Saint Dyfan is a highly obscure figure who was presumably the namesake of

Merthyr Dyfan Merthyr Dyfan or Dyfan is a northeastern suburb of Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, in south Wales, formerly an independent medieval village. It is also an ecclesiastical parish and a formal electoral ward of the Vale of Glamorgan. It borders Col ...

(" martyrium of Dyfan") and therefore an early

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

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

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

in southeastern

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 ...

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Sub-Roman Britain Sub-Roman Britain, also called post-Roman Britain or Dark Age Britain, is the period of late antiquity in Great Britain between the end of Roman rule and the founding of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. The term was originally used to describe archae ...

.Bartrum, Peter C
"Dyfan, St.", in ''A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A. D. 1000'', p. 236.
National Library of Wales, 1993. Emended 2009. He is sometimes styled the protomartyr of Wales. The erection of his martyrium was credited to the 6th-century St Teilo. In the 19th century, Edward Williams conflated him with St Deruvian, a figure in the legendary accounts of the baptism of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Lucius of

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

. The discovery of Williams's alterations and forgeries have since discredited this connection.Bartrum, Peter C
"Duvianus (1)", in ''A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A. D. 1000'', p. 236.
National Library of Wales, 1993. Emended 2009. Partially based on this connection, however, the church of Merthyr Dyfan dates his martyrdom to . His

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

does not appear in any medieval Welsh

calendar of the saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

and is not presently observed by the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, or Orthodox churches in

Legacy

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

is now dedicated jointly to SS Dyfan and Teilo. As late as 2010, it continued to promote itself as the oldest Christian settlement in Wales on the basis of Dyfan's supposed connection to the King Lucius legends. There is a Llandyfan ("St Dyfan's") outside

Ammanford Ammanford ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census the community had a population of 5,445, and the wider built up area had a population of 8,285. Ammanford is se ...

notable for its importance in the early Welsh Nonconformist movement.Norman, Terry
"Llandyfan Church"
Accessed 3 February 2015. The only structure is a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

erected for visitors to the

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...

nearby esteemed for treatment of

paralysis Paralysis (: paralyses; also known as plegia) is a loss of Motor skill, motor function in one or more Skeletal muscle, muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory d ...

and related illnesses. This was known as Ffynnon Gwyddfaen or Gwyddfân and Roberts argues against its connection with Dyfan "because the place was always called Llandyfân with the accent on the last syllable", appearing in earlier records as Llanduvaen. Instead, he notes the similarity of the name with Dyfnan, a supposed son of the invading Irishman

Brychan Brychan ap Anlach of Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, alternatively Breconshire) in Mid Wales. Name variations Brychan had Irish ancestry and came from Ireland to Wales, therefore his original name ...

Brycheiniog Brycheiniog was an independent kingdom in South Wales in the Early Middle Ages. It often acted as a buffer state between England to the east and the south Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth to the west. It was conquered and pacified by the Normans ...

. The

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

of St Dyfan does not appear in any surviving medieval Welsh

,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. II, pp. 394–395.
Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (London), 1911. It sometimes appears in places where St Deruvian is clearly intended; in

Willis Willis may refer to: Places United States * Willis, Florida, an unincorporated community * Willis, Kansas, a city * Willis, Michigan, an unincorporated community * Willis, Nebraska, an unincorporated community * Willis, Oklahoma, an unincorporat ...

,Willis, Browne. ''Parochiale Anglicanum'' (1733), p. 199. it appears on St Doewan's Day, an apparent confusion of the two. The feast is not currently unobserved by any of the major denominations of Wales.The Church in Wales.
The Book of Common Prayer for Use in the Church in Wales: The New Calendar and the Collects
". 2003. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.The Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Liturgy Office: Liturgical Calendar
. Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, 2014. Accessed 1 February 2015."Saints of the British Isles"
Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain (London), 2015. Accessed 1 February 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DYFAN Welsh Roman Catholic saints

Legacy

See also

References