St. Ivo of Kermartin

Who they were

Ivo Hélory of Kermartin was a Breton trained in law and theology at Paris and Orléans who became an ecclesiastical judge, and he did the unthinkable so consistently that his epitaph became a rhyme all Europe repeated: Sanctus Ivo erat Brito, advocatus et non latro, res miranda populo. Saint Ivo was a Breton, a lawyer and not a thief, a marvel to the people.

On the bench he refused every bribe and moved the cases of the poor to the front instead of milking them. Off it he pleaded without fee for those who could pay nothing, which earned him the name the poor man's advocate while he was still alive, visited his imprisoned clients, and often settled parties out of court to spare them the cost of winning. Ordained a priest midway through, he preached in Breton, Latin and French, built a hospital, and housed the homeless on his own land. He died worn out at forty nine in 1303, and was canonized within forty four years, with lawyers themselves funding the cause.

Why people turn to St. Ivo of Kermartin

Lawyers, judges, paralegals and law students, whose formal patron he is, and the rhyme is theirs to keep quoting at themselves. Anyone facing court without means, with St. Mary MacKillop on the wrongly accused side of it.

How to ask their intercession

Before filing, before the bench, before the settlement conference, ask for his particular marvel: the practice that would survive the rhyme. And for a poor party's case, by name.