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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 vil ...
, having come to Wales early in the Age of the Saints
Representing 43.6% of the Welsh population in 2021, Christianity is the largest religion in Wales. Wales has a strong tradition of nonconformism, particularly Methodism.
From 1534 until 1920 the established church was the Church of England, but t ...
.
Early life
It is believed that Twrog was the son ofIthel Hael
Ithel Hael ("Ithel the Generous") or Ithel Hael o Lydaw was a prince of Armorica
In ancient times, Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; ; ) was a region of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, and much of h ...
o Lydaw of Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
. 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 centu ...
of Llandanwg
Llandanwg () is a village in the Llanfair community of the Ardudwy area of Gwynedd, Wales. Situated on the coast, it has a railway station and a Grade II listed medieval church.
The village
Llandanwg is situated to the west of the A496 coasta ...
, 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 t ...
of Llandecwyn
Llandecwyn () is a hamlet near Penrhyndeudraeth in Gwynedd, Wales.
The bulk of the population (between 40 and 50 houses) is now located around Cilfor close to the A496 road and served by Llandecwyn railway station, with a cluster of under ten ho ...
, 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 Ha ...
of Llandegai
Llandygai (, ; ; also Llandegai) is a small village and community on the A5 road between Bangor and Talybont in Gwynedd, Wales. It affords a view of the nearby Carneddau mountain range. The population of the community taken at the 2011 Cen ...
and Saint Baglan
Saint Baglan was a 6th-century hermit who lived at Baglan in Wales.
Life
Baglan is said, on doubtful evidence, to have been a Breton prince, the son of Ithel Hael. He studied at Saint Illtud's monastic school at Llanilltud Fawr (Llantwit Majo ...
of Llanfaglan
Llanfaglan is a parish in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It lay in the medieval cwmwd of Is Gwyrfai.
Llanfaglan is a medieval parish bordering with the parish of Llanbeblig, Caernarfon, on the shore of the Menai Strait and Traeth y Foryd.
It is in ...
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 ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...
( St Twrog's Church, Bodwrog), Llandwrog
Llandwrog (; ) is a village and community (Wales), community in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, most notable for the presence of the headquarters of Welsh record label Sain (record label), Sain and the site of Caernarfon Airport. It has a population ...
near Caernarfon
Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...
, 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 River Wye, Wye and River Severn, Severn, where the Severn Bridge ends and the smaller seco ...
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 thewattle
Wattle or wattles may refer to:
Plants
*''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australian English
**''Acacia''
***Black wattle, common name for several species of acacia
***Golden wattle, ''A ...
that he would have needed to build his cell. Outside the church near to the belfry
The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...
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 of Moelwyn crushing a pagan
Paganism (, 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 Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
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
In the book of Welsh mythology, the Mabinogion
The ''Mabinogion'' () is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created –1410, as well as a few earlier frag ...
, 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