Non | |
|---|---|
 St Non portrayed in stained glass in St Non's Chapel | |
| Born | 5th century AD probably Pembrokeshire |
| Died | 6th century AD Brittany or Cornwall |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Anglican Communion Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Dirinon, Finistère |
| Feast | 2, 3 or 5 March, or second Sunday after Midsummer's Day |
| Patronage | raped women Pelynt |
Non (also Nonna or Nonnita) was, according to Christian tradition, the mother of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales.
The Life of St David was written around 1095 by Rhigyfarch, and is our main source of knowledge for the lives of both St David (died c. 589) and his mother. Rhigyfarch was a Norman cleric whose father had been Bishop of St David's for 10 years. [1] He states that she was a nun at Ty Gwyn ("the white house") near Whitesands Bay (Pembrokeshire), (although she may have become a nun later as a widow). [2]
Tradition holds that Nonita was raped and that the product of that rape was David – she was "unhappily seized and exposed to the sacrilegious violence of one of the princes of the country". [3] Rhigyfarch recounts the tradition that the rapist was Sanctus, King of Ceredigion, who came upon Non while travelling through Dyfed (in South Wales). After conceiving, Nonita, who remained celibate both before and afterwards, lived on bread and water alone. When a preacher found himself unable to preach in the presence of her unborn child, this was taken as a sign that the child would himself be a great preacher. A local ruler (possibly Vortiporius) learned of this pregnancy and feared the power of the child to be born. He plotted to kill him upon birth, but on the day of her labour a great storm made it impossible for anyone to travel outdoors. Only the place where Nonita groaned with birth-pangs was bathed in light. The pain was said to have been so intense that her fingers left marks as she grasped a rock and the stone itself split asunder in sympathy with her. A church was built in the place of David's birth and this stone is now concealed in the foundations of the altar. [4]
Variations on her story state that:
The place where Non gave birth to Saint David is now named Capel Non, [7] and is marked by the Chapel of St Non. Close to the ruins of this chapel is her holy well; nearby also stands a retreat house, and a chapel dedicated to Our Lady and Saint Non built in 1934. [10] The ruins are easily accessible from the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. Other churches bear her name in Devon, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire. [11]
Non's relics were initially venerated at Altarnun in Cornwall. However, these were destroyed during the Reformation. [12] Medieval glass fragments which remain above the altar may depict Non; there is a holy well nearby with a long tradition of bringing the insane to be immersed (one legend has them being thrown in backwards) in hope of a cure. [13] [14] She is also the patron of Pelynt in Cornwall where there is St Nonna's Holy Well. [15]
Non died at Dirinon, Brittany, ten miles east of Brest, and is buried there; [8] her shrine can still be seen in Dirinon's parish church. [5] An alternative legend puts her being martyred at the hands of druids at Bradstone in Devon where the church is dedicated to her. [14]
St Non's feast day is given as 2 March by Mullins [11] and by the 18th century text of Browne Willis cited by Rees. [10] Nash Ford [5] identifies 3 March as her date of death. 3 March is also the date recognised by Simpson. [16] She is listed under 5 March in the 1995 revision of the Church in Wales calendar. [17] At the Parish of Pelynt, which contains St Nonna's Holy Well, the feast of St Nonna is celebrated on the second Sunday after Midsummer's Day.
St Non is not officially commemorated in the current liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church: she does not appear in the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology, [18] nor the Roman Catholic calendar for Wales. [19]
Piran or Pyran, died c. 480, was a 5th-century Cornish abbot and saint, possibly of Irish origin. He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Michael and Petroc also have some claim to this title.
David was a Welsh Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Mynyw during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales.
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.
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 Deiniol 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.
April 8 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - April 10
Altarnun is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies 7 miles (11 km) west of Launceston on the north-eastern edge of Bodmin Moor at grid reference SX 223 811.
Decuman was one of the Celtic saints who came to Somerset from Pembrokeshire, South Wales, in the seventh century, arriving on a raft with a cow for a companion. There he was a pastor and physician to the local inhabitants.
Saint Dwynwen, sometimes known as Dwyn or Donwen, is the Welsh patron saint of lovers. She is celebrated throughout Wales on 25 January.
March 4 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - March 6
March 2 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - March 4
Canna was a sixth-century mother of saints and later a nun in south Wales, to whom two Welsh churches are dedicated.
Saint Congar was a Welsh abbot and supposed bishop in Somerset, then in the British kingdom of Somerset, now in England.
The Chapel of St Non is located on the coast near St David's in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Held by tradition to mark the birthplace of St David, the ruin cannot be accurately dated but is unusual in that it is aligned north–south rather than the usual east–west. Near to the ruined chapel is a retreat, a modern chapel and a holy well. The site was protected in the 1950s and is now the responsibility of the Welsh Heritage organisation Cadw.
Saint Credan of Evesham is a saint in the calendar of the Roman Catholic Church and of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is also known in Latin as Credus or Credanus.
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 Nonna's Church, also known as the Cathedral of the Moors, is the second largest church on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, located in the village of Altarnun. The dedication is to Saint Non or Nonna, who was the mother of St David. The church is mentioned in Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn; it is the church in which the evil vicar of Altarnun Francis Davey depicts himself in a painting as a wolf while the members of his congregation have the heads of sheep.
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.
Nonna is the Italian word for grandmother and a Russian feminine name. It may refer to:
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