Vefa de Saint-Pierre

Vefa de Saint-Pierre, born Countess Geneviève de Méhérenc de Saint-Pierre (or Vefa Sant-Pêr in the Breton language), or Brug ar Menez Du (bardic name) was a Breton explorer, reporter and author, born in Plian, France, on 4 May 1872 and died in Sant-Brieg in 1967.

She was the daughter of Count Henri de Méhérenc de Saint-Pierre and Marie Espivent de La Villesboisnet, a "pure heiress of the Breton nobility" and born in a castle in the Côtes-d'Armo.[1] By turns a nun, reporter, novelist, author of poetry and youth fiction, Saint-Pierre was a global voyager and hunter travelling across North and South America and Australia who wrote enthusiastically about her adventures.[2]

Biography

Deciding as a young girl against marriage, Vefa (short for Geneviève) chose instead to pursue the only option available for an unmarried young woman of her time: religion. She joined a convent associated with the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales in Brittany, located in northwestern France, and remained a nun for 15 years. It was in that religious capacity, during one[2] or two[1] missions to Ecuador, that she gained a taste for travel and adventure.[1][2]

In 1905, Saint-Pierre left convent life without ever having made her final vows. To feed her need to travel, she left Brittany alone for North America - United States and Canada - where she renewed her passion for hunting (reportedly, she had received her first shotgun for her tenth birthday).[2][1] Soon her exploits became legend; she killed a boar, as well as a moose that charged her, and grizzly bears, among others. It was on this trip that she met others from the Brittany region of France who had made a new home in Canada. As Saint-Pierre toured the world, she was also known to explore Quito, Ecuador in 1899, and she journeyed to Sydney, Australia in 1928.[2][3]

In 1910, at 38 years of age, she married Joseph-Marie Potiron de Boisfleury, but the marriage failed, lasting only three months.[2][1]

In France, Countess Saint-Pierre is also known for having owned the Menez Kamm manor since 1908 when she bought it.[2] There, from 1970 to 1976, she sponsored various Breton movements, both Catholic and communist.[4] A vigorous promoter of the Breton language (which is of Celtic origin), she is quoted as saying, "Bilingualism is a huge advantage! Children must be taught Breton and then they will learn English in three or four months."[4] She was known to translate Breton language works into French, with the aim of promoting national awareness of her regional language and culture.[3] She was known to be a close friend of philosopher Yann Fouere.[5]

In 1930, she was admitted to the community in Brittany known as Goursez Vreizh as a bard under a new name Brug ar Menez Du (Heather of the Black Mountains).[2]

In 1949, she was the first to use a bilingual notarized agreement in France, written in both French and Breton.

After Saint-Pierre's death in 1967, the Menez Kamm cultural center flourished for some years, but despite all the dedication and hard work to keep the manor open as a place to live and learn Breton ways, financial difficulties increased, and in October 1976, the center closed.[2] The property was then returned to the Saint-Pierre family and, as of 2018, the manor and its land had become a farm.[4]

Selected publications

Saint-Pierre's works are primarily in the French and Breton languages.[3]

  • Les Émeraudes de l'Inca, fiction in collaboration with Fernand de Saint-Pierre, Paris, Les Gémeaux, 1923
  • Iverzon gwelet gant eur Vretonez, report at the Eucharistic Congress of Dublin (1932), Moulerez Thomas, Guingamp,1933
  • Several poems in Breton periodicals.
  • Many letters from her travels.[3]

Bibliography
  • Claire Arlaux, Une Amazone bretonne - Vefa de Saint-Pierre, Coop Breizh, 2000. https://www.franceculture.fr/oeuvre-une-amazone-bretonne-vefa-de-saint-pierre-1872-1967-de-claire-laux.html
  • Arlaux, Claire (2000). Une amazone bretonne : Vefa de Saint Pierre 1872-1967 (in French). Spézet Gourin: Coop Breizh Keltia graphic. ISBN 978-2-84346-111-8.
  • Arlaux, Claire (2016). Une amazone bretonne: Vefa de Saint Pierre : 1872-1967 (in French). Gourin: Éditions des Montagnes noires. ISBN 978-2-919305-87-2. OCLC 989521153.

References
  1. "Véfa de Saint-Pierre comtesse rebelle". Le Telegramme (in French). 2000-05-09. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  2. "Vefa de Saint-Pierre". Calendrier de l'avent du domaine public 📚 Édition québécoise (in French). 2017-12-30. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  3. "Collection: Geneviève Saint-Pierre papers | Smith College Finding Aids". findingaids.smith.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  4. CONAN, Françoise (2018-04-15). "Culture bretonne : les folles années Menez Kamm à Spézet". Ouest-France.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  5. Yann Fouere, La Patrie interdite : Histoire d'un Breton, France-Empire, 1987, p. 125 et 410
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