St. Aaron, Abbot in Brittany


IN the sixth century, when St. Malo came into France, Aaron was abbot of a monastery in an island separated from the city of Aleth in Armorica by an arm of the sea, which the tide at low water left dry twice a day. This holy man gave St. Malo a welcome reception, such as one of his character could not fail to meet with wherever virtue was esteemed. St. Aaron shared with that holy pastor the glory of his apostleship, and his feast is kept in that diocess with the solemnity of a Lesser Double on the 22d of June. A parish church in the diocess of St. Brieuc bears his name. The island in which his monastery stood was called from him the isle of Aaron, till, in 1150, John, surnamed de la Grille, bishop of Aleth, translated his see from that city into the church of St. Malo, in this island, which before belonged to a monastery there. Aleth was deserted by its inhabitants, and the town of St. Malo, which fills the whole island of Aaron, arose in its place. See Dom. Morice, Hist. de Bretagne, and Lobineau, Hist. de Bret. et Vies des Saints, p. 120.	1