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St. Buriana was an Irish
princess who travelled to Cornwall with St.
Piran during the wave of mass migration of Irish missionaries. She
is associated with King Gerren of
Dumnonia and is said to have cured his son of paralysis. Perhaps because
of these healing powers, Gerren abducted her and her release was only
agreed after St. Piran was obliged to intervene. However, Gerren
insisted on seemingly impossible terms. Buriana would be released only
when he was woken by a cuckoo call echoing across a snow-covered
landscape. Despite the two terms being clearly incompatible, St. Piran
prayed all night for their fulfillment. Miraculously, the snow fell and,
in the morning, King Gerrren awoke to the sound of a cuckoo. So impressed
was he, that Buriana was quickly set free. Not long afterwards however,
Gerren tried to recapture Buriana and she is said to have dropped dead at
the moment he succeeded. She was buried in the chapel adjoining her
hermitage at St. Buryan in Cornwall, where the present parish church
stands. There were originally other dedications to her at Veryan, also in
Cornwall, and at Berrien and Lan-verrien in Brittany, to which she
presumably made sojourns. Her feast day is 1st May, but it is occasionally
given as 29th May due to misidentification with St. Bruinech, a daughter
of King Crimthan of Munster and foster-sister of St. Ciaran of Saighir.
Records of St. Buriana date back to the 11th century. She could be historic.
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St. Buriana