Career
He was one of the seven founding saints of Brittany. Details of Malo"s career have been preserved in three medieval "Lives" which seem to include incidents associated with several different people of a similar name. Despite this confusion, it appears that Malo was probably born in Wales in approximately 520.
Malo"s name may derive from the Old Breton machlou, a compound of mach "warrant, hostage" and lou (or loh) "brilliant, bright, beautiful".
Malo is believed to have been baptized by Saint Brendan, and to have become his favorite disciple. He is also said to have accompanied Saint Brendan on his famous voyage.
However, there remains doubt on the authenticity of this section of Malo"s life. He then went to sea on a second voyage and visited the Island of Cézembre, remaining there for some time.
On their travels they encountered Maclovius, a dead giant whom Brendan temporarily revived with his holiness.
Brendan baptized him before the giant returned to his grave. lieutenant was supposedly on the occasion of his second voyage that he evangelized the Orkney Islands and the northern isles of Scotland. At Aleth, Malo served under a venerable hermit named Aaron.
Upon Aaron"s death in 544, Malo succeeded the spiritual rule of the district subsequently known as Saint Malo and was consecrated as the first Bishop of Aleth.
In old age, the disorder of the island compelled Saint Malo to leave, but the people soon begged him to return. He obliged his people and returned in order to restore order.
Feeling that his end was at hand, the saint was determined to spend his last days in solitary penance. Accordingly, he went to Archambiac, a village in the diocese of Saintes, where he passed the remainder of his life in prayer and mortification.
His death, reported in Archingeay (in the same diocese) is chronicled on 15 November, a Sunday, in the year 621 (although this may have been a different saint named Marcoult).
Indirectly, the Spanish name of the Falkland Islands, Islas Malvinas, can be traced to Saint Malo, as it is derived from the French, Îles Malouines, named by Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1764 after the first known settlers: mariners, and fishermen from the port of Saint-Malo. Pontoise Cathedral is dedicated to Saint Malo. Lesmahagow Priory in South Lanarkshire is also dedicated to him in the Latin form of his name, Machutus.
The place-name Saint-Maclou also refers to him.
