St. Ives was the "Ideal of the legal profession" and the "Patron Saint of attorneys". In the murals he represents law. He had a universal sense of justice, law, and peace. Frontiers created by man cannot limit the radiancy of such a soul.
St. Ives was born at Kermartin, Brittany, October seventeenth, 1253; he died at Louannec, May nineteenth, 1303. In 1267 Ives was sent to the University of Paris where he graduated in civil law. He practiced law at Rennes and Treguier, and later joined the Franciscan Tertiaries. Ordained in 1284, he was appointed to the parish of Tredrez and later to Louannec, where he served as bishops' judge, and lawyer of the poor. By this great zeal and rectitude in the discharge of his duties and by his great charity, he gained the title of advocate and patron of the poor. He was buried in Treguier and was canonized in 1347 by Clement VI, his feast being kept on May nineteenth.
His relics are at Treguier. In the rotunda panel, he is shown with his poor clients, in a legal setting and wearing the robes of a doctor of laws, he extends himself benignly, and charitably receives the petitions eagerly presented to him; even children, as well as their elders being unafraid to approach their kind benefactor. An accomplished technique as well as tender and lonely conception, characterize this mural.
He is just, refined and vital with good spatial distribution, a picturesque vein, and a quiet medieval landscape in the background.