 Julia Smith notes that the miracles associated with the saint did not rely on primary relics, nor do they take place within an organized cult overseen by the clergy.Only one of them is a miraculous cure, which takes place at the saint's fountain.Smith notes also that Goulven's life, death, and cult, like those of Paul Aurelian (whose "vita" also featured a spring and crosses), show that the area's religious landscape is one "where features of the landscape and bells and crosses were the focal points for saints' cults, not bones and shrines"--this lack of focus on relics is a particular feature of Breton hagiography, says Smith.