Saint Melangell ( la, Monacella) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

who died in 590. Her feast day is celebrated on 27 May. The daughter of an Irish king, she went to

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 ...

in central

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 ...

to become a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

. The prince of Powys,

Brochwel Ysgithrog Brochwel son of Cyngen ( cy, Brochwel ap Cyngen, died c. 560), better known as Brochwel Ysgrithrog, was a king of Powys in eastern Wales. The unusual epithet ''Ysgithrog'' has been translated as "of the canine teeth", "the fanged" or "of the tusk" ...

, granted her land after meeting her on a hunting trip, and she founded a community of women, serving as

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

for 37 years. Her shrine remains at

St Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell St Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell is a small church located on a minor road which joins the B4391 near the village of Llangynog, Powys, Wales. It houses the restored shrine of Saint Melangell, reputed to be the oldest Romanesque shrine in G ...

Legend

The Welsh antiquarian

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...

(1726–1798) related the story of Melangell.

Shrine at St Melangell's Church

Brochwel Ysgithrog, Prince of Powys awarded the valley near Saint Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell to Melangell as a place of sanctuary, where she became

of a small religious community. After her death her memory continued to be honoured at her shrine, and Pennant Melangell has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries. Melangell remains the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

s. Bones said to be those of the saint have been deposited within the shrine.

References

St Melangell's Church & The Saint Melangell Centre

St Melangell's Orthodox Church
* ''

Archaeologia Cambrensis ''Archaeologia Cambrensis'' is a Welsh archaeological and historical scholarly journal published annually by the Cambrian Archaeological Association. It contains historical essays, excavation reports, and book reviews, as well as society notes ...

'', The Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, Vol. III, Sixth Series, London, 1903.
Pennant Melangell

Legend

Shrine at St Melangell's Church

References

Further reading