Saint Felec or Felix of Cornwall was an obscure 5th or 6th century British saint active in the country's south-western peninsula. Saint Felix was said to have had the miraculous gift of being able to communicate with lions, cats, and other feline creatures. The church at Phillack, near Hayle is dedicated to Saint Felec (as he appears in a 10th century Vatican codex). Later generations mistook him for the females Saint Felicity (alias Felicitas) and Saint Piala. His feast day is November 20. A Mount St Phillack is in Victoria, Australia not far from Mount St Gwinear.
Felec could be equated with Felix, a supposed early king of either Cornwall or Lyonesse according to the Prose Tristan (c. 1235) and later Italian Arthurian romances, but this reference is very late. The character is probably mythical, having been confused with the 7th century Saint Felix of Burgundy. Like Lyonesse, Dunwich, the centre of his diocese, was inundated by the flood that led to the destruction of Lyonesse.
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