Saint Endelienta | |
---|---|
Born | c. 470 AD South Wales |
Died | unknown Cornwall |
Venerated in | Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Orthodoxy |
Major shrine | St Endellion, Cornwall, England |
Feast | 29 April |
Saint Endelienta (also Endelient, Edellienta or Endellion) was a Cornish saint of the 5th and 6th century. She is believed to be a daughter of the Welsh King Brychan, and a native of South Wales who travelled to North Cornwall to join her siblings in converting the locals to Christianity. Legend says that she was a goddaughter of King Arthur, and that she lived as a hermit at Trentinney where she subsisted on the milk of a cow. The saint is commemorated in the church and village of St Endellion which bear her name; Endellion being an Anglicised version of her name. Her feast day is 29 April.
Tradition makes her a daughter of King Brychan, [1] of Brycheiniog in South Wales. The village of Saint Endellion in Cornwall, named after her, is from where she is said to have evangelized the local population. Two former wells near the village were named after her. [2]
She is called "Cenheidlon" in Welsh records, with Endelienta being a Latinised form of the name. Her feast day is 29 April. [3] The saint is believed to have been a native of South Wales who crossed the Bristol Channel to join her siblings in converting the people of North Cornwall to Christianity. During her journey, she initially landed on the island of Lundy, where she is believed to have founded a small chapel, which would later be wrongly rededicated to Saint Helen. She subsequently moved on to the mainland where she stayed with her brother, Saint Nectan, at Hartland, before eventually choosing to settle at Trentinney, south-west of the present day village of St Endellion, although she would return to Lundy from time to time on retreat for meditation.
She lived at Trentinney as a hermit, where legend says that she subsisted solely on the milk of a cow, and the water from two nearby wells. [3] Her sister, St Dilic (whose church is at Landulph), settled nearby and the two would often meet along a certain path whose grass would ever afterwards grow greener than elsewhere.
The cow was killed by the Lord of Trentinney after straying onto his land. He in turn is said to have been killed by Endelienta's Godfather, reputed to be King Arthur, [1] after Arthur was angered by the deed and sent his men to exact revenge. However, Endelienta was said to be unhappy that Trentinney had been killed in her name, and restored the nobleman back to life.
Following a vision of her death, the saint is said to have asked that upon her death, her body should be placed on a sledge or cart drawn by bullocks, and that she should be buried at the place where they stopped. She is thought to have died on 29 April some time in the 6th century, and possibly at the hands of Saxon pirates. She was buried at the top of a hill, and a church built over her grave. The present church at St Endellion stands on that site. [4]
According to local folklorist Nicholas Roscarrock, a chapel dedicated to Saint Endelienta survived on the site of her hermitage at Trenteney until the 16th century, [3] while her shrine at the Church of St Endellion was a site of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages. It was virtually destroyed during the Reformation, but the base survives to the present day and can still be viewed.
The St Endellion Music Festivals take place at Easter and in the Summer every year in the St Endellion church. [5]
Endellion is depicted in the Langdale rosary, a 16th Century work believed to have belonged to Lord William Howard; it is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. [6]
In 2005 a local iconographer was commissioned to produce an icon of Saint Endelienta, even though there were no known images of her on which to base the work. [1]
On 25 August 2010 it was announced that British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and his wife Samantha had named their newborn daughter Florence Rose Endellion [7] after the village of St Endellion, reflecting the fact she was born while the Cameron family were holidaying in Cornwall. [8] [9]
Wenna was a medieval princess and Christian martyr who flourished in Wales and Cornwall. Later venerated as a saint, she is honored at multiple churches in Cornwall and Devon.
Breage or Breaca is a saint venerated in Cornwall and South West England. According to her late hagiography, she was an Irish nun of the 5th or 6th century who founded a church in Cornwall. The village and civil parish of Breage in Cornwall are named after her, and the local Breage Parish Church is dedicated to her. She is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Church.
Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog in Mid Wales.
Keyne was a 5th-century holy woman and hermitess who was said to have travelled widely through what is now South Wales and Cornwall.
Samantha Gwendoline Cameron, Baroness Cameron of Chipping Norton, is an English businesswoman. Until 2010, she was the creative director of Smythson of Bond Street. She is married to David Cameron, who served as Foreign Secretary from 2023 to 2024 and was formerly Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. She took on a part-time consultancy role at Smythson after he became prime minister.
St Minver is the name of an ecclesiastical parish, a civil parish and a village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
Saint Dwynwen, sometimes known as Dwyn or Donwen, is the Welsh patron saint of lovers. She is celebrated throughout Wales on 25 January.
Buriana, also known as Berriona, Beriana, Buryan or Beryan, was a 6th-century Irish saint, a hermit in St Buryan, near Penzance, Cornwall. Baring-Gould identifies her with the Irish saint Bruinsech.
Saint Nectan, sometimes styled Saint Nectan of Hartland, was a 5th-century holy man who lived in Stoke, Hartland, in the nowadays English, and at the time Brythonic-speaking, county of Devon, where the prominent St Nectan's Church, Hartland is dedicated to him.
Mabyn, also known as Mabena, Mabon, etc., was a medieval Cornish saint. According to local Cornish tradition she was one of the many children of Brychan, king of Brycheiniog in Wales in the 5th century. The village and civil parish of St Mabyn is named for her, and the local St Mabyn Parish Church is dedicated to her.
Morwenna is the eponymous patron saint of Morwenstow, a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, UK. Her name is thought to be cognate with Welsh morwyn "maiden", although the first name is also used in Wales and Brittany and said to be composed of "Mor" and "Gwenn", meaning "White sea" in both Welsh and Breton.
Trethevy is a hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
St Endellion is a civil parish and hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet and parish church are situated four miles (6.5 km) north of Wadebridge.
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.
Cynog son of Brychan, also known as Saint Cynog or Canog, was an early Welsh saint and martyr. His shrine is at Merthyr Cynog in Wales and his feast day is observed on 7 or 9 October. In Ireland he is known as St. Mocheanog
Saint Enodoc, originally Wenedoc, was a sub-Roman Pre-congregational saint of Cornwall.
Saint Enoder, was a 5th-century Cornish saint from Brecknockshire in South Wales. He is venerated in the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches.
Tetha, also known as Teath, Tecla, and by a variety of other names, was a 5th-century virgin and saint in Wales and Cornwall. She is associated with the parish church of St Teath in Cornwall. Baring-Gould gives her feast day as 27 October, but this has been called a mistaken conflation with Saint Ia. In 1878, it was held on the movable feast of Whit Tuesday. Other sources place it on 1 May, 6 September, and (mistakenly) 15 January. It is no longer observed by either the Anglican or Catholic church in Wales.
Saint Julitta, or Saint Juliot, is a male Celtic saint to whom two Cornish churches are dedicated. He is believed to have settled at the site of Tintagel Castle at the end of the 5th century and established a small monastic community. In some accounts he is a member of the Children of Brychan and St Nectan and the holy female Hermit, St Keyne, are thought to have been his companions. He is the patron of the parish churches of St Juliot and of Lanteglos by Camelford. The Norman chapel of Tintagel Castle is dedicated to St Julitta. At Jetwells near Camelford is a holy well. Jetwells derives from "Juliot's well".
St. Maches was a 6th-century princess and Pre-congregational saint of Cornwall and Devon. Maches was the sister of St. Cadog.