CORNISH DEDICATIONS. 159 



by Geraint, King of Cornwall, to whom, previous to his departure, 

 the Saint promised that he should not die until he had received 

 the communion from his hands. 



Accordingly, when death approached the King in his bed, 

 S. Teilo was miraculously informed of his situation, and at once 

 proceeded to fulfil his promise, and at the same time to return to 

 Wales, as the pestilence had ceased. As they were about to 

 embark, Teilo desired his followers to convey to the ship a stone 

 sarcophagus which he had provided for the King; but they 

 declared their inability to convey it to the coracle which it would 

 swamp. Teilo then harnessed to it ten yoke of oxen, which 

 drew it to the shore, where he launched it on the tide, and the 

 sarcophagus swam before the vessel and reached the Cornish 

 coast before them. 



They landed at Dingerein, and Teilo at once proceeded to 

 visit the king, whom he found still alive, but who on receiving 

 the communion immediately expired, and his remains were laid 

 in the sarcophagu.s provided for him. 



Nor again must S. Geraint be confounded with Greraint III. 

 Prince of Devon, doubtless a descendant, to whom S. Aldhelm wrote 

 in 705. The Saintly King is noted in one of the Triads for having 

 had a fleet of six score ships with six score men in each (Tr. 68). 

 This fleet was in the Severn, and the fatal battle in which Geraint 

 fell was at Llongborth on the Parret, the Pedrydan of the Anglo 

 Saxon Chronicle. 



Geraint is not unknown in Brittany, or, to be more correct 

 ■was not unknown. A parish near Angenis, in the diocese of 

 Nantes, bore his name as S. Giron, or Geruntius, which is the 

 Latin form taken by Geraint. But of late he has been supplanted 

 by the fabulous S. Gereon of the Theban legion. 



The church of S. Geran, in the deanery of Pontivy and the 

 diocese of Yannes, is dedicated to him. In BeUe He at Le 

 Palais, is a church bearing his name, and there he is commemor- 

 ated on March 5 ; nothing is there known of him, and Kerviler 

 in his Breton Calendar, calls him a regionary bishop, the 

 companion of S. Patrick, which is mere guesswork. S. Patrick 

 had no fellow worker of that name. On April 1, the Irish 



