Baring-Gould’s sources: Gallican Martyrologies. Authority: — The Bordeaux Breviary.] S. Emilian, or Immilion, was bom at Vannes in Brittany, of obscure parents, and was put to serve in the house of a nobleman of Vannes. He was profuse in his charity with what did not belong to him, giving to the poor his master’s goods. One day, says the legend, he was caught carrying bread from the house under his clothes. When asked by his master what he concealed, he answered that it was only chips of wood. Providence blessed this lie, for when his cloak was drawn aside, the bread was found converted into wood. The same story is told of S. Nothburga in Tyrol; a more graceful version of it, in which the bread becomes roses, of S. Elizabeth of Portugal, S. Elizabeth of Hungary, S. Germaine Cousin, the B. Eelko Liaukaman, and many others. Emilian was obliged to leave his master’s service. He took refuge in a monastery in the Saintonges. There he was required to act as cellarer and baker. His virtue excited the envy of his brethren, and one day when he was baking, they removed the implements necessary for the oven. The holy man, undiscomposed, got into the oven and removed the loaves, without feeling any discomfort. This, like the incident of the loaves converted into wood, is a stock story told of a great many saints, and as true of one as of the others.1 1 S. Paul of Verdun, S. Aurea, S. Austreberta, S. William de Ceiloni, S. Sabas, &c. S. Emilian left this monastery and wandered south to the banks of the Dordogne. He entered a forest called then “a Cumbis.”1 There he found a grotto in a sandstone rock and settled in it. Many people were attracted by his sanctity. He died there in 767.

The cave of S. Emilian still remains. One descends into it by a flight of steps cut in the sandstone. On reaching it one sees on the left a tank always full of limpid water; facing the steps is a sort of long niche or locker scooped out of the rock, about two feet above the floor — this is the bed of the saint. A little to the right is a rough stone planted against the side of the grotto, and this is supposed to be his chair; near it is a higher stone, which was his table — at least so says tradition. Above the grotto stands an exquisite circular chapel, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, of the 13th century. This chapel is a gem of early French pointed architecture, and is now used as a lumber-shed to an adjoining house. A wall pierced by a coach-door connects this chapel with a huge rock, which rises in the midst of the town, and forms precipices on two sides. One abrupt scoop is towards the west, the marketplace is before the southern face of rock, and the street slopes gradually up to the level of the platform on top of the rock. This southern face of rock is pierced with rich flamboyant windows and doors, and the whole mass of rock is hollowed out into a stately church dedicated to the Three Kings. This monolithic church is one of the most remarkable monuments of mediaeval industry and ingenuity in Europe. It is unique in its way.3 1 A commune of S. Emilion still bears the name of Saint-Laurent-des-Combes; the word is Celtic, cwm, a vale, the Devonshire “ combe/'