I have been perusing the newspaper archives of the National Library of Australia. Its aptly-named Trove resource contains a wealth of articles on the Irish saints, mostly syndicated from other contemporary publications, presumably aimed at the Irish ex-pat community. As I read the 1928 article below on Saint Etto of Dompierre, I wondered just how many people in Ireland would have been aware of this Irish agricultural patron whose memory was cherished in both France and Belgium. One Irishman who was aware, of course, was Canon O’Hanlon, who included a full account of Saint Etto (called Etton here) in the July volume of his Lives of the Irish Saints at the saint’s feast day, July 10, which can be read at the blog here . Our anonymous Australian correspondent below provides a brief summary of the main details of Saint Etto’s life and career:

IRISH SAINT PATRON OF FRENCH HERDS.

PARIS, June 10

In telling of a pilgrimage to the relics of St. Etton, honoured in the little village of Dompierre, Department of the North, La Croix reveals that this saint, an Irish prelate, is invoked throughout France for protection of the herds. Only one column and a small niche remains of the hermitage founded by St. Etton at Dompierre when he came from Ireland in the seventh century. An inscription carved thereon reads: “In the year 654, July 10; the blessed St. Etton was buried here. I pray that you preserve us and our animals from all sickness.” The cult of the good bishop was perpetuated and when, towards the year 1600, some monks carried his remains to Belgium, the population of Dompierre began proceedings to recover the relics of their saint. In 1789, when the revolution broke out, the matter had not been settled. The peasants of Dompierre, faithful to the end and taking advantage of general conditions, marched to Belgium and returned in triumph bearing the relies of St Etton. Since that time, a pilgrimage to his shrine occurs annually.

IRISH SAINT IS PATRON OP FRENCH HERDS. (1928, October 4). The Age (Brisbane, Qld.: 1892-1921; 1923; 1925-1926; 1928-1929), p. 32. Retrieved July 31, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article291812515

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