Thoughts for the Day

The fear of the Lord prolongs life,
but the years of the wicked will be short.
The hope of the righteous ends in gladness,
but the expectation of the wicked comes to nothing.
The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the upright,
but destruction for evildoers.
The righteous will never be removed,
but the wicked will not remain in the land.
The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom,
but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable,
but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Petroc was probably born in South Wales, and was the son of a Welsh chieftain. He is known as the 'Captain of Cornish Saints' and his influence spread far and wide through Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Wales and as far afield as Brittany, India and Tasmania. He studied in Ireland, and on his first arrival in Cornwall, founded a monastery at Lanwethinoc, now Padstow (meaning 'Petroc-Stowe' or 'Petroc's Place'), and after this another monastery at Bodmin.

Petroc founded churches in Little Petherick and in many parts of Britain, Wales and Brittany. The town of Saint-Perreux in Brittany is named in honour of him. After thirty years, legend says that Petroc went on pilgrimage to Rome and he seems to have made this journey twice during his life time. The place of his death was reputedly at a house belonging to a family named Rovel, thought to be a farm now called Treravel near Little Petherick. His major shrine was always at St Petroc's Church at Bodmin. In 1177, though, a Breton stole his relics from Bodmin and gave them to the Abbey of St Meen. However, Henry II restored them and, though the relics were thrown out during the English Reformation, their ivory casket is still on public display at St. Petroc's in Bodmin.

If remembrance of this Saint feels somewhat unimportant to us today with global issues of war and climate change high on our agenda, perhaps it should shame us into realising how much one man did to spread the Gospel in his lifetime, in an age when to be a Christian was dangerous in a largely pagan world, and of how little we do in our relatively safe world today.

Collect

Almighty God,
by whose grace Petroc,
kindled with the fire of Your love,
became a burning and a shining light in the Church:
inflame us with the same spirit of discipline and love,
that we may ever walk before You as children of light,
through Jesus Christ Your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with You,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.