Saint Miliau, known also as Milliau, Méliau, Meiliaw, and Milio of Cornwall, belongs to the great company of early Breton saints whose lives were shaped by the migration of Brittonic Christians into Armorica. Tradition places his birth about the year 470 among the royal house of Cornouaille. He was the son of King Budic (Budik) and grandson of Alain le Long, and brother to Theodoric (or Theoderic) and Rivod. Some accounts name him among six siblings, including Derwela, Amwn, Umbrafel, and Iawn.
As a young prince he was famed as a formidable Celtic warrior and strategist, yet also as a man of striking presence and generous spirit. About the year 495 his father arranged his marriage to Haurille (also called Awrilia or Aurelia), a princess of Domnonia, daughter of Winnoc. From this union was born their son Melar (Méloir, Meloir), later venerated as a saint. After Budic's death Miliau succeeded to rule, holding the chiefdom of Léon and, in wider tradition, the kingship of Cornouaille and the new settlements his brother Iawn helped plant in Armorica. For seven years no rain or snow fell, yet the land still yielded abundance under his just government. He became renowned as a protector and benefactor of the poor, and is remembered dividing his cloak with a beggar in the manner of Saint Martin of Tours.
His brother Rivod, long jealous of the affection and authority given to Miliau, conspired against him. Around the year 531 Rivod had Miliau assassinated by decapitation. Tradition adds that the martyr walked a distance carrying his own severed head—a cephalophoric sign of sanctity familiar in Breton hagiography. A few years later Rivod likewise eliminated the young Melar. After the murder, Queen Haurille is said to have returned to Domnonia. Rivod himself, after a regency, is reported to have died in remorse about 544.
Though modern chronology sometimes places related royal names in later centuries, Breton Catholic tradition has long fixed Miliau's martyrdom in the early sixth century and has honored him as a Christian prince who sealed his witness with blood. No formal Roman process is recorded; his cult is ancient and local. He is the eponym of Guimiliau (where a sixteenth-century altarpiece shows him crowned and sword-bearing amid scenes of his life), Ploumilliau, Pluméliau, and other sites. He is patron of Trébeurden and of Plonévez-Porzay; a fountain of Saint Miliau is known at Locronan, and the island of Milliau recalls his name. Feast days vary by place, often 27 October or 5 November. The faithful invoke him especially in cases of rheumatism.
May Saint Miliau obtain for us a share in his justice and charity toward the poor, and teach us to remain faithful even when betrayed by those nearest us.
