Saint Dwynwen of Llanddwyn
The twenty-fifth of January is the feast-day of Saint Dwynwen. In Wales it is kept as a local day for lovers and sweethearts to demonstrate affection for each other. The carving of intricate ‘love spoons’ and the composition of poetry traditionally accompany Saint Dwynwen’s feast in Wales. Saint Dwynwen’s own tale is not particularly romantic after the common conception, but her care and affection for families and non-celibate lovers is clear even in her hagiography.
Saint Dwynwen [also Dwyn, Donwenna, or in Cornish Adwen] is one of the many holy children of Brychan Brycheiniog, born about 485 in Brecknock. Very much like her older half-sister Gwladys, she was remarkably beautiful and desirable to men. Dwynwen was apparently torn for some time during her youth between pursuing an anchoress’s celibate vocation consecrated to God, and pursuing a favoured suitor named Maelon Dafodrill. Maelon made an offer of marriage to her, but this offer was rejected – Brychan Brycheiniog had promised his daughter to another suitor, a neighbouring prince whom she did not love.
Maelon went directly to Dwynwen and asked her to elope with him, and she also refused. He then made plans to do as Gwynllyw did to Gwladys, and bear Dwynwen off by force. Before this happened, an angel came to Dwynwen in a dream and gave her a tisane, which she was to drink before Maelon arrived. As soon as she awoke she drank the concoction, and no sooner had she done so but she felt as if she were cured from a disease. In the same moment, her too-ardent suitor Maelon was frozen solid into a block of ice. When Dwynwen was made aware of what had happened to Maelon, she began to pray to God. She asked of God three things: that Maelon’s life should be spared; that all true-hearted lovers who asked for her prayers be united lawfully, or else freed of their passion; and that she should remain unmarried as long as she lived. As she prayed, God heard her prayer, and Maelon was thawed at once.
Saint Dwynwen left her father’s house in Brycheiniog, and went to Ynys Môn in Gwynedd. Legend has it that she took up an anchorage there, but departed from that island to Ynys Llanddwyn when Maelgwn Gwynedd began pestering her and threatening her honour in a much less gentlemanly way than Maelon had.
Saint Dwynwen lived for sixty years in seclusion on Ynys Llanddwyn, praying unceasingly and keeping strict ascetic discipline in her hermitage. She is supposed to have built an oratory there by her own labours, and brought stones from the mainland – by herself, unaided – for the purpose. Never underestimate a determined Welsh lass! She may have attracted monastic disciples, but there is little archæological evidence to confirm the presence of a cloister. She also made careful study of the properties of local worts and roots and minerals, and used these to create medicines to help and heal the local residents of Gwynedd – a bit like Li Shizhen 李时珍. She also had a fondness for and understanding of domestic animals, and farmers would often take their livestock to her to be cured of the ailments they had. In her presence even the most difficult of beasts of burden would be calm and tame, and submit to her effective remedies. She reposed in the Lord in old age on the twenty-fifth of January, 565.
Saint Dwynwen’s affaire de cœur with Maelon may or may not have a basis in fact. However, she did indeed become a patron for married couples and young sweethearts fairly early on, in much the same way Saint Gwenolau did in Brittany – though Gwenolau was invoked more for the conception of children. Saint Dwynwen’s holy well on Ynys Môn was traditionally said to have a pair of eels in it, who could be asked in an oracular fashion by young maidens whether the fellow who happened to be pursuing her had good intentions or not. The maiden would throw her handkerchief in the well, and the movement of the eels after would determine if their lover was faithful. This practice was sharply and violently discouraged after the Reformation, with the unintended result that Welsh and Cornish women would go to Saint Eilian’s well instead.
At its height, the popularity of Saint Dwynwen’s well among pilgrims rivalled that of the shrine of Dewi Sant and the holy well of Saint Gwenffrewi. In keeping with her veterinary reputation, farmers would also bring their animals to her shrine and ask Saint Dwynwen’s intercessions for them, and her shrine effected wondrous cures this way. Holy mother Dwynwen, patron of all true-hearted lovers, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
As a young Christian girl in Wales,
You renounced earthly marriage
In order to consecrate yourself wholly to the Lord.
Then you retreated to the island of Llanddwyn
Where you lived in solitude with God.
Saint Dwynwen, pray to the Lord to save us!
Ruins of St Dwynwen’s Church, Ynys Llanddwyn
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