Saint Petroc

Saint Petroc (English: Petrock, Welsh: Pedrog, Latin: Petrocus and French: Perreux) (died c. 564) was a British Christian saint-prince.

Probably born in South Wales, he primarily ministered to the Britons of Devon (Dewnans) and Cornwall (Kernow), where he is associated with monasteries at Padstow, which is named after him (Pedroc-stowe, or 'Petrock's Place') and which appears to have been his earliest major cult centre, and Bodmin, which became the major centre for his veneration when his relics were moved there in the later ninth century, Bodmin monastery becoming one of the wealthiest Cornish foundations by the eleventh century. There is a second ancient dedication to him nearby at Little Petherick or "Saint Petroc Minor".

In Devon ancient dedications total a probable seventeen (plus Timberscombe just over the border in Somerset), mostly coastal and including one within the old Roman walls of Exeter (Karesk) as well as the villages of Petrockstowe and Newton St Petroc. In Wales his name is commemorated at St Petroc near Pembroke, Ferwig near Cardigan and Llanbedrog on the Lleyn peninsula. He also became a popular saint in Brittany by the end of the tenth century.