Editing Helier (section)

== Legend ==
=== Early years ===
Hellerius or Helier was born to [[Paganism|pagan]] parents in [[Tongeren]] (now in [[Belgium]]). His father was Sigebert, a nobleman from Tongeren and his mother was Lusigard.<ref name=post/> Having had difficulties conceiving a child, they turned to a Christian teacher named Cunibert, who advised them to pray to God and that when they had a child they must hand him over to God, and that he, Cunibert, would bring him up in the [[Christianity|Christian]] faith.<ref name=post/> Their prayers having been answered, Helier was born, but Helier's father, the [[Franks|Frankish]] governor of that place, eventually grew angry at the influence Cunibert exerted over his precocious son, who was already causing consternation with his youthful miracles. Helier's father had Cunibert killed, whereupon Helier fled.

Helier's wanderings led him to the [[Cotentin]] where he sought retreat from the distractions of the world in the [[monastery|monastic]] community of [[Saint Marcouf|Marculf]] at Nantus (Nanteuil, now [[Îles Saint-Marcouf|St.-Marcouf-de-l'Isle]] in [[Manche]]).<ref>[https://www.bartleby.com/210/7/162.html Butler, Alban. "St. Elier or Helier, Hermit and Martyr", ''The Lives of the Saints''] vol. VII, 1866 {{PD-notice}}</ref>

=== Jersey ===
[[Image:Hermitage St Helier Jersey.jpg|thumb|A medieval chapel was constructed over "St. Helier's Bed", the hollow in the rock where Helier sheltered. The Hermitage rock is the focus of the annual pilgrimage]]

[[Image:Lit_de_saint_Helier,_Hermitage,_Jersey.jpg|thumb|St. Helier's Bed inside the chapel]]

Helier, however, found the [[monasticism|monastic]] community did not provide the quiet he required to devote himself fully to a life of contemplation. Marculf had received pleas from the few inhabitants of the island called Gersut, or Agna, now called [[Jersey]], which was all but depopulated due to repeated attacks by [[Viking]]s.<ref name=bbc>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/channel_islands/jersey/article_3.shtml "St Helier - The fabled life of St Helier", BBC - Local Legends]</ref> The inhabitants requested someone to help them, and bring the [[gospel]] to them as they had no shepherd to guide them.

Marculf sent Helier and a companion, Romard, to Jersey where he found a small community of fishermen on the sand dunes where the modern town of St Helier was to develop. Helier settled on a tidal islet, nowadays known as the Hermitage Rock, next to L'Islet,<ref>[http://members.societe-jersiaise.org/geraint/helier.html Falle, Samuel. "Saint Helier the Martyr", Société Jersiaise]</ref> the [[tidal island]] now occupied by the 16th century [[Elizabeth Castle]]. Romard would travel back and forth between the [[Hermitage (religious retreat)|hermitage]] on this rock and the fishing village.

From his vantage point on his rock, Helier could see the sails of approaching attackers and would signal to the shore, whereupon the inhabitants would scatter into the surrounding marshes, thereby frustrating the attackers' bloodlust. Small dark clouds on the horizon are still known in [[Jèrriais]] as ''les vailes dé St. Hélyi'' (the sails of St. Helier).

Helier remained at his hermitage in fasting and prayer for about fifteen years. The story is that around 555 he was martyred<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Saint-Helier Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Saint Helier". ''Encyclopedia Britannica'']</ref> by marauding pirates who beheaded him with an axe – hence the crossed axes on the parish crest.<ref name=post>[http://members.societe-jersiaise.org/geraint/helier/saintly.html "How saintly was St. Helier?", ''Jersey Evening Post'', January 29, 2000]</ref>

=== Miracles ===
Helier is recorded as performing one healing miracle in Jersey, curing a lame man named Anquetil.

Once while Marculf was visiting, a band of raiders arrived. They prayed and made the sign of the cross and a great storm arose that destroyed the raiders ships.<ref name=bbc/> 

Though Helier starved himself to [[asceticism|ascetic]] weakness, legend holds that he had the strength, when he was beheaded by attackers, to pick up his head and walk to shore. According to the hagiography, Romard discovered Helier's body on the beach still clutching his head in his hands, placed it in a boat and set off for the mainland. The boat, guided by the hand of God, arrived at [[Bréville-sur-Mer]] where a reputedly miraculous healing [[spring (hydrosphere)|spring]] arose on the spot where Helier's body rested overnight. A church was founded next to the spring, which is now topped by a statue and still attracts those seeking a cure.