Saint Piran

Saint Piran or Pyran (Cornish: Peran, Latin: Piranus), died c. 480, was a 5th-century Cornish abbot and saint, supposedly of Irish origin. He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Saint Michael and Saint Petroc also have some claim to this title.

Traditionally, St. Piran has been identified as the Irish saint Ciarán of Saigir.

Saint Piran's Flag, a white cross on a black background, is used as a symbol of Cornwall. Saint Piran's Day falls on 5 March.

Suggested Irish origins

Piran is the most famous of all the saints said to have come to Cornwall from Ireland. By at least the 13th century, since Brittonic languages and Goidelic languages regularly alternate p and k sounds (see the classification of Celtic languages for an explanation), he had become identified as the Irish Saint Ciarán of Saigir who founded the monastery at Seir-Kieran in County Offaly.

The 14th century Life of Saint Piran, probably written at Exeter Cathedral, is a complete copy of an earlier Middle Irish life of Saint Ciarán of Saighir, with different parentage and a different ending that takes into account Piran's works in Cornwall, and especially details of his death and the movements of his Cornish shrine; thus "excising the passages which speak of his burial at Saighir" (Doble). However, there is no shrine to him in Ireland.

Pirané

Pirané is a settlement in northern Argentina. It is located in Formosa Province.

Overview

Located on land bordering a number of lagoons, and known by the Tobas as "Puganagay" (green fields), the initial settlement developed with the arrival of the Central Northern Rail line at the site in 1910, and its establishment coincides with the 1912 inaugural of the station. Known accordingly as Estación km. 595 for its distance from the line's western terminus in Embarcación (Salta), the village was designated seat of the newly established county in 1915, and renamed "Pira - ne" in 1919. The Guaraní name, translated as "rotting fish," originated from the sight of parched lagoons during an especially severe drought. The director of the local school, Edmundo Strien, formally named the village "Pirané" in 1926, and the change took effect the following year.

Bounded by the Bermejo River to the south, the town is located in the deep Gran Chaco region, and as such, was limited by the area's dense, thorny dry forests and inhospitable summers. Recurring droughts can alternate with torrential rains, and the area's sandy loess soil is prone to erosion. The surrounding forests are rich in valuable quebracho, pau d'arco, astronium trees, however, and Pirané became a secondary center for forestry in Argentina.

Piran

Piran (Italian: Pirano) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. The town has much medieval architecture, with narrow streets and compact houses. Piran is the administrative centre of the local area and one of Slovenia's major tourist attractions. Until the mid-20th century, Italian was the dominant language, but was replaced by Slovene as demographics shifted.

History

In the pre-Roman era, the hills in the Piran area were inhabited by Illyrian Histri tribes who were farmers, hunters and fishermen. They were also pirates who disrupted Roman trade in the northern Adriatic.

The Piran peninsula was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 178 and 177 BC and settled in the following years with rural homes (villae rusticae).

The decline of the Roman Empire, from the 5th century AD onward, and incursions by the Avars and Slavs at the end of the 6th century, prompted the Roman population to withdraw into easily defensible locations such as islands or peninsulas. This started local urbanisation and by the 7th century, under Byzantine rule, Piran had become heavily fortified. Despite the defences, the Franks conquered Istria in 788 and Slavs settled in the region. By 952, Piran had become a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Piran (disambiguation)

Piran is a town and municipality in Slovenia.

Piran may also refer to:

See also