Venerable Tudwal of Tréguier, Abbot of Val Trechor

Saint Tudwal of Tréguier

One of the seven great saints of Brittany, today in the Orthodox Church we commemorate Saint Tudwal. Either the nephew or the son of Hywel Mawr, Saint Tudwal spent some time as a hermit living in Wales before ultimately settling in Brittany, where he evangelised throughout the peninsula.

Tudwal was born probably around the turn of the sixth century, but the date is not certain. According to the Welsh tradition, his parents sent him to be educated as a youth at Llanilltud Fawr by Saint Illtud alongside his brother Leonor. He married a girl named Nefydd, and they had two children together – Ifor and Cynfor. An island off of Gwynedd is named after Saint Tudwal, and this island also contains a priory bearing his name; it is very likely that he spent some time here after retiring from the world.

Tudwal was told in an angelic vision to go to Brittany to preach, and so he gathered several of his family members and several other monks – a total of seventy-two people – boarded a ship and sailed with them to Léon. When Tudwal and his disciples landed at Ploumoguer, they saw to their bewilderment that the ship and all its crew had vanished. By this they were made aware that they had been transported to Brittany by bodiless powers and servants of God.

Tudwal applied twice to the lords of Léon for land, and he was given his grant both times. The first was for a small plot of land for an anchorite’s lodging at Pabu. This lodging was soon overfull with Tudwal’s prospective disciples, and he went back to petition for a larger grant. This one was given at Tréguier, where the famous cathedral now bearing his name stands. It is said that to found his monastery of Val Trechor there, he had to slay a great monstrous serpent, though it is likely that he removed one of the dolmens there that was carved in the shape of a serpent – still no small feat. The monastery flourished and became one of the great centres of scholarship and missionary activity in Brittany; the town of Tréguier itself arose around the monastery.

At one time the locals wished to name Tudwal bishop. This caused the Welsh holy man to flee Tréguier for Angers, where he sought refuge with Saint Aubin. However, he was soon found out despite Aubin’s best attempts to hide him. Childebert King of the Franks personally intervened, made him a bishop and sent him back to Tréguier, where he spent the rest of his life. He reposed in the Lord on the thirtieth of November, 564. Saint Tudwal’s relics were split between Laval and Tréguier, where his arm-bone (which miraculously survived the French Revolution) still resides. Holy abbot and bishop Tudwal, pray unto Christ our God for our salvation!

Cathédrale Saint-Tugdual de Tréguier, France