Venerable Gwyddfarch, Abbot of Meifod

Saints Gwyddfarch and Tysilio

The third of November is the feast-day of Saint Gwyddfarch of Welshpool and Meifod, the spiritual father of Saint Tysilio. Much of what we know about this saint comes from the tradition of his pupil, whose holy life bears witness to the holiness of his master.

In fact, little is known about the early life of Saint Gwyddfarch. He himself was a pupil of Saint Llywellyn of Welshpool. Llywellyn established a mission caring for the Christian Briton refugees who were fleeing westward from the heathen Angles, Saxons and Jutes who had landed on Great Britain at the invitation of Vortigern. These refugees were largely arriving from Salop (the shire around Shrewsbury), particularly from the town of Wroxeter.

Setting out from Welshpool, Gwyddfarch found a desert place in the northeast of Wales – in Powys. He constructed his cell atop a solitary, high sloping hill overlooking the Afon Efyrnwy (nowadays Llyn Efyrnwy). The hill itself was named for Saint Gwyddfarch – Moel yr Ancr, the ‘Hill of the Anchorite’ – and it was in this cell on the hill that Gwyddfarch lived the rest of his life and reposed in the Lord, and also where Saint Tysilio began his vocation as a monk and hermit himself. Today it is apparently a scenic spot; however, in Gwyddfarch’s own day Moel yr Ancr was a hard, cold, wooded area, and was home to many wolves and other wild beasts.

Saint Gwyddfarch was the one who gave sanctuary and shelter to Saint Tysilio when he came fleeing his father’s wrath; and he was also the one who guided Tysilio on his desired path of becoming a monk. He therefore deserves no small part of the credit for Tysilio’s Christlike gentleness, heroic resolve in the face of temptations, and willingness to go to where folk are in greatest need – even as far afield from his own home as the shores of Brittany. Venerable Gwyddfarch, helper of the bereaved, hermit and teacher of saints, pray to Christ our God for us sinners!