Saint Petroc

Who was Saint Petroc?

Saint Petroc or Petrock was a British prince and Christian saint.

Probably born in South Wales, he primarily ministered to the Britons of Devon and Cornwall, where he is associated with a monastery at Padstow, which is named after him. Padstow appears to have been his earliest major cult centre, but Bodmin became the major centre for his veneration when his relics were moved to the monastery there in the later ninth century. Bodmin monastery became one of the wealthiest Cornish foundations by the eleventh century. There is a second ancient dedication to him nearby at Little Petherick or "Saint Petroc Minor".

In Devon ancient dedications total a probable seventeen, mostly coastal and including one within the old Roman walls of Exeter as well as the villages of Petrockstowe and Newton St Petroc. In Wales his name is commemorated at St Petroc near Pembroke, Ferwig near Cardigan and Llanbedrog on the Lleyn peninsula. He also became a popular saint in Brittany by the end of the tenth century.