Patron of lawyers, notary publics and judges

Santctus Ivo erat Brito, advocatus sed non latro, res miranda populo

In terms of popularity, no saint has surpassed him in Brittany since his death on 19th May, 1303, when he became an extraordinary cult figure among Breton sailors in particular, and in all the places they disembarked, even Canada; St. Yves des Bretons was their national saint.

Born in the castle of Le Minihy near Tréguier on 17th October, 1235, Yves Hélory de Kermartin was the son of a modest nobleman and was brought up piously by his mother. At age 14, he left for Paris with his tutor, John of Kerhoz, who would later become his disciple. 
He studied theology and other subjects for ten years at St. Bonaventure's school, then moved to Orleans to study law. He became known is the two cities as a serious, sweet, charitable student prone to piety and purity. 

At 27, he took up service as officer of ecclesiastical justice with the Archdeacon of Rennes. However, soon after, he was offered the same position by his local bishop, who ordained him as priest, despite Yves' feelings of unworthiness.

In court he became both shelter and lawyer to the poor and unfortunate, and was the first lawyer to provide legal services free of charge; his castle became a hospice for the region's beggars and poor.

The great holy fervour that drove him led him to preach more and more often (it is said that he conducted seven sermons one Good Friday, although exhausted); he abandoned his beautiful officer's robe to don a peasant's tunic, gave his only skirt to the poor and slept on beds of straw and on the bare ground.

His local bishop also put him in charge of the Tredez parish and, in 1292, of the Louannec parish also, which greatly benefited the miserable spiritual conditions into which they had fallen; he nevertheless continued to preach in other parishes, which he reached on foot, taking with him only the Bible and the Breviary 
In 1298 he retired to his castle in Kermartin, where he died on 19th May, 1303, in extremely squalid conditions. Such was his reputation of sanctity that the crowd divided his shabby clothes into pieces to create relics and, from that very day, the people, the clergy, the authorities, Dukes John III and Charles of Montfort and Philippe de Valois, King of France, demanded his canonisation. 
This happened very quickly, in testimony to the people's great admiration for his life, with Pope Clement VI declaring him a saint  on 19th May, 1347.

He is patron of lawyers, notary publics and judges; the city and ancient diocese of Tréguier, now known as Saint-Brieuc, and of Brittany. His feast on 19th May is celebrated with a long procession of the "great pardon of St. Yves (Ivo)", which accompanies the relic of the saint's ‘head' from the cathedral of Tréguier to Le Minihy, with the participation of cardinals, bishops, magistrates and lawyers and a large crowd of worshipers singing hymns in Breton as a tribute to their patron saint. The saint is depicted in many works of art, but rather than wearing a priest's attire, he is more often than not depicted wearing a lawyer's toga while defending pleading widows and the poor against wealthy masters.

Yves is a name of Celtic origin, meaning 'yew', the sacred tree of the Celts. The name was especially popular in France but its use also extended to Italy as Ivo, Ivone, Ivonne.