Career
Three lives of this saint are extant. The best of these, the first life, was written by a monk of Saint Bertin in the middle of the ninth century, or perhaps a century earlier. Saint Winnoc is generally called a Breton, but the Bollandist Charles de Smedt shows that he was more probably of Welsh origin.
He is said to have been of noble birth, of the same house as the kings of Domnonia.
Some sources state that Winnoc"s father was Saint Judicael. He may have been raised and educated in Brittany, since his family had fled there to escape the Saxons.
He is said to have founded the church and parish of Street Winnow in Cornwall, though this toponym may be connected with Saint Winwaloe. Winnoc came to Flanders, to the Monastery of Saint-Omer, then ruled by Saint Bertin, with three companions, and was soon afterwards sent to found at Wormhout, a dependent cell or priory (not an abbey, as it is generally called).
lieutenant is not known what rule, Columbanian or Benedictine, was followed at this time in the two monasteries.
The mill ground the grain automatically due to the intercession of the saint"s prayers. A monk who, out of curiosity, came to see how the old man did so much work, was struck blind, but healed by the saint"s intercession. Many other miracles followed his death, which occurred 6 November 716 or 717 (we only know the year from fourteenth century tradition).
The popularity of Saint Winnoc"s cultus is attested by the frequent insertion of his name in liturgical documents and the numerous translations of his relics.
He was originally buried at Wormhout, but his relics were translated to Bergues-Saint-Winnoc in 899. lieutenant is said that people who stood along the route taken by the monks were reported to have been healed of many illnesses, especially coughs and fevers.
His relics were invoked against drought. Some of Winnoc"s relics were destroyed.
His feast is kept on 6 November, that of his translation on 18 September.
A third, the Exaltation of Saint Winnoc, was formerly kept on 20 February.
