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Saint Twrog - feast day 26 June - was a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded the church at
Saint Twrog - feast day 26 June - was a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded the church at Maentwrog
Maentwrog () is a village and community in the Welsh county of Merionethshire (now part of Gwynedd), lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog just below Blaenau Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. The River Dwyryd runs alongside the v ...
, having come to Wales early in the Age of the Saints.
Early life
It is believed that Twrog was the son ofIthel Hael
Ithel Hael or Ithel Hael o Lydaw was a prince of Armorica
Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; br, Arvorig, ) is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, extending in ...
o Lydaw of Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
. He was also the brother of Saint Tanwg
Saint Tanwg is the patron saint of Llandanwg, Gwynedd, Wales. He is presumed to be the founder of St Tanwg's Church, the small church at Llandanwg near Harlech, although the presence of an inscribed stone which has been dated to the 5th centur ...
of Llandanwg
Llandanwg () is a village in the Ardudwy area of Gwynedd, in Llanfair community Wales. It is situated on the coast, has a railway station, and a medieval church in the sand dunes behind the beach which is a Grade II listed building.
The villa ...
, Saint Tecwyn
Saint Tecwyn is the patron saint and founder of Llandecwyn in the Welsh county of Gwynedd.
Tecwyn (sometimes transliterated as Tegwyn - feminine version Tegwen; and sometimes anglicised as Teckwyn) was a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded th ...
of Llandecwyn, Saint Tegai
Saint Tegai (sometimes spelt Tygai) is the patron saint and founder of Llandygai in the Welsh county of Gwynedd.
According to Enwogion Cymru, Tegai was a saint who lived in the early part of the sixth century He was one of the sons of Ithel Hae ...
of Llandegai and Saint Baglan of Llanfaglan and Baglan.
He was a member of the college of Bardsey which was founded as a monastery in 516 AD.
Dedications
There are three other dedications to Saint Twrog: Bodwrog inAnglesey
Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...
(St Twrog's Church, Bodwrog
St Twrog's Church is a small rural church at Bodwrog in Anglesey, North Wales. Built in the late 15th century in a medieval style, some alterations have been made but much of the original structure still remains. It has two 15th-century doorway ...
), Llandwrog near Caernarfon
Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor ...
, and the ruin on Chapel Rock near Beachley
Beachley is a village in Gloucestershire, England, near the border with Monmouthshire, Wales. It is located on a peninsula at the confluence of the rivers Wye and Severn, where the Severn Bridge ends and the smaller secondary bridge over the Ri ...
by the Severn Road Bridge.
Maen Twrog
When Twrog first arrived in the village now called Maentwrog, the valley was very marshy, which provided him with the wattle that he would have needed to build his cell. Outside the church near to the belfry door is a large stone known as the Maen Twrog (maen being the Welsh for stone). Twrog is reputed to have thrown the stone from the top ofMoelwyn
The Moelwynion (a Welsh plural, sometimes anglicised to Moelwyns) are a group of mountains in central Snowdonia. They extend from the north-east of Porthmadog to Moel Siabod, the highest of the group. The name derives from the names of two of ...
crushing a pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in pagan ...
in the valley below. It is said that his handprints can still be seen in the stone. The parish of Maentwrog gets its name from this stone''The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales, Cornwall and Irish Saints By S. Baring-Gould, John Fisher, Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion'' (London, England) Edition: illustrated Published by Kessinger Publishing, 2005, . URL: https://books.google.com/books?id=0jLjYgygkB0C
In the book of Welsh mythology, the Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () are the earliest Welsh prose stories, and belong to the Matter of Britain. The stories were compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, creat ...
, a hero Pryderi
Pryderi fab Pwyll is a prominent figure in Welsh mythology, the son of Pwyll and Rhiannon, and king of Dyfed after his father's death. He is the only character to appear in all Four Branches of the Mabinogi, although the size of his role varies ...
was killed at the Glaslyn river and is buried in Maentwrog. The boulder supposedly hurled by the saint is the one said to mark Pryderi's grave.
References