Sainte Onenne

Saint Onenne is a local Breton saint whose cult exists only in Tréhorenteuc. The church of the municipality partly bears her name. Initially associated with the image of a "Celtic saint," her cult has been linked to symbols of the swan-maiden or the bird goddess close to the goddess Ana, hence her connection with ducks and geese, birds that have retained an important place in her hagiography. Although she is said to have lived in the 7th century, her first written mention dates back to the 11th century. Over time, the removal of original elements brings her cult closer to that of the Virgin Mary associated with grace and purity.

Her hagiography, detailed and transcribed from the 18th to the 20th century, suggests that she is the youngest of the sisters of Saint Judicaël. She vows poverty and leads a humble and pious life as a goose keeper, receiving favors from the Virgin and escaping a rape attempt thanks to the protection of these birds. Saint Onenne is not known for performing miracles, but this figure of humility gains some popularity, attracting many pilgrims to Tréhorenteuc in the 19th century. She was originally celebrated twice a year, on April 30 and October 1. Abbé Henri Gillard is also responsible for a procession, which has not always been followed. With the help of the Association for the Preservation of his Works and under the impetus of Abbé Jérôme Lebel, since 2018, a procession has resumed between the church and the Saint Onenne fountain preceded by geese on September 29th.

Etymology Saint Onenne is a Christianized Celtic figure. She is also known by the names Onenna, Onenn, Onène, and Ouenne. Philippe Walter connects her name, with the ending "ene/ane," to that of the great goddess Ana (or Dana) and the duck (ane or ene, in Old French), recalling her connection with geese. Due to her highly localized cult, she is also known as "Saint Onenne of Tréhorenteuc." In Breton, she is called Onenn, and Onennus in Latin. Jean Markale, whose ideas have since been widely contradicted in the academic world, linked her original Celtic name to that of the "ash tree".

Origins and Mentions The hagiography of Saint Onenne is clearly of Celtic origin. According to Philippe Walter, she constitutes the most interesting case of a "Celtic saint".

The oldest known mention of Saint Onenne dates back to the 11th century and appears in the Briocense Chronicle, which gives the names of Judicaël's nineteen brothers and sisters, without dwelling on their hagiography or sanctity. The same is true in the Vita Winnoc, in the following century. Albert the Great cites her in 1637 in his "Lives of the Saints," among the children of Judhaël and Pritelle, under the name "Ouenne".

Hagiography The hagiographical data concerning Saint Onenne come from two sources: the Christian oral tradition of Tréhorenteuc collected at the end of the 19th century, In 1943, Abbé Gillard synthesized these two sources and included new elements. Upon arriving near Tréhorenteuc, she settled in ruins near a fountain and made it her hermitage.

Onenne embraced by the Virgin This version comes from an oral tale collected by Adolphe Orain. According to the Encyclopedia of Brocéliande, it is more Christianized than the previous one. Onenne's devotion to the Virgin becomes the heart of the story, sexual assault and the protective role of geese/ducks disappear: it seems to come from a deliberate intention to link the cult of Saint Onenne to that of the Virgin in the 17th century, when the parish of Tréhorenteuc was placed under the authority of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Paimpont. Saint Onenne loses all her Celtic character to become a devotee of the Virgin. She arrives at the castle of Tréhorenteuc after nightfall and, threatened by wolves, asks for hospitality. The next day, she is hired as a goose keeper. She takes to picking roses in the lady's garden to offer them to the Virgin Mary. The noblewoman, seeking to know the reasons for the disappearance of her flowers, follows Saint Onenne to the church, from where she sees two angels lift this humble child up to a portrait of the Virgin, from whom she receives a kiss. The lady finally asks her identity of this pious child, and Onenne eventually returns to her parents' castle. Her parents are very happy to see her again, and she now spends her time helping the country. Still young, she falls seriously ill and dies, sure to join the Virgin in the afterlife.

Henri Gillard's Synthesis

In June 1943 Abbé Henri Gillard published a Notice on Saint Onenne, synthesizing the two previous sources with some new elements: his version differs from the previous one from the moment Onenne returns to the court of the castle of Gaël. It has the particularity of better anchoring Saint Onenne's life in local toponymy. she leads a simple and pious life, spending a lot of time in prayer and caring for the sick or distributing alms. (dropsy before the age of thirty or at the age of 30), around 630. Her body is laid to rest in the church of Tréhorenteuc. even though he devoted a significant part of the developments of his new village church to the cult of the saint. As such, Onenne is representative of the transitional period when paganism shifted towards Christianity. There is no trace left of the original place of worship. The church, which fell into ruins at the beginning of the 20th century, was almost entirely rebuilt and restored by Abbé Henri Gillard after the Second World War.

The cult of Saint Onenne seems to have been deliberately confused with that of Saint Eutrope from the 15th century onwards, hence their celebration on the same day, April 30 (a date mentioned by Canon Garaby in 1839 ), and the belief that Saint Onenne would cure dropsy (this power is not mentioned in her hagiography). Another celebration date is given in 1836, October 1st, the day on which Saint Onenne's sister Saint Eurielle is also celebrated. From the 17th century, her cult is linked to that of the Virgin Mary. Henri Gillard strengthens this association by moving Saint Onenne's procession to August 15th, the day of the Notre-Dame pardon. In the 19th century, processions took place between the church of Tréhorenteuc and this fountain, often with the presence of geese and ducks, but not always: many healing rituals are recorded there, consisting of dropping water on the eyelids of sick children and wetting the shirts of feverish people. Women could hope to be cured of dropsy there, but in fact, it seems that some simply presented themselves as pregnant: the effigy that was in the choir of the church of Tréhorenteuc would have presented a rather round belly. Parishioners also take Saint Onenne's banner to go on procession. The supposed ruins of this castle are described in 1843 by Abbé Oresve and then by Sigismond Ropartz, who specifies in 1861 that "everyone will tell you that this is where Sainte Onenne's house was located". Excavations carried out in 1927 concluded that the ruins dated back to the Gallo-Roman era and that the establishment was probably dedicated to metallurgy. Abbé Le Claire believes that these ruins could have been the hermitage of the saint, so on April 18, 1927, a plaque was affixed there with the message "Here was the castle of Sainte Onenne, princess of Brittany, 7th century". Eight days later, the plaque was found attached to the tail of a stray dog in the streets of Tréhorenteuc.

Abbé Gillard links Saint Onenne's castle to the castle of La Roche mentioned in the Lancelot-Grail, which allows him to link Saint Onenne's legend with the quest for the Grail. Another tradition, attested by a single source, names these ruins the "castle of Saint-Bouquet" and asserts that "from his castle, Saint Bouquet could, every morning, greet Saint Onenne who was, for him, a great source of edification. Saint Bouquet cured bites made by rabid dogs".

Representations

The only known representations of Saint Onenne are on six stained glass windows of the Sainte-Eutrope Sainte-Onenne church in Tréhorenteuc, and among the possessions of this same church. A wooden statue depicts her in the choir. On one of the stained glass windows, she exchanges her clothes with a beggar woman. Another stained glass window shows her saved by her geese. A banner, owned by Tréhorenteuc and "classified as an object" in the inventory of historic monuments since June 20, 1929, represents Saint Onenne and Saint Eutrope kneeling near the Virgin and Child, against a background of fleurs-de-lis, with a white goose and three ducklings. Local tradition has it that it was offered by Anne of Brittany, It seems that this banner was offered to Tréhorenteuc with the aim of Christianizing Saint Onenne's procession, by placing it under the patronage of the Virgin. This banner was restored in 1994, at the initiative of the Association for the Safeguarding of the Works of Abbé Gillard.

Saint Onenne is represented in statue at La Vallée des Saints in Carnoët, by the sculptor Seenu.