Iestyn (sometimes recorded as Iestin or the Latin form Justinus) [1] was a Welsh hermit and confessor in the 6th or 7th century who is venerated as a saint. He was the founder of two churches, one in Gwynedd and another in Anglesey, both in north Wales.
Iestyn's dates of birth and death are not recorded. According to some sources, he flourished in the early 6th century; [2] according to others, he was active in the 7th century. [3] He is said to have been the son of Geraint ab Erbin, a ruler of Dumnonia (a Celtic kingdom in what is now southwest England). His brothers were recorded as including Cador, Duke of Cornwall, and Cyngar (another saint who is commemorated in the name of the church at Llangefni, Anglesey). Iestyn, a hermit and confessor who was probably a follower of the Anglesey saint Cybi, founded two churches in north Wales: one at Llaniestyn, Gwynedd, and another (St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn) in Anglesey. [1] The Anglesey church contains a late 14th-century carved effigy stone of him wearing a hooded cloak with a brooch, holding a staff in his right hand and an inscribed scroll in his left. The inscription, in Latin, says that Iestyn lies here and notes also the names of the donors of the effigy. It may originally have been used as a shrine for the saint. [4] He may also have founded the church at St Just in Roseland, in a part of modern-day Cornwall within his father's influence, and has also been linked with a church in Brittany, in northern France. [1]
His feast day is not included in the Welsh calendars of saints, but was marked at his church on Anglesey on 12 April and 10 October, and at his church in Caernarfonshire on 10 October. [1]
Other Anglesey saints commemorated in local churches include:
Salomon was a late 5th century Cornish 'warrior prince', possibly a King of Cornwall. His feast day takes place on the 18 October. He was the father of the Cornish bishop Saint Cybi.
Saint Dwynwen, sometimes known as Dwyn or Donwen, is the Welsh patron saint of lovers. She is celebrated throughout Wales on 25 January.
Saint Cybi (Welsh), or Cuby (Cornish), was a 6th-century Cornish bishop, saint, and, briefly, king, who worked largely in Cornwall and North Wales: his biography is recorded in two slightly variant medieval 'lives'.
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.
St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo is a medieval church in Llanbabo, in Anglesey, North Wales. Much of the church dates to the 12th century, and it is regarded as a good example of a church of its period that has retained many aspects of its original fabric. The church houses a tombstone slab from the 14th century, depicting a king with crown and sceptre, bearing the name of Pabo Post Prydain, the reputed founder of the church. However, there is no evidence that Pabo, a 5th-century prince, lived in the area and the tradition that he founded the church has little supporting basis.
St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn is a medieval church in Llaniestyn, Anglesey, in Wales. A church is said to have been founded here by St Iestyn in the 7th century, with the earliest parts of the present building dating from the 12th century. The church was extended in the 14th century, with further changes over the coming years. It contains a 12th-century font and a 14th-century memorial stone to Iestyn, from the same workshop as the stone to St Pabo at St Pabo's Church, Llanbabo.
Saint Peulan was a Welsh holy man in the early part of the 6th century, the son of Paulinus, a saint from south Wales who taught Saint David. A follower of Cybi, a saint associated with the island of Anglesey in north Wales, Peulan is commemorated in the dedication of the church he reportedly founded, St Peulan's Church, Llanbeulan, on Anglesey.
St Cwyllog's Church, Llangwyllog, is a medieval church near Llangwyllog, in Anglesey, north Wales. St Cwyllog founded a church here in the 6th century, although the exact date is unknown. The existence of a church here was recorded in 1254 and parts of the present building may date from around 1200. Other parts are from the 15th century, with an unusual annexe added in the 16th century. The church contains some 18th-century fittings, including a rare Georgian three-decker pulpit and reading desk.
Saint Cwyllog was a Christian holy woman who was active in Anglesey, Wales, in the early 6th century. The daughter, sister and niece of saints, she is said to have founded St Cwyllog's Church, Llangwyllog, in the middle of Anglesey, where a church is still dedicated to her.
Elaeth was a Christian king and poet in Britain in the 6th century who is venerated as a saint. After losing his territory in the north of Britain, he retreated to Anglesey, north Wales, where he lived at a monastery run by St Seiriol at Penmon. Some religious poetry is attributed to him, as is the foundation of St Eleth's Church, Amlwch, also in Anglesey.
St Eleth's Church, Amlwch is a parish church built in the Neo-classical style in 1800 in Amlwch, a town on the island of Anglesey in north Wales. It stands on the site of earlier buildings, with the first church here said to have been established by St Elaeth in the 6th century. Increasing prosperity in the town through copper mining during the 18th century led to the construction of a new church to serve the growing population.
Edern ap Nudd was a knight of the Round Table in Arthur's court in early Arthurian tradition. As the son of Nudd, he is the brother of Gwyn, Creiddylad, and Owain ap Nudd. In French romances, he is sometimes made the king of a separate realm. As St Edern, he has two churches dedicated to him in Wales.
St Fflewin's Church, Llanfflewin is a small rural church, situated by a farm in Anglesey, Wales. The first church on the site is said to have been built by St Fflewin in 630, but the present building has no structural features dating from before the 18th century, although the church has a font from the 14th or 15th century and part of an inscribed medieval gravestone has been reused in a window sill.
St Tyfrydog's Church, Llandyfrydog is a small medieval church, in Llandyfrydog, Anglesey, north Wales. The date of establishment of a church on this site is unknown, but one 19th-century Anglesey historian says that it was about 450. The oldest parts of the present building are dated to about 1400, with the chancel dating from the late 15th or early 16th century. It is built from rough, small, squared stones, dressed with limestone. One of the windows on the south side is raised to illuminate the pulpit, a decision that in the eyes of one 19th-century commentator "disfigures the building."
Tyfrydog was a Christian from north-west Wales in the fifth or sixth century, who was later venerated as a saint. He is said to have established a church in Anglesey, and although no part of the original structure remains, the current church is still dedicated to him. A nearby standing stone is said to be the remains of a man who he punished for stealing a bible from the church.
Caffo was a sixth-century Christian in Anglesey, north Wales, who is venerated as a saint and martyr. The son of a king from northern Britain who took shelter in Anglesey, Caffo was a companion of St Cybi, and is mentioned as carrying a red-hot coal in his clothes to Cybi without his clothes getting burnt. After leaving Cybi, Caffo was killed by shepherds in the south of Anglesey, possibly acting in retaliation for insults Caffo's brother had paid to the local ruler. The area where he died has a village, Llangaffo, named after him, as well as the parish church of St Caffo, Llangaffo.
St Caian's Church, Tregaian, also known as St Caean's Church, Tregaean, is a small medieval church dating from the 14th century in Anglesey, north Wales. It is dedicated to St Caian, a Christian from the 5th or 6th century about whom little is known. The building contains a late 14th-century east window and a late 15th-century doorway. The churchyard contains the grave of William ap Howel, who died in 1581 at the age of 105, leaving over forty children between the ages of 8 and 89 and over three hundred living descendants.
St Gwenllwyfo's Church is a 19th-century parish church near the village of Dulas, in Anglesey, Wales. It was built between 1854 and 1856 to replace an earlier church in the parish, also dedicated to St Gwenllwyfo, which needed repair and had become too small for its congregation. The new church was built nearer to the Llys Dulas estate, whose owner contributed £936 towards the total cost of £1,417, rather than near the area where many of the parishioners lived. In 1876, Sir Arundell Neave donated 27 panels of 15th and 16th-century stained glass that had once belonged to a Flemish monastery.
Cynfarwy was a Christian in the 7th century about whom little is known. He was venerated by the early church in Wales as a saint, although he was never formally canonised. St Cynfarwy's Church in Anglesey is dedicated to him, and his name is also preserved in the name of the settlement around the church, Llechgynfarwy. His feast day is in November, although the date varies between sources.
Saint Einion Frenin was a late 5th- and early 6th-century Welsh confessor and saint of the Celtic Church. His feast day was originally given as 9 February, although this had moved to the 10th or 12th by the 16th century and is no longer observed by either the Anglican or Catholic church in Wales.
llaniestyn saint.