Gwen Teirbron (French: Blanche; Latin: Alba Trimammis or Candida; possibly English: Wite) was a

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

holy woman and wife of Fragan who supposedly lived in the 5th or 6th century. Her epithet is

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 ...

for '(of the) three breasts'.

Veneration

Popular devotion interpreted Gwen's unusual physical and spiritual fecundity by God's gift to her of a third breast. Her iconography followed suit. Gwen is invoked for women's fertility. She is commemorated on 3 October in the Catholic Church (although this has been transferred from Saint Candidus of Rome), and on 18 July ( NS) by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Australia.Canberra Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church (Abroad).
Brief Lives of Saints
2007.

Possible identification

She is interpreted by Dyfed Lloyd Evans as having been a

euhemerized Euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exagge ...

mother goddess A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility goddess, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or th ...

Children

Winwaloe Saint Winwaloe ( br, Gwenole; french: Guénolé; la, Winwallus or ; – 3 March 532) was the founder and first abbot of Landévennec Abbey (literally " Lann of Venec"), also known as the Monastery of Winwaloe. It was just south of Brest in Britt ...

, son of Prince Fragan (or Fracan) and TeirbronButler, Alban.
The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints
', volume 1, p. 275 (Henry & Co. 1857).Baring-Gould, Sabine and Fisher, John.
The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain
', Volume 3, p. 38 (1911). *

Jacut Jacut was a 5th-century Cornish Saint who worked in Brittany. He is commemorated liturgically on 6 February. His father was Fragan, a prince of Dumnonia, and his mother Gwen Teirbron. The young family had fled to Brittany to avoid the plague rag ...

(or James), son of Prince Fragan and Teirbron *

Wethenoc Wethenoc or Gwethenoc or Guethenoc was a 5th-century Breton saint.Baring-Gould, Sabine and Fisher, John. The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain', volume 3, p. 38 (1911) ...

(or Gwethenoc or Guethenoc), son of Prince Fragan and Teirbron *

Creirwy Creirwy () is a figure in the ''Mabinogion'' and the ''Hanes Taliesin'' (the story of Taliesin's life), daughter of the enchantress Ceridwen and Tegid Foel ("Tacitus the Bald"). The Welsh Triads name her one of the three most beautiful maids of the ...

(or Creirvy), daughter of Prince Fragan and Teirbron *

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 ...

, son of Eneas Ledewig (or Aeneas of Brittany) and TeirbronBaring-Gould, Sabine and Fisher, John.
The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain
', Volume 2, p. 9 (C. J. Clark, 1908).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwen Teirbron Southwestern Brythonic saints Welsh mythology 6th-century Christian saints Medieval Breton saints Female saints of medieval Wales