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Winwaloe (; ; or Winwalœus; – 3 March 532) was the founder and first abbot of Landévennec Abbey (literally "Lann of Venec"), also known as the Monastery of Winwaloe. It was just south of Brest in Brittany, now part of France.
Winwaloe was born about 460, apparently at Plouguin, near Saint-Pabu, where his supposed place of birth, a feudal hillock, can still be seen. Winwaloe grew up in Ploufragan near Saint-Brieuc with his brother Saint Wethenoc, and his brother Jacut. They were later joined by a sister, Klervi, and still later by half-brother Saint Cadfan.Baring-Gould, Sabine and Fisher, John. The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain, Volume 2, p. 9 (C. J. Clark, 1908). He was educated by Budoc of Dol on Lavret island in the Bréhat archipelago near Paimpol.
As a young man Winwaloe conceived a wish to visit Ireland to see the remains of Saint Patrick, who had just died. However, the saint appeared to him in a dream to say that it would be better to remain in Brittany and found an abbey. So, with eleven of Budoc's other disciples, he set up a small monastery on the Île de Tibidy, at the mouth of the Faou. However it was so inhospitable that after three years, he miraculously opened a passage through the sea to found another abbey on the opposite bank of the Landévennec estuary.
Winwaloe died at his monastery on 3 March 532.
Winwaloe's shrine was destroyed during the French Revolution in 1793.
He apparently acquired a Priapus reputation through confusion of his name with the word gignere (French engendrer, "to beget") and was thus a patron of fertility as one of the . He is also the patron of Saint-Guénolé in Penmarch, Finistère.
In Cornwall, Winwaloe is the patron of the churches at Tremaine, St Wynwallow's Church, Landewednack, Gunwalloe and Poundstock as well as East Portlemouth in Devon and two lost chapels in Wales. His feast day is 28 April and Gunwalloe feast is celebrated on the last Sunday of April. Cornish Church Guide (1925) Truro: Blackford; p. 11 The churches of St Twynnells, near Pembroke, Pembrokeshire and Wonastow, Monmouthshire may have been originally dedicated to him.Bowen, E. G. (1969) Saints, Seaways and Settlements. Cardiff: University of Wales Press (2nd ed. 1977), p. 189 They were probably founded by his successor at Landévennec, Gwenhael, who certainly made trips to Great Britain. Exeter Cathedral, Glastonbury Abbey, Abingdon Abbey and Waltham Abbey Church held small relics. He was also popular in East Anglia where the abbey at Montreuil had a daughter house; Winnold House in Norfolk was dedicated to him.
Veneration
Winwaloe was venerated as a saint at Landévennec until Viking invasions in 914 forced the to flee, with his body, to Château-du-Loir and then Montreuil-sur-Mer. His were often taken on procession through the town.
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