Morwenna is the
eponymous patron saint of
Morwenstow
Morwenstow ( kw, Logmorwenna) is a civil parish in north Cornwall, UK. The parish abuts the west coast, about six miles (10 km) north of Bude and within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Morwenstow is the most norther ...
, a
civil parish and village in
north Cornwall
North Cornwall ( kw, An Tiredh Uhel) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is also the name of a former local government district, which was administered from Bodmin and Wadebridge . Other towns in the area are Launceston, Bude, P ...
, UK. Her name is thought to be
cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...
with
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 ...
''
morwyn'' "maiden", although the first name is also used in
Brittany and said to be composed of "Mor" and "Gwenn", meaning "White sea" in Breton.
Life
Morwenna first appears in a 12th-century
life of
Saint Nectan that lists her alongside
Endelient
Saint Endelienta (also Endelient, Edellienta or Endellion) was a Cornish people, Cornish saint of the 5th and 6th century. She is believed to be a daughter of the Welsh King Brychan, and a native of South Wales who travelled to North Cornwall to ...
,
Mabyn
Mabyn, also known as Mabena, Mabon, etc., was a medieval Cornish saint. According to local Cornish tradition she was one of the many children of Brychan, king of Brycheiniog in Wales in the 5th century. The village and civil parish of St Mabyn ...
and
Menfre
Menefrida is the 5th-century Cornish saint associated with the parish of St Minver, near the Camel estuary in Cornwall, England. Alternative spellings of her name include Menefreda, Menwreda, Menfre, Mynfreda and Minefreda. At the time of King ...
(among many others) as a daughter of the Welsh king
Brychan.
Orme, Nicholas
Nicholas Orme (born 1942) is a British historian specialising in the Middle Ages and Tudor period, focusing on the history of children, and ecclesiastical history, with a particular interest in South West England.
Orme is an Emeritus Professor ...
(2000). , Oxford University Press, p. 196.
She was trained in Ireland before crossing over to Cornwall. Morwenna made her home in a little hermitage at Hennacliff (the Raven's Crag), afterwards called Morwenstow (meaning "Morwenna's
holy-place"). It stands near the top of a high cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where the sea is almost constantly stormy, and from where, in certain atmospheric conditions, the coast of Wales can be seen. She built a church there, for the local people, with her own hands. It is said that she carried the stone on her head from beneath the cliff and where she once stopped for a rest, a spring gushed forth to the west of the church.
["St. Morwenna of Morwenstow, Cornwall", Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church]
/ref>
Early in the sixth century, while she lay dying, her brother, St. Nectan, came to see her, and she asked him to raise her up so that she might look once more on her native shore. She was buried at the church in Morwenstow.[
A painting was later found on the north wall of the Morwenstow church, thought to represent St. Morwenna. It shows a gaunt female clasping a scroll to her breast with her left hand; the right arm is raised in blessing over a kneeling monk.][
A ]local saint
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...
, she is depicted in a stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
window of the parish church, St Morwenna and St John the Baptist's ( Saint John was added as a dedication when the church was given to St John the Baptist's hospital in Bridgwater
Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...
).
Morwenna of Morwenstow is commonly misidentified with "Marwenne" of Marhamchurch and the patron of Lamorran
Lamorran is a village southeast of Truro in Cornwall, England (). Lamorran lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
Lamorran church was built in the mid-13th century and has never been enlarged. It was dedicated (to S ...
, a saint "Moren".
Morwenna's Well
According to Nicholas Orme
Nicholas Orme (born 1942) is a British historian specialising in the Middle Ages and Tudor period, focusing on the history of children, and ecclesiastical history, with a particular interest in South West England.
Orme is an Emeritus Professor ...
, a well in the parish (at ) is nowadays associated with her;
/ref>
References
See also
*Christianity in Cornwall
Christianity in Cornwall began in the 4th or 5th century AD when Western Christianity was introduced as in the rest of Roman Britain. Over time it became the official religion, superseding previous Celtic and Roman practices. Early Christianit ...
{{Authority control
Children of Brychan
Medieval Cornish saints
Female saints of medieval Wales
Holy wells in Cornwall
6th-century deaths
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown