Fête of Cornely at Carnac, Brittany, France

St Cornely (Cornelius) was elected the 21st pope in 251 during the lull in the persecution of the emperor Trajan Decius ...

Cornely is patron saint of horned animals, no doubt because of the similarity of the saint's name with the Latin word for 'horn', but also a remnant of pre-Christian worship of the horned god, who to the Celts was the similarly named Cernunnos (the Stag Lord). Even the name of the town gives away the pagan origins.

Elsewhere in the Catholic Church, today commemorates the feast day of St Cornelius, patron against earache, cattle, domestic animals, earache, epilepsy, epileptics, fever and twitching. Cornelius is represented in art as a pope holding a battle horn or cow's horn; pope with a cow nearby. He is often pictured with a broken cup because some tried to poison him and as he reached to drink from the cup, it shattered ...

Tagged: christianity, saints, calendar+customs, france