Saint Endelyn of Trentinney
The twenty-ninth of April is the feast-day of Saint Endelyn, a late fifth-century Welsh anchoress and one of King Brychan Brycheiniog’s formidable brood of children, all of whom grew to be holy men and women. Endelyn lends her name to the village of St Endellion in Cornwall. During her life as an anchoress she lived very nearby two of her siblings: the saints Nectan of Hartland and Mynfrewy of St Minver. She had another sister, named Saint Delech, who was apparently fairly close to her as well.
Endelyn [also Endelienta and Endellion] was born to Brychan in Brecknock around the year 470. She is probably the same woman as Cynheiddon of the Welsh genealogies, the daughter of Brychan who lived by Llangynheiddon at Bancycapel in South Wales. If Endelyn and Cynheiddon are indeed the same woman, it seems likely that she set sail from South Wales and landed on the other side of the Bristol Channel in Cornwall. She first opened a chapel on Lundy Island, and then moved on to where her brother Saint Nectan lived, staying with him for a time. She moved off to an anchorage nearby, at a place called Trentinney a few miles to the southeast. From this anchorage she would often go afoot to meet her sister Delech (or Dilpe) who lived at Landulph, at the midpoint of the path between their two dwelling-places; the grass along this path was supposed to greener than anywhere else around it. She lived a life of great austerity, drinking only water from two nearby wells and the milk from a cow who was her only companion.
This cow, unfortunately, happened to stray onto the lands of the lord who owned Trentinney, a rather territorial fellow it seems, for he killed the cow for this trespass. When Saint Endelyn heard of this, she ran to where the cow lay and grieved loudly. It happened that her godfather – King Arthur by the traditional account – heard her mourning and rode to see what was the matter. There he found the lord of Trentinney standing, and when it became clear to him that it was Trentinney who had killed the cow, the king struck off the lord’s head with his own sword. The saint, who was loath that anyone should die thus, prayed fervently to God and placed Trentinney’s head back on his body. By Saint Endelyn’s prayers and the mercy of Christ, both Trentinney and the cow were restored to life.
Near the end of her life, Saint Endelyn was given to see in a vision the manner in which she would die. She hastened to meet with her brother and sisters, and asked them that after her death they obey her wishes for burial. She told them to take up her body, put it on a cart behind two oxen, and then to let the oxen roam where they would. Where they stopped, that is where she would be buried. It so happened that the heathen Saxons came to her anchorage and slew her, on the twenty-ninth of April sometime in the middle of the sixth century. Her wishes in death were obeyed: the two oxen took her body and brought it to the top of a hill – this is the site of the modern church of St Endellion. There she was buried and around this site the cultus of her martyrdom arose. This church was the site of many healings, and it drew numerous pilgrims from Cornwall and beyond. Her shrine survived until the Reformation, when it was destroyed like all too many others; however, the church at St Endellion still stands and is still named for her. Holy mother Endelyn, gentle anchoress who did not forget to pray even for your enemies, pray unto Christ our God for us sinners!
St Endelienta’s Church, St Endellion, Cornwall
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