St. Gudwall, Gunwall, or Gunvell, was born in Wales about A.D. 500.
Being entirely devoted to religion, he collected eighty-eight monks in a
little island called Plecit, being no more than a rock surrounded by
water. For some reason however, he abandoned this establishment, and
passed by sea into Cornwall; and from thence he went into Devonshire,
where he betook himself to the most holy, perfect, and useful state of a
solitary anchorite; at length however again emerging, he sailed into
Brittany, and there succeeded St. Malo, as bishop of that see, although
he is said even then to have dwelt in a solitary cell, and to have died
there at a very advanced age. His relics have been widely distributed,
and various places in France have been called by his name.
St. Gudwal is known to have been a prominent figure in the Breton Church
during the sixth century, from whence his relics were removed during a
period of Viking activity. They were translated with due ceremony in 959
to the abbey of Mont Blandin, Ghent, where subsequently his feast was
kept on 6 June.