Saint Beuno (;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 or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as Bono, was a 7th-century Welsh

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

confessor In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecut ...

, and

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

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

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

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

Saint Anselm Anselm of Canterbury OSB (; 1033/4–1109), also known as (, ) after his birthplace and () after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine monk, abbot, philosopher, and theologian of the Catholic Church, who served as Archbishop of Canterb ...

Name

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

Old Welsh Old Welsh () 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 around 550, ha ...

, with a proposed derivation from the

common Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. ...

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

Life

Beuno was said to have been born at

Berriew Berriew () is a village and Community (Wales), 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 language, Welsh: Hafren, Afon Hafr ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

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

Vortigern Vortigern (; , ; ; ; Old Breton: ''Gurdiern'', ''Gurthiern''; ; , , , etc.), also spelled Vortiger, Vortigan, Voertigern and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Sub-Roman Britain, Britain, known perhaps as a king of the Britons or at least ...

king of Britain There have been 13 British monarchs since the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland on 1 May 1707. England and Scotland had been in personal union since 24 March 1603; while the style, "King of Great Britain" fi ...

. After education and ordination in the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

at Bangor in northern

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

, he became an active missionary with the support of Cadfan,

king of Gwynedd This is a list of the rulers of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Many of them were also acclaimed "King of the Britons" or "Prince of Wales". List of kings or princes of Gwynedd House of Cunedda * Cunedda (Cunedda the Imperator) (c. 450 – c. 46 ...

. 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 on the

Llŷn peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...

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

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

".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 a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

Winefride (Gwenffrewi), and his disciple and cousin,

Aelhaiarn Saint Aelhaiarn or Aelhaearn (Welsh language, Welsh for "Iron Brow";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. ...

. 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 (Wales), 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 ...

, near

St Asaph St Asaph (; "church on the Elwy") is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and community (Wales), community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population ...

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

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

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 Christian miracle workers Year of birth unknown Roman Catholic monks Welsh Roman Catholic saints 7th-century Christian abbots

Name

Life

Miracles

Legacy

See also

Further reading

References