Saint Beuno ( la, Bonus;Baring-Gould & Fisher, "Lives of the British Saints" (1907), quoted a

Early British Kingdoms website by David Nash Ford, accessed 6 February 2012 640), sometimes

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as Bono, was a 7th-century

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

. Baring-Gould gives St Beuno's date of death as 21 April 640, making that date his traditional feastday. In the current

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

liturgical calendar for Wales, he is commemorated on 20 April, the 21st being designated for Saint Anselm.

Name

His name has been reconstructed as ''*Bou ou'' in

Old Welsh Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...

, with a proposed derivation from the

common Celtic Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

*''Bou gnāw-'', with a meaning related to "Knowing Cattle".

Life

Beuno was said to have been born at

Berriew Berriew ( cy, Aberriw) is a village and community in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. It is on the Montgomeryshire Canal and the Afon Rhiw, near the confluence (Welsh: ''aber'') with the River Severn (Welsh: Afon Hafren) at , 79 miles (128 k ...

Powys Powys (; ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It is named after the Kingdom of Powys which was a Welsh succession of states, successor state, petty kingdom and princi ...

and to have been the grandson of a prince of the local dynasty, which descended from

Vortigern Vortigern (; owl, Guorthigirn, ; cy, Gwrtheyrn; ang, Wyrtgeorn; Old Breton: ''Gurdiern'', ''Gurthiern''; gle, Foirtchern; la, Vortigernus, , , etc.), also spelled Vortiger, Vortigan, Voertigern and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in ...

king of Britain The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

. After education and ordination in the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

at Bangor in northern

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, he became an active missionary with the support of

Cadfan Cadfan or St Cadfan might refer to: * The Battle of Cadfan, fought between English and Welsh armies in 1257 * Cadfan ap Iago, King of Gwynedd (7th century floruit) * John Cadvan Davies (1846–1923), Archdruid of Wales, used the bardic name ''Cad ...

king of Gwynedd Prior to the Conquest of Wales by Edward I, Conquest of Wales, completed in 1282, Wales consisted of a number of independent monarchy, kingdoms, the most important being Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd, Kingdom of Powys, Powys, Deheubarth (originally ...

. Cadfan's son and successor Cadwallon deceived Beuno about some land and, when the saint demanded justice, proved unsympathetic. Thereupon, Cadwallon's cousin Gwyddaint "gave to God and Beuno forever" his land at

Clynnog Fawr Clynnog Fawr, often simply called "Clynnog", is a village and community on the north coast of Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is in the historic county of Caernarfonshire. The community includes Pant Glas. Clynnog Fawr lies on ...

on the

Llŷn peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( cy, Penrhyn Llŷn or , ) extends into the Irish Sea from North West Wales, south west of the Isle of Anglesey. It is part of the historic county of Caernarfonshire, and historic region and local authority area of Gwynedd. Mu ...

. Beuno established his own monastery at the site and died there peacefully "on the seventh day of

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

".Ryan, Patrick W.F. " St. Beuno." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 12 May 2013

Miracles

Beuno was credited with raising seven people from the dead, including his niece, the

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

Winefride Saint Winifred (or Winefride; cy, Gwenffrewi; la, Wenefreda, Winifreda) was a Welsh virgin martyr of the 7th century. Her story was celebrated as early as the 8th century, but became popular in England in the 12th, when her hagiography was fi ...

(Gwenffrewi), and his disciple and cousin,

Aelhaiarn Saint Aelhaiarn or Aelhaearn (Welsh for "Iron Eyebrows";Baring-Gould, Sabine & al''The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain'', Vol. I, pp. 101 ff ...

. He was said to have had a "wondrous vision" prior to his death.

Legacy

Eleven churches bear Saint Beuno's name, including one in his monastery at Clynnog Fawr, and one in Culbone on the Somerset coast. Although his establishment at Clynnog is destroyed, his grave chapel survives. In

Tremeirchion Tremeirchion (previously known as ''Lleweni'') is a small residential community in Denbighshire, Wales. It lies on the B5429 road, to the north east of Denbigh and to the east of St Asaph. The community includes the village of Rhuallt. The tow ...

, near

St Asaph St Asaph (; cy, Llanelwy "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census it had a population of 3,355 ...

, is St Beuno's, a former theological college and now a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

spirituality retreat centre.Beunos.com
retrieved 12 November 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beuno 640 deaths 7th-century Christian saints People from Montgomeryshire Welsh abbots Welsh royalty Medieval Welsh saints Miracle workers Year of birth unknown Roman Catholic monks Welsh Roman Catholic saints

Name

Life

Miracles

Legacy

See also

Further reading

References