Saints Cybi Felyn and Seiriol Gwyn
The first of February, in addition to being the feast of Saint Brigid of Ireland, is also the feast of Saint Seiriol ‘the Fair’ of Penmon in northern Wales. Saint Seiriol is one of the great anchorites of Ynys Môn, and famous for his holy friendship with Saint Cybi.
Saint Seiriol was born in 494, the third of four sons of Owain Ddantgwyn (‘White-Tooth’), King of Rhos. His eldest brother Cynlas Goch (‘the Red’) inherited the kingdom of Rhos, while his second brother Einion became king of Llŷn and invited Saint Cadfan to Wales, though he later became a hermit himself and retired to Ynys Enlli. His youngest brother, Meirion, also became a hermit.
Saint Seiriol retired early from the world, having decided instead to follow Christ into the desert. His brother Einion, who was ruling Llŷn, granted to Seiriol a dwelling on the southeastern tip of the island of Ynys Môn. Here Saint Seiriol lived solitary for many years, in a small cell, with water being drawn from his well nearby. Seiriol drew disciples to himself as he continued his struggle against the passions, and they founded – with the connivance and support if not the active participation of Cynlas and Einion – a monastic priory with a wooden church around his cell, and named him abbot. Though the entire project of the monastery was against Seiriol’s will, he being content with his eremitical life, still he did not refuse the disciples who came to him.
Penmon Priory, Anglesey, Wales
Ynys Môn is shaped somewhat like a diamond or a rhombus; and Saint Seiriol Gwyn’s refuge at Penmon is all but exactly on the eastern ‘point’ of that diamond, overlooking Carreg Edwen in the eastern Irish Sea. On the far opposite side of the holy isle, at the western ‘point’, is Holyhead on Holyhead Bay. This was the chosen haven and anchorage of Saint Cybi Felyn (‘the Tawny’), after his many wanderings about Wales and Ireland. Their nicknames derive from their friendship and the placement of their cells on the island, in the following way. Saint Seiriol and Saint Cybi became fast friends, and desired to meet with each other, break bread and share the Gifts, and pray silently or speak with each other about holy things on a regular basis. Because one hermit lived in the west of Ynys Môn, and the other in the east, the two of them decided to meet in the middle at Clorach Wells.
The two saints would set out from their hermitages in the morning, Cybi going eastward and Seiriol going westward. Cybi’s face was toward the sun, and Seiriol’s face was turned away. They met at Clorach Wells and spent the middle of the day there, and then they departed homeward each to his respective cell in the afternoon – Cybi going west, and Seiriol going east. Once again: Cybi’s face was toward the sun, and Seiriol’s face was turned away. They spent many years doing this, and the habit became so regular that Cybi’s face became sunburnt, while Seiriol’s got little to no sun. Thus Saint Cybi earned his nickname ‘the Tawny’, and Saint Seiriol ‘the Fair’.
Saint Seiriol was probably an experienced seafarer by coracle, and was involved in founding monasteries on islands around the Irish Sea. By the end of his life, he had retired to Ynys Seiriol (Puffin Island) just off the coast from Penmon, where he had founded a daughter monastery to that at Penmon. This is where he reposed in peace, probably in the latter half of the sixth century. Churches in Penmon and on Puffin Island are dedicated to Saint Seiriol’s memory. The priory church is still active and the holy well still draws pilgrims. Puffin Island has been designated as a site of special scientific interest by the British government, and is a wildlife preserve home to ten rare species of seabird. Venerable Seiriol, holy eremite and builder of churches, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!
Puffin Island, Anglesey, Wales
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