Saint Deiniol | |
---|---|
Abbot, Bishop | |
Died | 572 [1] Bardsey Island |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion |
Major shrine | Bangor Cathedral, Bardsey Island |
Feast | 11 September |
Controversy | early life |
Saint Deiniol (died 572) was traditionally the first Bishop of Bangor in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. The present Bangor Cathedral, dedicated to Deiniol, is said to be on the site where his monastery stood. He is venerated in Brittany as Saint Denoual. In English and Latin his name is sometimes rendered as Daniel.
According to a Latin Life of Deiniol, preserved in Peniarth MS226 and transcribed in 1602 by Sir Thomas Williams of Trefriw, he was the son of Abbot Dunod Fawr, son of Pabo Post Prydain. The family, having lost their land in the North of England, were given land by the king of Powys, Cyngen Glodrydd.
Deiniol embraced the religious life and is said to have studied under Cadoc of Llancarfan. Sir David Trevor describes Deiniol as one of the seven blessed cousins who had spent part of his early life as a hermit "on the arm of Pembrokeshire" but was called to be a bishop despite deficiencies in his formal education. Deiniol soon left Powys for Gwynedd where he founded the monastery of Bangor, Gwynedd under the patronage of Maelgwn Gwynedd who endowed it with lands and privileges, later raising it to the rank of the official seat of a bishop, sharing a common boundary with the principality of Gwynedd. Deiniol is said to have been consecrated to that See by St. Dubricius in the year 516. [2] Deiniol spent the remainder of his days there as Abbot and Bishop.
He attended the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi in c. 545 with Saint David when the subject of rules for penance was being discussed. According to the Annales Cambriae Deiniol died in 584 and was buried on Bardsey Island. [3] It is possible that this date, like the dates given for the deaths of David and Kentigern, is twelve years later than it should be, in which case the correct date is 572. [1] The Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol in Bangor is dedicated in his name. [4]
His cult in North Wales was quite extensive and several churches are dedicated to him, including Worthenbury near Wrexham and Hawarden, Flintshire in the north of Wales (as well as other churches in Flintshire). There are also dedicated churches at Llangarron, Llanfor, Llanuwchllyn, Eyton, and Itton; near Cardigan Bay there is a village of Llanddeiniol - "parish of St Deiniol" - which was once the name of Itton. [5]
The church of Marchwiel is dedicated to Deiniol and there are also dedications at Itton in Monmouthshire and Llangarron in Herefordshire.
William Ewart Gladstone dedicated St Deiniol's Library, a residential library in Hawarden, Flintshire, for arts students, in 1896.
In the current Roman Catholic liturgical calendar for Wales [6] and that of the Anglican Church in Wales, he is commemorated on the traditional date of 11 September.
His name has been given to the Deiniol Centre, a shopping centre in Bangor.
He may be referenced in the name of the hymn tune, ST. DENIO ("Immortal, invisible") [7]
Year 584 (DLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 584 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Hawarden is a village and community in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name had a population of 1,887, whereas the community of the same name, which also includes Ewloe Mancot and Aston had a population of 13,920. The scenic wooded Hawarden Park abuts the clustered settlement in the south. Hawarden Bridge consists of distribution and industrial business premises beyond Shotton/Queensferry and the Dee. The west of the main street is called The Highway, its start marked by the crossroads with a fountain in the middle, near which are public houses, some with restaurants.
Brut y Tywysogion is one of the most important primary sources for Welsh history. It is an annalistic chronicle that serves as a continuation of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. Brut y Tywysogion has survived as several Welsh translations of an original Latin version, which has not itself survived. The most important versions are the one in Robert Vaughan's Peniarth MS. 20 and the slightly less complete one in the Red Book of Hergest. The version entitled Brenhinoedd y Saeson combines material from the Welsh annals with material from an English source.
Illtud, also known as Illtud Farchog or Illtud the Knight, is venerated as the abbot teacher of the divinity school, Bangor Illtyd, located in Llanilltud Fawr in Glamorgan, Wales. He founded the monastery and college in the 6th century, and the school is believed to be Britain's earliest centre of learning. At its height, it had over a thousand pupils and schooled many of the great saints of the age, such as David, Samson of Dol, and the historian Gildas.
Sep. 10 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - Sep. 12
April 20 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - April 22
Saint Asaph was, in the second half of the 6th century, the first Bishop of St Asaph, i.e. bishop of the diocese of Saint Asaph.
The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.
Bangor Cathedral is the cathedral church of Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Saint Deiniol.
Elfodd, Elvodug or Elfoddw was a Welsh bishop. He induced the Welsh church to accept the Roman computus for determining the date of Easter endorsed elsewhere in Britain at the Synod of Whitby in 664. This was after centuries of continuing the practice.
Dubricius or Dubric was a 6th-century British ecclesiastic venerated as a saint. He was the evangelist of Ergyng and much of south-east Wales.
Saint Dunod was the first Abbot of Bangor Iscoed of north-east Wales.
Nidan was a Welsh priest and, according to some sources, a bishop, in the 6th and 7th centuries. He is now commemorated as a saint. He was the confessor for the monastery headed by St Seiriol at Penmon, and established a church at what is now known as Llanidan, which are both places on the Welsh island of Anglesey. He is the patron saint of two churches in Anglesey: St Nidan's Church, Llanidan, built in the 19th century, and its medieval predecessor, the Old Church of St Nidan, Llanidan. Midmar Old Kirk in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is also dedicated to him: Nidan is said to have helped to establish Christianity in that area as a companion of St Kentigern. St Nidan's, Llanidan, has a reliquary dating from the 14th or 16th century, which is said to house his relics.
Llangarron is a small village and civil parish in southwest Herefordshire within 7 miles (11 km) of both Ross-on-Wye and Monmouth. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,053. The civil parish includes the settlements of Llangrove, Llancloudy, Biddlestone and Three Ashes. The church is dedicated to St. Deinst. The village no longer has a post office nor pub, though it does have a community hall.
St Deiniol's Church, Llanddaniel Fab, is a small 19th-century parish church in the centre of Llanddaniel Fab, a village in Anglesey, north Wales. The first church in this location is said to have been established by St Deiniol Fab in 616. He was the son of St Deiniol, the first Bishop of Bangor. The current building, which is in Early English style, incorporates some material and fittings from an earlier church on the site, including the font and an 18th-century memorial in the porch. The vestry door has medieval jambs and the keystone of its arch, which is also medieval, is a carved human face. Some parts of the nave walls may also come from a previous building here.
A clas was a native Christian church in early medieval Wales. Unlike later Norman monasteries, which were made up of a main religious building supported by several smaller buildings, such as cloisters and kitchens, a clas was normally a single building. The building was run by a community of clergy and headed by an abod. Clasau were autonomous and were administered locally.
The Synod of Chester was an ecclesiastical council of bishops held in Chester in the late 6th or early 7th century. The period is known from only a few surviving sources, so dates and accounts vary, but it seems to have been a major event in the history of Wales and England, where the native British bishops rejected overtures of peace from Augustine's English mission. This led directly to the Battle of Chester, where Æthelfrith of Northumbria seems to have killed the kings of Powys and (possibly) Gwynedd during an attack on the ecclesiastical community at Bangor-on-Dee.
St Cadwaladr's Church is a Grade I listed church in Llangadwaladr, Anglesey. The location of the current church was established in the 7th century by the Kings of Gwynedd, after whom the church is named, King Cadwaladr. The Church standing today was built in the 'T' shape perpendicular style. The nave is dated to the 12th to early 13th century and the chancel to the 14th. Later the chapels were built, the north in 1640 and the southern Bodowen Chapel in 1661. Then, during 1856 the church underwent restoration, at which time to south porch was added.
St Deiniols Ash is a 16th or 17th century Grade I listed timber framed manor house located next to the church of St Deiniol in Hawarden, in Flintshire, north-east Wales. The house contains a series of wall paintings depicting the life of St Deiniol which are considered among the best preserved examples in Britain.
The Church of St Deinst, Llangarron, Herefordshire is a church of the Diocese of Hereford, England. The church is dedicated to the Celtic saint Deiniol and is the only church in England to bear such a dedication. It is an active parish church and a Grade I listed building.