Digain (also known as Dygain) was a 5th-century

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

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 ...

and Prince of

Dumnonia Dumnonia is the Latinised name for a Brythonic kingdom that existed in Sub-Roman Britain between the late 4th and late 8th centuries CE in the more westerly parts of present-day South West England. It was centred in the area of modern Devon, ...

(now the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

Life

Digain ap Constantine was said to be the son of

Constantine Corneu Constantine (, , fl. 520–523) was a 6th-century king of Dumnonia in sub-Roman Britain, who was remembered in later British tradition as a legendary King of Britain. The only contemporary information about him comes from Gildas, who castigate ...

, King of Dumnonia, and was born in ''c.''429 He was believed to have had three brothers, Erbin (also sainted), Meirchion and Drustan, and possibly a sister (of unknown name).

Sainthood

Traditionally St Digain founded the church of that name in

Llangernyw Llangernyw () is a rural, mostly Welsh-speaking, village and community in Conwy County Borough, North Wales. Overview At the 2011 census, the community had a population of 1,079 of whom 63.7 percent were Welsh speakers. The comparable figures ...

, meaning "the church of the Cornishman", in the county of

Conwy Conwy (, ), previously known in English as Conway, is a walled market town, community and the administrative centre of Conwy County Borough in North Wales. The walled town and castle stand on the west bank of the River Conwy, facing Deganwy ...

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 ...

. The church was sited next to an already venerable yew, the

Llangernyw yew The Llangernyw Yew () is an ancient yew (''Taxus baccata'') in the village of Llangernyw, Conwy County Borough, Conwy, Wales. The tree is fragmented and its core part has been lost, leaving several enormous offshoots. The girth of the tree at the ...

. His sainthood was due being a

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 ...

, meaning he was of remarkable virtue and confessed of the faith through writings and preachings, and has the feast day of November 21.Bunson, Matthew, Stephen & Margaret. ''Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints'' Our Sunday Visitor 1998 p. 249

References

5th-century births Year of death unknown Medieval Cornish saints 5th-century Christian saints Dumnonia {{UK-saint-stub