Alor de Quimper

Who they were

Two episcopal catalogues of Quimper — the cathedral cartulary copied around 1417 and a 12th-century cartulary recording bishops up to Rodolfo (1158) and later Ranoldo (1245) — list a bishop named Alor (in the form Allorus) after Chorentinus and Guennoc. He lived in the 6th century, and his veneration spread through several parishes of the Breton diocese, expanding from the original territory at the meeting of the Steir and Odet rivers to what is now the Finistère area; it remains especially strong at Plobannalec, Tréguennec, Ergué-Armel and Lennon, where his feast is kept on 26 October.

He is invoked as a protector of horses, though nothing explains this patronage beyond a probable confusion with Saint Eligius, the 7th-century bishop of Noyon venerated as protector of blacksmiths. There is no real difficulty over the spelling of his name, only uncertainty; one scholar has proposed the form Talor.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Breton bishop of Quimper venerated locally since the 6th century, especially at Plobannalec, Tréguennec, Ergué-Armel and Lennon; feast 26 October.