Chris Kenny

St Honoré

Construction with found twig

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21cm x 25cm

May 16th

Honoré was virtuous from birth. Furthermore, his teacher was a saint: St Beatus, Bishop of Amiens.

Although taught by the best, Honoré didn't think he was worthy of succeeding Beatus as bishop when the post became vacant. However a ray of divine light and a splash of holy oil descending onto his head from the sky convinced him that he had to take the job.

Honoré's nanny was incredulous when she heard her little boy had become bishop - she said she would only believe it if the wooden board she was baking with put down roots and became a tree. She dropped the board and it immediately grew into a flowering and fruiting mulberry tree. That tree was a site of pilgrimage for the next thousand years.

Honoré had a successful career as the seventh Bishop of Amiens and was responsible for some low key miracles.

He died on the 16th May 600. A chapel was built in his honour in an area of Paris that became known as Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The bakers of Paris established their guild there and later a gâteau was invented bearing Honoré's name. The gâteau comprises a puff pastry base supporting a pile of little profiteroles filled with creme chiboust and adorned with caramelised sugar.

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