{{Short description|Saint}} {{For|Saint Aaron of Caerleon|Julius and Aaron}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox saint |honorific_prefix = Saint |name=Aaron of Aleth |birth_date=Unknown |death_date=After 552<ref name="patrick">{{cite web | last =Rabenstein | first =Katherine | title =Aaron of Brittany | work =Saint of the Day, June 22 | date =June 1998 | publisher =SaintPatrickDC.org | url =http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0622.shtml | accessdate =8 March 2012 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100130092949/http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0622.shtml | archive-date =30 January 2010 | url-status =dead }}</ref> |feast_day=22 June (Elsewhere)<ref name="lives">{{cite web|last=Butler |first=Alban |authorlink=Alban Butler |others=(online version by Terry Jones) |title=Saint Aaron |work=Lives of the Saints |url=http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sta2k001.htm |accessdate=8 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320122910/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sta2k001.htm |archivedate=20 March 2012 }}</ref> 21 June (Saint Malo) |venerated_in= Catholic Church<br>Eastern Orthodox Church |image=Saint Aaron.jpg |imagesize= |caption=Saint Aaron (detail) from ''Procession des saints de Bretagne'' by Alphonse Le Hénaff |birth_place=The British Isles, exact location unknown, perhaps Wales<ref name="patron">{{cite web|last=Jones |first=Terry |title=Aaron |work=Patron Saints Index |url=http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainta2k.htm |accessdate=8 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320110628/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sainta2k.htm |archivedate=20 March 2012 }}</ref> |death_place=Saint-Malo, Brittany, France |titles=Hermit and Abbot |beatified_date= |beatified_place= |beatified_by= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes= |patronage= |major_shrine= |suppressed_date= |issues= }}
'''Aaron of Aleth''' (died after 552), also called ''Saint Aihran'' or ''Eran'' in Breton, was a hermit, monk and abbot at a monastery on Cézembre, a small island near Aleth, opposite Saint-Malo in Brittany, France.<ref name="patrick"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Butler |first1=Alban |title=The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints |date=1845 |publisher=Duffy |page=274 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WbxjAAAAMAAJ&dq=Aaron+of+Aleth&pg=PA274 |language=en}}</ref> Some sources suggest he may have migrated from Celtic Britain to take up residence in Armorican Domnonia.
He lived alone near Lamballe and Pleumeur-Gautier, before finally settling on an island separated from the settlement of Aleth. He attracted many visitors while there, including Malo,<ref>[http://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-saint-aaron-21-june/ Monks of Ramsgate. "Saint Aaron". ''Book of Saints'', 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 27 April 2012]{{PD-notice}}</ref> it is said, in 544, and became their abbot. He died soon afterwards. Malo then succeeded to the spiritual rule of the district subsequently known as Saint-Malo, and was consecrated first Bishop of Aleth. Aaron's feast day is 21 June (at Saint-Malo) or 22 June (elsewhere). He is mentioned in ''Les Vies des Saints de Bretagne''.<ref name="Holweck">Holweck, F. G. ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints''. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. (1924)</ref>
The town of Saint-Aaron in Lamballe, France is named after him.
==See also== {{Portal|Saints}} * List of Catholic saints * Julian Maunoir, "Apostle of Brittany"
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== {{refbegin}} * {{Catholic |wstitle=St. Machutus |first=William Henry Grattan |last=Flood |volume=9}} * {{DNB Cite|wstitle=St. Machutus}} (contains a reference to Aaron) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120320122910/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/sta2k001.htm Catholic Forum] * Holweck, F. G. ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints''. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. (1924) {{refend}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aaron of Aleth}} Category:Date of birth unknown Category:Date of death unknown Category:Medieval Breton saints Category:Medieval Welsh saints Category:French hermits Category:French abbots Category:6th-century Breton people Category:6th-century Christian saints Category:Welsh hermits