Winnoc
Winnoc (c. 640-c. 716/717) was an abbot or prior of Wormhout who came from Wales. Three lives of the saint are extant (BHL 8952-4). The best of them is the first life, which was written by a monk of Bertin in the mid-9th century or perhaps a century earlier.
Saint Winnoc | |
|---|---|
Saint Winnoc of Flanders | |
| Born | c. 640 |
| Died | c. 716/717 |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion |
| Feast | 6 November; translation of relics (18 September); Exaltation of Saint Winnoc (formerly kept on 20 February) |
| Attributes | abbot with a crown and scepter at his feet, turning a hand-mill, often with a church and bridge nearby; in ecstasy while grinding corn; with Saint Bertin |
| Patronage | millers; against fever; against whooping cough; against drought |
Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the Bollandist Charles De Smedt shows that he was more probably of Welsh origin. He is said to have been of noble birth, of the same house as the kings of Domnonia. Some sources state that Winnoc's father was Judicael. He may have been raised and educated in Brittany, since his family had fled there to escape the Saxons. He is said to have founded the church and parish of St Winnow in Cornwall, though this toponym may be connected with Winwaloe.
Winnoc came to Flanders, to the Monastery of Saint-Omer, then ruled by Bertin, with three companions, and was soon afterwards sent to found at Wormhout, a dependent cell or priory (not an abbey, as it is generally called). It is not known what rule, Columbanian or Benedictine, was followed at this time in the two monasteries.
When enfeebled by old age, Winnoc is said to have received supernatural assistance in the task of grinding grain for his brethren and the poor. The mill ground the grain automatically due to the intercession of his prayers. A monk who, out of curiosity, came to see how the old man did so much work, was struck blind, but healed by Winnoc's intercession. Many other miracles followed his death, which, according to a fourteenth-century tradition, occurred 6 November 716 or 717.