porches, a 13th-century medallion-glass window, 14th-century stalls, a carved wooden Bishop's throne and a tomb carved by the Florentine sculptors Antoine and Jean Juste. Of all the great works in Dol Cathedral the statue of Christ seated and awaiting crucifixion, a forlorn figure, stayed long in my memory.

Also in Dol at Carfantin is the église Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption built in 1861 and based on the plans of the architect Eugène Hawcke. On either side of the church's porch are statues of saint Samson and saint Magloire by the sculptor Yves Hernot.

If time permits during your time in Dol, visits are recommended to the "Menhir de Champs-Dolent", the tallest free-standing stone in Brittany, Mont Dol with it's fine views of Cancale and Mont-St-Michel, and a museum lodged in the former residence of the Bishops of Dol called Médiévalys, a museum dedicated to cathedrals.The menhir du Champ Dolent lies one kilometre to the south-east of the town near the superb of Carfantin A single block of rose granite it is 9.30 metres high above ground level with a further 5 metres beneath the ground.

In Dol-de-Bretagne's "Grande rue des Stuarts" running between the place Toullier in the north and la place Chateaubriand in the south are some remarkable old buildings such as "Le Quengo", "La Guillotière", and the 12th-century "des Petits Palets", one of the oldest buildings in Brittany.

The absence of written records of the cathedral's construction has hampered historical research. In 1203 a fire destroyed much of the cathedral and somewhere between 1598 and 1607 records show that the salle capitulaire was flooded and the written manuscripts of the "chapitre" were destroyed. Chapter room ("salle capitulaire"). "La Cathédrale de Dol". Anne-Claude Le Boulc'h. Art Société. Presses Universitaires de Rennes.ISBN 2-86847-396-2.

The construction of the nave was dated starting in 1203 after the fire and finished in 1223 when bishop Jean de Lisenech brought the relics of saint Samson back to Dol.

In the 6th-century a monastery created by saint Samson was the start of the Dol bishopric. I next moved on to Saint Brieuc and the St-Étienne cathedral with her twin towers. Saint-Brieuc is named after a Welsh monk who Christianised the region in the 6th century and established an oratory there. Bro Sant-Brieg or the Pays de Saint-Brieuc, one of the nine traditional bishoprics of Brittany which were used as administrative areas before the French Revolution, was named after Saint-Brieuc. Also in the Middle Ages,it was known as Penteur and was established by Duke Arthur II of Brittany as one of his eight "battles" or administrative regions.

The town is charming and a visit is recommended to the Cemetery of Saint Michel which contains the graves of several notable Bretons, and sculptures by Paul le Goff and Jean Boucher. Outside the wall is Armel Beaufils's statue of Anatole Le Braz. Le Goff, who was killed with his two brothers in World War I, is also commemorated with a street name and his major sculptural work "La forme se dégageant de la matière" in located in the central gardens, which also includes a memorial to him by Jules-Charles Le Bozec and work by Francis Renaud.

A visit is also recommended to the Église Notre-Dame de l'Ésperance in Saint-Brieuc which has a magnificent pulpit by the Saint-Brieuc born sculptor Paul Guibé.

The church also holds Guibé's tomb of Canon Prud'Homme and the old Italian theatre in Saint-Brieuc is decorated with two reliefs by Guibé depicting "comedy" and "charity".

The next visit was to Tréguier. Near the cathedral, there is a statue of Ernest Renan, a native of the town. As he was a prominent skeptic, author of the "pagan" Prayer on the Acropolis and the 1903 unveiling of this statue, which also included a depiction of the goddess Athena, led to widespread protests from the Catholic Church. The town also houses the Renan birthplace museum. A notable war memorial in the town, the "Pleureuse de Tréguier" was designed by Francis Renaud. A commemorative memorial to Anatole Le Braz by Armel Beaufils is in the jardin du poète.

The Pardon of Saint Yves is a major event in the town. Yves is the patron saint of the legal profession and the event attracts Catholic lawyers and judges from all over the world.

Amongst the sites of architectural interest in Tréguier are the Théâtre de l'Arche which was the chapelle du petit séminaire until 1905. In 1992 it became a concert hall. Another site is the "Maison d'Ernest Renan".

The Maison d'Ernest Renan
The bell-tower of the old église Saint-Michel. This church was built in 1474 and destroyed by the English in the 16th-century. The bell-tower has survived.

The next visit was to Vannes. Whilst Vannes has a cathedral, the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Vannes, the "Tro Breizh" pilgrimage revolves around the Saint Patern church as it was there that the relics of the saint were held. In the 14th-century this led to many disputes in the town as the clerics of the church argued with the canons of the cathedral as to who had the rights to hold the relics, and most importantly who should receive the donations and offerings from the visiting pilgrims. In fact, the cathedral was the burial place of saint Vincent Ferrier who died in Vannes in 1419 led to the reconstruction of the Gothic cathedral by bishop Yves de Pontsal as the existing building was too small to cope with the number of pilgrims visiting Ferrier's tomb.

In Vannes, a visit to the Art museum Is recommended. It has a fine collection of paintings including Delacroix' "Le Christ sur la croix" and Joseph-Félix Bouchor's " Le marché aux cochons d'Auray".

The Delacroix painting
Bouchor's "Le marché aux cochons d'Auray"
A bas-relief depicting the last supper in Vannes cathedral
Carving on a tomb in Vannes cathedral

Two visits remained. The first was to Saint-Pol-de-Leon and the "Tro Breizh" was finished at Quimper. Saint-Pol-de-Leon is noted for its 13th-century cathedral on the site of the original building founded by Saint Paul Aurélian in the 6th-century. It has kept some unique architecture, such as the Notre-Dame du Kreisker Chapel, an 80 m high chapel, which is the highest in Brittany. It was also the scene of a battle during the Breton War of Succession, where the Montfortists and their English allies defeated an army led by Charles of Blois.

The cathedral at Quimper is a treasure and visits are highly recommended to the Quimper Art museum and the museum next to the cathedral, the museé départemental Breton which occupies the old Palais des Évêques de Cornouaille.