Born at Kermartin, a manor near Tréguier in Brittany, on 17 October 1253, Ivo 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. While other students partied, Ivo studied, prayed and visited the sick. He also refused to eat meat or drink wine. Among his fellow-students were the scholars Duns Scotus and Roger Bacon. He went to Orléans in 1277 to study canon law under Peter de la Chapelle, a famous journalist who later became bishop of Toulouse and a cardinal. On his return to Brittany, having received minor orders he was appointed an "official", the title given to an ecclesiastical judge, of the archdeanery of Rennes. He protected orphans and widows, defended the poor, and rendered fair and impartial verdicts. It’s said that even those on the losing side respected his decisions. Ivo also represented the helpless in other courts, paid their expenses and visited them in prison. He earned the title “Advocate of the Poor.” Although it was common to give judges “gifts,” Ivo refused bribes. He often helped many disputing parties settle out of court so they could save money. Meanwhile, he studied Scripture, and there are strong reasons for believing the tradition held among Franciscans that he joined the Third Order of St. Francis sometime later at Guingamp. Ivo was ordained to the priesthood in 1284. He continued to practice law and once, when a mother and son couldn’t resolve many of their differences, he offered a Mass for them. They immediately reached a settlement. Ivo 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 taxation by the king, which he considered an encroachment on the rights of the Church. Due to 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 repeated fasting.
The Widow of Tours
John Wigmore retells the famous story of St. Ives and the Widow of Tours, writing in the Fordham Law Review in 1936:
Legacy
On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of the birth of St. Ivo, Pope John Paul II said, "The values proposed by St Ivo retain an astonishing timeliness. His concern to promote impartial justice and to defend the rights of the poorest persons invites the builders of Europe today to make every effort to ensure that the rights of all, especially the weakest, are recognized and defended." Saint Yves is the patron of lawyers. As a result, many law schools and association of catholic lawyers have taken his names. For instance, the Society of St. Yves in Jerusalem, the Conférence Saint Yves in Luxembourg, or the Association de la Saint Yves Lyonnais.
Veneration
He was buried in Minihy-Tréguier in the church he founded. There is a tomb of his in the cathedral in Tréguier where it was supposedly inscribed in Latin: , Brittany, France Ivo was canonized in June 1347 by Clement VI at the urging of Philip I, Duke of Burgundy. At the inquest into his sanctity in 1331, many of his parishioners testified as to his goodness, that he preached regularly in both chapel and field, and that under him "the people of the land became twice as good as they had been before". The connection between religion and good behaviour was especially stressed in his sermons and he is reported to have "chased immorality and sin from the village of Louannec". Shortly after 1362, the future saint Jeanne-Marie de Maillé reported a vision of Yves, during which he told her, "If you are willing to abandon the world, you will taste here on earth the joys of heaven." Ivo is often represented with a purse in his right hand and a rolled paper in the other hand. Another popular representation of Ivo is between a rich man and a poor one. The churches of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza and Sant'Ivo dei Bretoni in Rome are dedicated to him.
