Chapelle et fontaine Saint-Corentin de Lescobet

Plomodiern

The Life of Saint Corentin, composed around 1220–1235, makes him a hermit settled in the forest at the foot of the Ménez-Hom, on the lands of Plomodiern. Near his cell runs a fountain in which a fish lives: each day Corentin cuts a slice from it to feed himself, and each day the fish becomes whole again. One day when King Gradlon, lost while hunting with his court in the wood of Névet, arrived famished at the hermitage, the saint fed them all from his single fish; the king, who wanted to give Cornouaille a bishop, chose Corentin, sent him to be consecrated at Tours and gave him his palace at Quimper, on the site of the cathedral. The motto of Plomodiern, Advevañ 'rin bemdez, "each day I shall live again", is the fish's. Albert Le Grand, in 1637, has Corentin born at Locmaria in Quimper around 375 and consecrated by Saint Martin; dom Lobineau makes him a hundred and fifty years younger; the historians do not decide, for want of any source earlier than the 13th century. A chapel existed from the 15th century; nothing remains of it but inscriptions of 1668 and 1701. The neo-Gothic building seen today dates from 1898–1900; a relic of the saint's arm, taken from the cathedral of Quimper, was carried there in procession in 1893. The fountain, vaulted, with its pediment and its statue, is the only thing on the site that still speaks of the legend.

Wikipédia — Corentin de Quimper ↗

Getting there : From the village of Plomodiern, 2 km east by the road to Cast, then the hamlet of Lescobet (signposted "chapelle Saint-Corentin"). The chapel is closed outside services; one can walk round it, and the fountain, under its pedimented niche with a statue of Corentin in kersanton, can be seen from the path — wet ground, good shoes. Pardon on the third Sunday of July.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound