Rhystyd was a late 6th-century British saint reputed to be a grandson of Hywel the Great (Hywel fab Emyr Llydaw) and brother to Saint Cristiolus and Saint Silin. The village of

Llanrhystud Llanrhystud () is a seaside village, community (Wales), community and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral division on the A487 road in the county of Ceredigion, in Wales, 9 miles (14 km) south of Aberystwyth, and 7 ...

is named for the parish church which is dedicated to him.

Name

Rhystyd is thought to represent the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Restitutus, a common ecclesicatical name borne by the earliest known Bishop of London who attended the

Council of Arles Arles (ancient Arelate) in the south of Roman Gaul (modern France) hosted several councils or synods referred to as ''Concilium Arelatense'' in the history of the early Christian church. Council of Arles in 314 The first council of Arles"Arles, S ...

in 314. The name also appears as Rhystud. He is sometimes confused with a Saint Rhystyd Hên who was Bishop of Caerleon-on-Usk.

Veneration

His feast is said to have been celebrated on the "Thursday in the Ember Week before Christmas" in the form of a fair. The Ember Week before Christmas traditionally takes place in the 51st week of the year (the penultimate week in non-leap years). An apocryphal poem by the celebrated 14th century Welsh bard

Dafydd ap Gwilym Dafydd ap Gwilym ( 1315/1320 – 1350/1370) is regarded as one of the leading Welsh poets and among the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages. Dafydd’s poetry also offers a unique window into the transcultural movement of cultural pract ...

associates Rhystyd with Saint Dwynwen: A stained-glass window depicting Rhystyd dating to 1965 is located on the eastern wall of the south aisle of St Rhystyd's Church, in Llanrhystud.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhystyd, Saint British saints Welsh saints