Saint Beuno
A great British saint of the seventh century, Saint Beuno ap Beugi ap Gwynllyw, is commemorated on this Palm Sunday in the Orthodox Church.
Beuno, the son of Beugi prince of Powys and his wife Princess Peren, was tutored at the college of King Ynyr Gwent by the Irish Abbot Saint Tathyw of Caerwent in the Holy Scriptures, which he learnt eagerly and thoroughly. At the end of his learning, Saint Tathyw taught Beuno the Liturgy so that the young man could become a priest. One story has it that Ynyr Gwent himself gave Beuno the land at Llanfeuno (now in Herefordshire) on which to build a parish, and himself came to listen to him preach. As his parish was being built, Beuno heard that his father Beugi had fallen deathly ill, and left the finishing of the building to his three most trusted disciples to return to his father’s side. He made it in time to hear his father’s final confession and to give him the Eucharist, after which the old man died. He set a stone at the spot where his father died and planted an acorn there. This acorn, it is said, grew into a great oak that bowed over so that one of its branches touched the earth and then rose again. A legend arose that if an Englishman went beneath the arch of this oak, he would fall dead at once; but if a Briton – that is to say, a Welshman – walked under, he would go his way without harm.
Father Beuno was then assigned to a parish in Aberriw in Powys, which still bears his name. There is still a stone here which is said to have been the place where Beuno preached to the people. However, he was soon forced to leave Aberriw on account of English encroachments, and he left Aberriw in the hands of one of his disciples, named Rhithwlint.
Father Beuno sojourned for forty days at the court of Cynan Garwyn, where then lived Saint Tysilio. He must have made a positive impression on the king, because Beuno was then given a parish at Gwyddelwern – which came to be so called, supposedly, because while he was there Father Beuno, by calling upon the name of Christ, raised an Irishman named Llorcan Wyddel from the dead. Here too, however, he ran into trouble. The king’s grandchildren, came to Father Beuno and demanded of the poor priest food enough to feed themselves and their party. Beuno slew and cooked for them an ox, but the haughty young princelings complained that he must have bewitched the food. When he heard this, Beuno flew into a rage and pronounced a curse upon them, saying: ‘From what your grandfather gave freely to God, do you now demand tribute and service? May your kin never possess this land, and may you be destroyed out of this kingdom and be likewise deprived of your æternal inheritance!’ (It is worthwhile to remember that these youths could have demanded food and board of any person in the village, but they chose instead to impose upon the priest, who was traditionally exempt from having to render such services.)
Naturally, after this little incident, Father Beuno was forced to leave again for Powys. He stayed for a time with his sister Gwenlo, her husband Thewith ap Eliud, and their daughter Gwenffrewi – the same Saint Winefride whose relics rest in Shrewsbury Abbey. Beuno, seeing the bright and serious disposition of the girl, offered to tutor her, and her father Thewith agreed and provided Beuno with a parish and a living in return. Beuno delighted in teaching his niece and loved her as a daughter. It was unsurprising when Gwenffrewi decided on leaving the world and taking the wimple.
On one Sunday, when Father Beuno was serving the Liturgy in the parish church, Gwenffrewi was alone in her house. A lecherous young prince named Caradog was riding by, spotted the beautiful girl from horseback, and began to lust after her. He entered her house and demanded a drink of water, which she gave him. He began pressing his attentions upon her unwanted, demanding she take him as a husband, but she was determined to become a nun. Caradog tried to take her by force, but she struggled free and fled toward the church. Caradog took to his horse and rode after her, infuriated by her refusal and frightened that she would reveal his attempt to rape her. As she was running up the steps to the church, he swung his sword and cut off the pious young girl’s head.
Saint Beuno rushed out of the church and saw this grim spectacle. Beuno had the girl’s head reattached to her body, and raised her to life again. Seeing the young princeling leaning on his sword, unrepentant for what he had done, he invoked the wrath of heaven upon Caradog, who fell dead on the spot, and the earth opened up to swallow his body. (Other sources have it that Gwenffrewi’s brother Owain slew Caradog in vengeance.) Gwenffrewi would go on to become a nun as she had intended – and was advised by her uncle to establish a nunnery of her own – but would bear the scar on her neck from Caradog’s sword the rest of her life. Pure water sprang forth from the spot where her head had fallen, and that place to this day is called Holywell.
Again Father Beuno went northward to Gwynedd, and paid his respects to the newly-crowned king Cadwallon ap Cadfan – the same heathen Briton who slew Saint Éadwine of Northumbria in battle and who would in turn be slain by Saint Oswald of Northumbria. To the new king Saint Beuno gave a staff of gold, worth sixty head of cattle, which he had been gifted by Cynan Garwyn; in return for this staff, the new king ‘gave’ Saint Beuno a patch of land at Gwareddog in Arfon – where he began to build a church.
As he and some of his followers were enclosing the yard, a young woman stood by asking Saint Beuno to bless her child. Beuno put her off; whereupon the child began crying piteously. Beuno asked the woman why the babe was crying, and she answered him: ‘You are enclosing the land that belonged to his father and is properly his.’ Upon hearing this, Beuno bade his monks leave off their work while he baptised and blessed the child. Then he took to his chariot with the woman and her babe and left to confront Cadwallon.
Cadwallon was then camping at Caernarfon, and it was there that they found him. Beuno asked Cadwallon why he had given him land which did not belong to him and was not his to give, but rather belonged to the child. He then demanded that Cadwallon either give him other land, or else return to him the staff in recompense. Cadwallon flatly refused to give Beuno anything else, and told him he had already given the staff away. At this, Beuno cursed Cadwallon, that he would not long hold the land. As he was leaving Caernarfon, however, Beuno was hailed by a man who turned out to be a God-fearing cousin of Cadwallon’s named Gwyddaint. ‘For his own soul and that of Cadwallon,’ Gwyddaint gave to Saint Beuno the township of Clynnog-fawr out of his own lands, relinquishing all claims on the land and offering it free of tribute or service. On this land, situated on the northwest coast of Wales, Saint Beuno established a monastery and school. Though he made it his main abode, he spent much of his life on the move, doing mission work, aiding the poor and healing the sick – with a special care and attention to young children. Beuno drew a number of monks to his monastery at Clynnog-fawr, and a number of the heathen were converted by his witness and works. He would repose there in a lengthy old age, on the twenty-first of April, 640.
The other major miracle of Saint Beuno’s life was the conversion of Tigiwg. Tigiwg, the daughter of King Ynyr Gwent, conceived a desire for a skilled and handsome carpenter from Aberffraw, a regular in the employ of Cadwallon, when he came to help the king build a palace. Tigiwg was apparently quite determined in her advances on the young man; for this reason Ynyr Gwent gave her to the carpenter in marriage. However, the carpenter was not quite so thrilled with his new wife as she was with him, and abandoned her on the road home. She was discovered, either dead or near death, by shepherds under the rule of Saint Beuno. She was brought to him and revived by him, and he counselled her to enter the monastic life. At this time her brother Iddon heard of what had happened, and went in search of his sister. Finding her with Saint Beuno, Iddon asked the saint to go with him to Aberffraw to demand back the horses and gold and silver which Ynyr had given the carpenter as wedding-gifts. Again Beuno went to confront Cadwallon, together with Iddon. When Iddon saw the carpenter among Cadwallon’s hireð, he drew his sword and would have slain the faithless husband if Saint Beuno and his men had not restrained him. Beuno demanded the goods back from Cadwallon, who refused at first but – perhaps fearing another of his famous curses – relented and restored the carpenter’s wedding-gifts to Iddon. To Beuno he also gave the land at Aelwyn Beuno in Aberffraw, which housed another holy well.
Saint Beuno’s Life might seem quite harsh to modern ears, handing down curses as liberally as he did. But let us remember, this Palm Sunday, what happened the Holy Monday morning after Christ our God entered Jerusalem in triumph, as recounted in the Gospels of Saint Mark and Saint Matthew. Our Lord cursed the fig tree which bore no fruit. The tale of this curse upon the fig tree has a particular significance: in it, Christ is issuing a direct rebuke to those in power in Jerusalem, the spiritual leaders of the Temple: who put on a false and legalistic piety, who enjoy the pomp and favours of their offices, but who show none of the true fruits of the spirit – the fruits of repentance.
A faithful follower of Christ, Saint Beuno does not get angry with those who show themselves to be penitent, and he never raises his voice or his hand against the poor who are beloved of God. Those on the receiving end of his wrath – the sons of Selyf ap Cynan; Caradog; Cadwallon – were all high-born and wealthy. They were blinded by the idols of their riches, by their vainglory, by the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. They would not hear gentle rebuke or accept correction. (Indeed, Cadwallon would go to war again and again against Christian kingdoms to the east, slaying and plundering poor people, destroying God’s saints – and ultimately he would himself be destroyed in battle, having lived his life by the sword and what he could get from it.) Note also that in all these cases where a curse is issued, Saint Beuno places himself on the side of the powerless and those at a disadvantage in British customary law: the townsfolk of Gwyddelwern; his niece, a victim of sexual assault; a widowed mother and her child. The same sort of people, in point of fact, who turned out of the streets of Jerusalem to lay their palm fronds and their clothes out on the road before this odd sort of King who rode toward them, unadorned, on the colt of a donkey. That we ourselves may likewise seek mercy and justice, therefore, let us turn away from our own idols and offer the fruits of the spirit fit for the King who visits us. Our father among the saints, Holy and Venerable Beuno, pray to Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your passion,
You did confirm the universal Resurrection, O Christ God!
Like the children with the palms of victory,
We cry out to You, O Vanquisher of death;
Hosanna in the Highest!
Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!
Thou didst work many miracles and found many churches,
O glorious Father Beuno.
Thou didst protect Saint Winefride
and guide her in holiness.
Protect us also, by thy prayers, through all the dangers of this life
that we may receive mercy!
The triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerusalem
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