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St Helier - The fabled life of St Helier |
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Isolation
When Helier found a protruding rock to live on by an islet in a bay on the southern coast, his life as a hermit had begun. At one point, he was visited by St. Marculf, and while he was there, the Vikings made another foray. Marculf and Helier prayed and made the sign of the cross, and God created a devastating storm destroying the Vikings and their ships.
Marculf left Helier alone on his rock, who remained there for a further 15 years. Only eating once a week, Helier became 
St Helier
© Geraint Jennings - La Societe Jersiaise |
so weak from hunger and the labours of life on his exposed rock that he could scarcely move. After some time, Christ appeared to Helier and told him to “come to him” – with this, he prepared himself for martyrdom.
Three days later, a number of Vandals arrived in a flotilla of ships and started to sack the island. One of the Vandals found Helier and decapitated him. But Helier proceeded to pick up his head and walked towards the shore. The Vandals fled in horror and the Island was saved.
It is believed that Helier was Canonised by acclamation, as no records exist of this happening through any accepted ecclesiastical process. St Helier’s body was taken to France, and his relics were dispersed amongst churches and monasteries. The islet and the rock on which St Helier lived are linked to the mainland of Jersey by a causeway which, today, can only be accessed at low tide.
Legend has it that the causeway marks the route walked by St Helier when he carried his head, and a small town evolved on the coast and took its name from St Helier who was attributed with the conversion of Jersey to Christianity.
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