Ia of Cornwall

Who is Ia of Cornwall?

Saint Ia of Cornwall was a Cornish evangelist and martyr of the 5th or 6th centuries.

She is said to have been an Irish princess, the sister of Saint Erc. A spiritual student of Saint Baricus, Ia travelled as a missionary to Cornwall where she joined Saints Gwinear and Piala. Legend holds that they had up to 777 companions and that she sailed across the Irish Sea on a leaf which miraculously grew into a boat. Ia was martyred under King Teudar on the River Hayle and buried at what is now St Ives, where St Ia's Church — of which she is now the patron — was erected over her grave. The town built up around it. Her feast day is 3 February.

The church of Plouyé in Brittany was probably dedicated originally to this saint. John Leland gives details from a Latin life of Ia which is no longer extant.