Anglesey, or the Isle of Anglesey (the Welsh name—Ynys
Mon), is an island (and a county) off the northwest coast of Wales, which is
separated from it by the Menai Straits. The first Christian hermits appeared
here in the fifth century. Orthodox Christianity flourished here for several
centuries till the ninth century Viking raids, and many holy men and women
lived and prayed here; this is evidenced by numerous surviving early churches,
monastic ruins, holy wells, ancient crosses and hermits’ cells on the island.
St. Seiriol, a Welsh hermit and son of a king, lived
in the sixth century. Researchers suppose that he may have been born in 494.
The saint for a long time lived as a hermit on Anglesey, where his little
“beehive” cell and holy well still exist. According to tradition, he was a
close friend of another Welsh ascetic, St. Cybi, and the saintly friends used
to walk round the island together in silent prayer. There are extant medieval
stories relating miracles, performed by the men of God Seiriol and Cybi, who
lived in east and west Anglesey respectively. Both of them are venerated as the
patron-saints of Anglesey and it was said that “their prayers wholly protected
the island.”
Seiriol’s disciples built a monastery near a place
called Penmon on the south-eastern tip of Anglesey and Seiriol became its first
abbot. Later Penmon was to become one of major insular monastic centers in
Wales; it was dedicated to St. Seiriol and Orthodox ascetic life flourished
here until the tenth century. The monastery had a wooden church. Unfortunately,
the Vikings plundered the monastery in 971.
Notably, two tenth century Celtic crosses, erected at
the monastery gates before the Vikings’ arrival, as well as the font dating to
the same period, not only survived the pirates’ invasion but have been
preserved to this day. In about 1123 the old wooden church at Penmon was
rebuilt in stone, and in the following thirteenth century a large Augustinian
Catholic abbey was founded here. Augustinians liked restoring ancient shrines,
so they preserved here what could be preserved from the Celtic period.
That abbey was dissolved in 1538 during the
Reformation, but many of its buildings, or their ruins, still more or less
survive. The oldest part of the present church dates from 1140, and pilgrims
can see the monks’ dormitory, the monastery refectory and the prior’s house
here. The holy well of Penmon which was used by St. Seiriol and his monks as
early as the sixth century for drinking water and for baptisms, still gives
water here today. Today Penmon is a small village and there are reports of
healing miracles from its water.
Like many saints in the Celtic lands, St. Seiriol may
have travelled extensively by sea, founding chapels and building cells in
hermitages. By the end of his life the saint retired to the tiny island of
Ynys-Seiriol (‘Seiriol’s island’) just off Anglesey, where he lived as a hermit
and built a small monastery. Later the isle was renamed Priestholm (‘priest’s
island’), but the modern name is Puffin Island. St. Seiriol probably reposed on
this island; it is now uninhabited but the early ruins of a once prosperous
monastery, founded by Seiriol, probably as a dependency of Penmon, can still be
seen here together with an ancient tower.
St. Seiriol is one of a great multitude of island
saints who led a solitary life in tiny hermits’ cells on small isles off the
coasts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Later monasteries appeared on the sites
of their hermitages. There are many other surviving shrines throughout
Anglesey, closely connected with numerous saints and hermits, who lived here in
the golden age of “the Thebaid of Welsh Saints”. Another equally important
island centre of Christianity in Wales was Bardsey. Both Penmon and Puffin
Island (still unofficially known as Ynys Seiriol) have a church dedicated to
St. Seiriol.
St. Cybi (also spelled Cuby; fifth-sixth centuries) is
along with St. Seiriol one of the most venerated saints in Anglesey. During his
life he was a pilgrim, for a short time a king, a priest, an abbot, a bishop, a
hermit and a preacher. Unfortunately, very few details of his life survive and
two late medieval lives of this saint are not reliable.
St. Cybi may have been a son of the Cornish king
Solomon (Selyf). Most likely in his youth Cybi himself was king of Cornwall for
some time. He was raised in the Christian faith and, according to legend, at a
very young age made pilgrimages to the Holy Land and Rome. St. Cybi was
ordained priest and with time was consecrated bishop. He travelled very
extensively in his native Cornwall, preaching Christianity and building
numerous churches. This saint is still particularly loved and venerated as
patron-saint of the Cornish settlements Cuby, Tregony, Landulph, Duloe, and
Kenwyn—churches in all of them have been dedicated to him from time
immemorial.
Nevertheless, his main activities were undertaken in
Wales, where he moved after some time. First Cybi settled in South Wales where
he founded many churches. The most important of them were churches in Llangybi
(“Church of Cybi”) and Llanddyfrwyr in Monmouthshire. He is the patron-saint of
these places to this day. The saint may briefly have visited Ireland where he
preached and built a church. He returned to Wales and moved to the very north,
choosing what is now the small village of Llangybi on Llyn peninsula
(south-west of Anglesey) as the centre of his ministry. The Llyn peninsula is
washed by the Irish Sea and occupies part of the present-day county of Gwynedd.
The local ruler gave the ancient Roman fort of Holyhead to the saint. This fort
had been abandoned by the Romans late in the fourth century and subsequently it
became known as Caer Gybi (“Cybi’s fortress”); it was located on the isle later
called Ynys-Gybi (“Cybi’s island”); its second and common name is Holy Island.
This islet was situated near the celebrated monastic island of Anglesey (now it
is attached to the main island). On this islet St. Cybi founded his most
important monastery and became its abbot.
St. Cybi was a close friend and co-faster of St.
Seiriol, who founded the monastery on Anglesey. Cybi often retired to Anglesey
for a quiet prayer, and it was said that both saints used to walk round the
island in silence and contemplation. Interestingly, as Cybi walked over the
island towards Seiriol, the sun shone in his face so that it soon became
swarthy, and the local people nicknamed him “Cybi the tanned.” According to
tradition, Cybi took part in the Council of Brefi in about 545, when St. David
was elected Archbishop of the Welsh Church. St. Cybi reposed in the Lord
between 550 and 555. He was buried inside a chapel near Holyhead monastery on
Holy Island.
Pious Christians in both Wales and Cornwall honour the
holy memory of St. Cybi to this day. In Llangybi village of Gwynedd, where he
lived for some time, there is the holy well of St. Cybi, dating back to this
time, and there is also a partly surviving “beehive” cell nearby, which
belonged to him. Due to its curative properties this well is still visited by
pilgrims and its water used for baptisms. From past times there exists a
tradition that if an eel coils round the legs of a pilgrim, it means the healing
will soon follow. Its water cures eye diseases, lameness, warts, scrofula, and
rheumatism. According to an old popular belief (which is alive today), if a
young lady throws her handkerchief into this well and it drifts to the south,
it means that her young man has a serious intention of marrying her, but if it
drifts to the north he will betray her trust. The well is situated in a
beautiful area near the forest and the river.
Besides Llangybi on the Llyn peninsula there are two
more settlements with the same name in Wales. One of them is a village in
county Ceredigion. Local Christians pray at the Church of St. Cybi. This county
also has a holy well dedicated to him. In Monmouthshire on the river Usk
between the towns of Caerleon and Usk there is another village called Llangybi:
the ancient local church is dedicated to the saint and it is believed that it
was he who founded the first church here.
Many miracles are associated with St. Cybi. For
example, when Cybi with his ten companions sailed from Cornwall, crossed the
Bristol Channel and set foot on the Welsh shore, the missionaries were met by
the local ruler in a very unfriendly manner—he simply wanted to drive them
away. But as soon as the hostile king approached the monks, his horse suddenly
fell dead and he himself was stricken with blindness as well as all his
companions. Filled with remorse, the ruler fell on his knees before Cybi,
asking his forgiveness and in an instant was healed together with his
courtiers. The horse stood up safe and sound as well. In reward for the miracle
the king gave lands to Cybi to found two churches: in Llangybi and possibly in
the neighbouring village of Llandegveth. The St. Cybi’s Church in Llangybi is
considered by many researches to be “one of the most interesting and remarkable
churches situated in the Usk valley.” Its tower, chancel and nave go back to
the thirteenth century, and it contains late medieval paintings.
However, the main centre for Cybi’s veneration is,
beyond doubt, Holyhead—the chief town on Holy Island. Holyhead Monastery is
unique, as it was built by Cybi within an ancient Roman fort. Truly it is a
rare case when an ancient Christian monastery is erected inside an abandoned
Roman fortress with three walls (the sea served as the fourth wall). There are
only a few such examples in Europe. The ancient former abbey church, dedicated
to St. Cybi, survives in Holyhead and is still visited by many pilgrims. There
is a chapel near the church probably with the saint’s grave below it. This site
is one of the rarest not only in Wales but in the whole of Europe. In addition
to Holy Island-Ynys Gybi, there is also one more tiny isle with the same name,
just off the Dyfed coast of Wales.
A number of churches in Cornwall are dedicated to St.
Cybi, for example: the Church of Sts. Cybi and Leonard in Duloe, dating from
the early middle ages, with a holy well; St. Cybi’s Church in the village of
Cuby (named after him) whose south aisle contains a sixth century inscribed
stone; the church in Kenwyn, a suburb of Truro, the county town of Cornwall, of
which St. Cybi was formerly the patron-saint but whose patroness is now St.
Keyne (feast: October 8/21).
Like many Celtic saints, St. Cybi was close to wild
animals. Once while hunting, the king of Gwynedd was chasing a she-goat with
his hounds. Escaping them, the goat ran up to St. Cybi’s hermitage hut. The
enraged king ordered the hermit to give him the goat—otherwise he would be
driven out of the kingdom. The saint answered humbly that to drive him away was
not in the king’s power, but in God’s power alone, and suggested he devote this
goat to the Lord. Ashamed, the king agreed, and it was decided that the land
that the goat was to walk around would be allotted to found a monastery by St.
Cybi. The goat walked round quite a large area and by the evening returned to
its master’s dwelling. The king kept his promise and the monastery was built
there.
Holy Fathers Seiriol and Cybi, pray to God for us!
Dmitry
Lapa
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