St Helier
Saint Helier is one of the twelve parishes and the largest town on Jersey, an island in the English Channel. It has a population of about 28,000, and is the seat of government for the island.
It is the site of Jersey Library, and the headquarters of the Jersey Evening Post.
Saint Helier is named for Helier or Helerius, a 6th century ascetic hermit, pupil of Saint Cunibert from Tongres (now in Belgium). Though Cunibert raised Helier in the church, at Nanteuil in the Cotentin, a holy man called Marculf baptized him and sent him to an island called Gersut, or Agna (Jersey), which was all but depopulated due to repeated attacks by Vikings. Helier settled as a hermit on a rock in a bay on Jersey's south coast, attended by his companion, Romard. His prayers and the sign of the cross raised a storm that drove off a Viking raiding party. Though on his rock Helier starved himself to ascetic weakness, he had the strength, when he was beheaded by further pagans (Vandals in the hagiography), to pick up his head and wade to shore (compare Saint Denis).
External link
Referenced By
Bailiwick of Jersey | Channel Islands/Jersey | Jersey | Jersey/Military | Jersey Zoological Park | List of towns in the United Kingdom | Towns in the United Kingdom | Towns of the United Kingdom
|
