A Greek icon of Saint Melangell of Llangynog
The twenty-seventh of May in the Orthodox Church is the feast of Saint Melangell, a sixth-century Irish saint of Wales who had an anchorage at Pennant Melangell, just outside Llangynog in Powys. She was a saint very close to nature who became the head of a small convent there, and was held in great esteem and affection by the local populace. Both her shrine and even her relics seem to have survived the ravages of the sixteenth century.
Saint Melangell [also Monacella] was born in Ireland in the first half of the sixth century, to a wealthy landowner who sought to marry her off to another nobleman, whether for diplomatic reasons or to expand his own holdings. Melangell, who was a girl of exquisite beauty both outwardly and inwardly, refused to be thus disposed. When her father and his preferred suitor for her conspired to force her into the marriage, she fled in secret from her father’s house and made her way over the Irish Sea to Wales. She took up a lonely refuge in the moors of northern Powys, in the foothills of Y Berwyn at the head of the Afon Tanat, overlooking a round church in a yard that had been founded by Saint Cynog of Powys over a century before. She slept in a cave there, made her bed on a bare rock, lived on roots and berries and herbs, and lay in utter seclusion and a life of solitary prayer for over fourteen years.
Melangell’s lonely life was interrupted when a hare came darting into a bramble thicket nearby looking for protection. It was being pursued by the hounds of Brochwel Ysgrithrog ap Cyngen of Powys, the son-in-law of Saint Pabo and the father of Saint Tysilio. The hounds, and the man, burst in on the bramble thicket, and found the hare – hiding under the skirts of an extraordinarily beautiful woman who had been absorbed in fervent prayer. Brochwel was startled by this sudden appearance, but he still ordered his hounds to take the hare. Roused to full awareness, Saint Melangell rose and hid the hare behind her, warding the hounds off. The hounds refused to budge for fear of harming the holy saint. Beholding this, Brochwel was awe-stricken, and in a more subdued tone asked the anchoress her story.
Once Saint Melangell had told him her tale, Brochwel was still duly impressed. He suggested to her that she leave her seclusion and become his bride, an offer which she politely – but firmly – declined. Brochwel thereupon donated to her the piece of land she lived on, to be kept as a sanctuary for all wild creatures against the threat of the hunt, and in particular for hares. From then on, Pennant Melangell by Llangynog became a well-known sanctuary where not only wild game could flee for shelter, but also men who were hounded unjustly even by law. Princes and kings alike respected the sanctity of the anchoress’s dwelling, and would hunt neither four-legged, nor two-legged, nor winged game on the land that Brochwel Ysgrithrog had given her. The local farmers and villagers would also come there to worship, and if they had any ailment they would ask Saint Melangell’s remedies and intercessions for their healing, which always proved to be effective.
Saint Melangell lived there for thirty-seven years after her encounter with Brochwel King, and as her fame spread young women were drawn to her. She formed a community of nuns at Pennant Melangell, and the nuns there learned to respect the wildlife and the lives of men just as she had. She reposed in sanctity and went to the Lord on the twenty-seventh of May in the year 590. Her saintly cultus sprang up almost literally overnight: her feast-day was at once recognised as holy at Llangynog and throughout Powys. Even today, in part for the sake of Saint Melangell, the entirety of Y Berwyn is kept as a nature sanctuary, and even hunters do not dare bring weapons within the grounds of Pennant Melangell. Holy mother Melangell, friend and protectress of wild creatures and fugitives, pray unto Christ our God for us sinners!
Preferring the rigours of monasticism
To worldly status and marriage, O pious Melangell,
Thou wast fifteen years on a rock, emulating the example of the Syrian Stylites.
Wherefore, O Saint, pray to God
That He will give us strength to serve Him as He wills,
that we may be found worthy of His great mercy.
Pennant Melangell, Powys
No comments:
Post a Comment