Paternus

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Paternus of Avranches
birth_date=c. 482
death_date=550 or 565
feast_day=April 15
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Church

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imagesize=250px
caption=St. Paternus ("Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints", 1878)
birth_place=Poitiers, Poitou, France
death_place=Avranches, Normandy, France
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:"Paternus was also a bishop of Vannes (Brittany) (c. 500) and a bishop of Zaragoza (Spain) in 1040-1077. Another Paternus is traditionally considered the first bishop of Braga."

Saint Paternus of Avranches in Normandy (c. 482-565) was born around the year 482, although the exact year is unknown, in Poitiers, Poitou. He was born into a Christian family. His father Patranus went to Ireland to spend his days as a hermit in holy solitude. Because of this, Paternus embraced religious life. He became a monk at the Abbey of Marnes in France. Later on, St Paternus went to Wales where he built a monastery called Llanpatenvaur. ["Lives of the Saints, For Every Day of the Year" edited by Rev. Hugo Hoever, S.O.Cist, Ph.D., New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co., 1955, p. 151] Before long, he wished to attain the perfection of Christian virtue by a life of penance in solitude. He went into solitude with his fellow monk, Saint Scubilion. The forest of Seicy in the diocese of Coutances was the place he became a hermit.

At a later date, the abbot of the region who knew Paternus recommended him to the Bishop of Coutances and the bishop made him a priest in 512. Together with St Scubilion he evangelized the western coasts and established several monasteries of which he was made the abbot general.

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