Venerable Cadfan, Abbot of Bardsey

Eglwys Sant Cadfan, Tywyn, Gwynedd

The first of November is, in the Orthodox Church, the feast day of Saint Cadfan, the sixth-century missionary and founder of Ynys Enlli, or Bardsey, the isle of 20,000 saints in the west of Wales. One of Wales’s most celebrated hermits, Saint Cadfan still enjoys a thriving cultus in the Western churches, particularly in the Finistère and Côtes d’Armor départements of Brittany.

Saint Cadfan was a Breton himself, actually. Born to Saint Gwen Teirbron by her short-lived first husband Eneas (according to the Welsh tradition rather than the French one), he established a couple of churches in his homeland, at Poullan-sur-Mer and the Côtes d’Armor. Shortly after this, he left Brittany to preach Christ in Wales, in the company of the nine sons of the Breton prince Ithel Hael who were all his disciples. These were the saints Baglan, Flewyn, Gredifael, Tanwg, Twrog, Tegai, Trillo, Tecwyn and Llechid. Once in Wales he founded monastic churches at Tywyn in Gwynedd – which is still standing and which watches over Saint Cadfan’s holy well – and Llangadfan in Powys. Only after this did Cadfan settle in Ynys Enlli.

Ynys Enlli would become one of the holiest sites in Western Christendom owing to the sincere witness to Christ of Saint Cadfan and his followers. It is not called the ‘Isle of 20,000 Saints’ without cause, for there many holy monks would make their rest. Even Saint Dyfrig and Saint Deiniol would be buried there. In the High Middle Ages it was said that three pilgrimages to Ynys Enlli was equivalent to one pilgrimage to Rome. Many wonders for sick and sorrowing folk were wrought upon Ynys Enlli, over the hallowed relics of the holy monks who lived and died there.

Saint Cadfan ruled his abbatial community on Ynys Enlli for the next twenty-six years. He made his confessions to another holy man living nearby, a certain Saint Hywyn. He made numerous missionary voyages into the Welsh mainland, healing the sick and aiding the poor. He reposed in the Lord in Ynys Enlli on the first of November, sometime late in the sixth century. However, his relics were translated to Llandaff Cathedral some hundred years later. All three major sites which were hallowed to Christ by Saint Cadfan – Tywyn, Ynys Enlli, Llandaff – were the sites of mass pilgrimages in the centuries to come, drawn by their great love of the monastic saint, and by his great love for Christ and for the poor. Holy father Cadfan, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!

Leaving thy native Brittany for the love of Christ, O Father Cadfan,
Thou dost teach us not to love places or things more than Him.
Wherefore, O holy one, intercede for us
That we may be faithful to our calling
And found worthy of great mercy!

Ynys Enlli