Carantoc

Last updated

Saint Carantoc
Statue of St Carannog, Llangrannog, Wales.jpg
Statue of St Carannog in Llangrannog
Abbot
Bornpossibly Cornwall
Died6th century
Venerated in Catholic Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast 16 May

Saint Carantoc (Welsh : Carannog; Irish : Cairnech; Breton : Karanteg; Latin : Carantocus), also anglicized as Carantock, Carannog and by other spellings, was a 6th-century abbot, confessor, and saint in Wales and the West Country. He is credited with founding Llangrannog, Ceredigion, Wales [1] and St Carantoc's Church, Crantock. [1] His name is listed amongst the Cornish Saints. Carantoc's is one of five insular saints' lives and two Breton ones that mention Arthur in contexts that may be independent of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae . He is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church.

Contents

Life and legend

Cadoc's early vita takes the form of a short homily. [2] Many details of his life are obscure or contradictory. Ceredigion is given as his birthplace, sua proprio regio. He was the son of Corwn, grandson of King Ceredig and Queen Meleri of Ceredigion. To escape being elected king, he fled to Llangrannog. The shavings he produced for lighting a fire there were carried away as soon as they were made by a dove: where the bird alighted, Carantoc built the present church (This story is sometimes ascribed to Crantock in Cornwall, where the parish church is dedicated to Saint Carantoc but according to the early Life in the Léon Breviary, [3] which concentrates on Carantoc's early life, set in Ireland, occurred in Wales).

He probably moved to Cornwall before preaching for some time in Ireland, around Dulane in County Meath and Inis-Baithen in Leinster. It is also sometimes said that he spent time in Brittany where there is a town also named Carantec: stories set in Brittany replicate those from Britain.

Carantoc's place of death and burial is disputed between Inis Baithen and Dulane. His feast day is 16 May. [4]

Carantoc and Arthur

In the most famous incident of Carantoc's life, the saint, having returned to Wales, crossed the Bristol Channel, looking for his portable altar. He arrived on the banks of the River Willett and came into conflict with both King Cado of Dumnonia and King Arthur at Dunster in Somerset.

Carantoc was eventually obliged to defeat a ferocious dragon in order to retrieve his altar and, in return, was given land at nearby Carhampton to found a monastery.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Life of Saint Carannog, translated in " Lives of the Cambro British saints," p. 396ff , 1853, Rev. William Jenkins Rees
  2. J. S. P. Tatlock, "The Dates of the Arthurian Saints' Legends", Speculum14.3 (July 1939:345-365) pp. 349ff.
  3. Printed in 1516; printed by S. Baring-Gould, in Y Cymmrodor15 97-99
  4. (in Greek) Ὁ Ὅσιος Καραντόκιος. 16 Μαΐου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samson of Dol</span> Welsh saint

Samson of Dol was a Welsh saint, who is also counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany with Pol Aurelian, Tugdual or Tudwal, Brieuc, Malo, Patern (Paternus) and Corentin. Born in southern Wales, he died in Dol-de-Bretagne, a small town in north Brittany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceredig</span> King of Ceredigion (died 453)

Ceredig ap Cunedda, was king of Ceredigion in Wales.

Einion Yrth ap Cunedda, also known as Einion Yrth, was a king of Gwynedd. He is claimed as an ancestor of the later rulers of North Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Brioc</span> 5th-century Welsh saint

Brioc was a 5th-century Welsh holy man who became the first abbot of Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. He is one of the seven founder saints of Brittany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadoc</span> Welsh saint

Saint Cadoc or Cadog was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorgan, Wales, a monastery famous from the era of the British church as a centre of learning, where Illtud spent the first period of his religious life under Cadoc's tutelage. Cadoc is credited with the establishment of many churches in Cornwall, Brittany, Dyfed and Scotland. He is known as Cattwg Ddoeth, "the Wise", and a large collection of his maxims and moral sayings were included in Volume III of the Myvyrian Archaiology. He is listed in the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology under 21 September. His Norman-era "Life" is a hagiography of importance to the case for the historicity of Arthur as one of seven saints' lives that mention Arthur independently of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynllo</span> 5th- and 6th-century Welsh saint

Saint Cynllo is a British saint, who lived in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, generally described as a brother of Saint Teilo. Cynllo was known for "...the sanctity of his life and the austerity of his manners."

Kea was a late 5th-century British saint from the Hen Ogledd —the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. According to tradition he was chiefly active in Cornwall, Devon and Brittany, and his cult was popular in those regions as well as throughout Wales and the West Country. Fili or Filius, to whom the parish church of Philleigh is dedicated, probably came from Wales and is said to have been a companion of Kea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crantock</span> Village in Cornwall, England

Crantock is a coastal civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, two miles (3 km) southwest of Newquay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cubert</span> Human settlement in England

Cubert is a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is three miles (5 km) south-southwest of Newquay and is in the civil parish of Cubert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winwaloe</span>

Winwaloe was the founder and first abbot of Landévennec Abbey, also known as the Monastery of Winwaloe. It was just south of Brest in Brittany, now part of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Non</span> Welsh saint; mother of St David

Non was, according to Christian tradition, the mother of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwladys</span> Welsh queen and saint

Saint Gwladys ferch Brychan or St Gladys, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, was the queen of the saint-king Gwynllyw Milwr and the mother of Cadoc "the Wise", whose Vita may be the earliest saint's life to mention Arthur. Gwladys's other children were Cynidr, Bugi, Cyfyw, Maches, Glywys II and Egwine. Today her main church and associated school is in Bargoed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padarn</span> 6th-century bishop and saint

Padarn was an early 6th century British Christian abbot-bishop who founded Saint Padarn's Church in Ceredigion, Wales. He appears to be the same individual as the first bishop of Braga and Saint Paternus of Avranches in Normandy. Padarn built a monastery in Vannes and is considered one of the seven founding saints of Brittany. His early vita is one of five insular and two Breton saints' lives that mention King Arthur independently of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Carantoc's Church, Crantock</span> Church in Cornwall, England

St Carantoc's Church, Crantock is in the village of Crantock, Cornwall, England. Since 1951 the church has been designated as a Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Truro, the archdeaconry of Cornwall and the deanery of Pydar. Its benefice is combined with that of St Cubert.

Cadfan, was the 6th century founder-abbot of Tywyn and Bardsey, both in Gwynedd, Wales. He was said to have received the island of Bardsey from Einion Frenin, king of Llŷn, around 516 and to have served as its abbot until 542.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Teilo</span> Early medieval Welsh bishop and saint

Saint Teilo, also known by his Cornish name Eliud, was a British Christian monk, bishop, and founder of monasteries and churches. He was from Penalun (Penally) near Tenby in Pembrokeshire, south Wales.

Saint Sulien, Sulian, or Silin was the reputed 6th-century founder-abbot of a monastery at Luxulyan in Cornwall. His feast day is 29 July. He is likely the same as the Saint Sulien of Cornouaille and Domnonée. The prefix "lux" is equivalent to "loc" which means place. It is common in Brittany, but not in Cornwall, which suggests this is a Breton foundation.

Saint Tathan is claimed to be a fifth or sixth century Celtic saint, who travelled from Ireland to Wales where he founded a Christian church. He is reckoned an early abbot of Caerwent and has dedications at Llanvaches, near Caerwent, also known as Llandathan, and at St Athan. He is said to have been a teacher of Cadoc and to have brought light to the heathens to undo the work of Satan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Ilar</span>

A Saint Ilar is listed among the 6th-century saints of Wales and is the probable namesake of Llanilar in Ceredigion and its former hundred of Ilar. His feast day is variously given as 13, 14, or 15 January, but is no longer observed by either the Anglican or Catholic church in Wales.

References