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Ivo of Kermartin
Saint Ivo, by Rogier van der Weyden
Advocate of the Poor
Born	17 October 1253, Kermartin near Treguier, Brittany
Died	19 May 1303, Louannec, Brittany
Venerated in	Europe
Canonized	June 1347 by Pope Clement VI
Feast	19 May
Attributes	Depicted as a lawyer; with a purse in his right hand, a rolled paper in the other hand; between a rich man and a poor man
Patronage	Brittany, lawyers, orphans
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Saint Ivo of Kermartin (17 October 1253 at Kermartin, a manor near Tréguier, Brittany, France - 19 May 1303 at Louannec, Brittany), also known as Yves (in France), Yvo, Ives, or Ivo. He is a saint and patron of lawyers and abandoned children. Saint Ives is also the patron saint of Brittany. His feast day is on May 19. His first name is often associated with his family name, Yves Helory (also : Helori or Heloury, the orthography was not fixed at this time).

He was the son of Helori, lord of Kermartin, and Azo du Kenquis. In 1267 Ivo was sent to the University of Paris, where he graduated in civil law. He went to Orléans in 1277 to study Canon law. On his return to Brittany having received minor orders he was appointed "official", the title given to an ecclesiastical judge, of the archdeanery of Rennes (1280); meanwhile he studied Scripture, and there are strong reasons for believing that he joined the Franciscan Tertiaries sometime later at Guingamp. He was soon invited by the Bishop of Tréguier to become his official, and accepted the offer in 1284. He displayed great zeal and rectitude in the discharge of his duty and did not hesitate to resist the unjust taxation of the king, which he considered an encroachment on the rights of the Church; by his charity he gained the title of advocate and patron of the poor. Having been ordained he was appointed to the parish of Tredrez in 1285 and eight years later to Louannec, where he died of natural causes, after a life of hard work and constant fast.

The relics of St Ivo and St Tugdual in a procession at the gate of Tréguier's cathedral in 2005. In the reliquary, the skull of St Ivo

He was buried in Tréguier, and was canonized in June 1347 by Clement VI, his feast being kept on 19 May. He is the patron saint of lawyers. On his tomb was supposedly inscribed in Latin: Sanctus Ivo erat Brito/ Advocatus et non latro/ Res miranda populo. Roughly translated, this means: "St Ives was Breton/ A lawyer and not a thief/ Marvelous thing to the people." Literally translated, it is a quip that refers to the fact that lawyers have a reputation for thievery. The church of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome is dedicated to him. Poetically, he is referred to as "Advocate of the Poor."

He is often presented with a purse in his right hand (for all the money he gave to the poor during his life) and a rolled paper in the other hand (for his charge as a judge). Another popular representation of is Ivo between a rich man and a poor one.

• "St. Ives" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Catholic Forum
• (French) Vie de saint Yves, bibliographie, hagiographie et tradition manuscrite Sur PECIA Ressources en médiévistique
• Patron Saints index Catholic Online