Saint Afan

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Afan
Bishop
Died Late 6th century, Llanafan Fawr, Wales
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church
Anglican Communion
Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast 16 November[1]
Saints Portal

Saint Afan (also spelled "Avan") was a Welsh bishop and saint of the 6th century.

Little has been documented about Afan, and even less is strictly reliable; all that is certain is that he was a bishop in the area of Brecknock in Wales.[2]

Contents

[edit] Hagiography

Although most sources express uncertainty when dealing with biographical facts about Afan, S. Baring-Gould in The Lives of the British Saints (1907) states without doubt that he was the son of Cedig ab Ceredig ab Cunedda Wledig, and that his mother was a Saint Tegfedd or Tegwedd, the daughter of Tegid the Bald, Lord of Penllyn in Merionethshire, and that he lived in the early part of the 6th century.[3] Afan is given the epithet Buellt, or Buallt, indicating a connection with a cantref of that name in Brecknockshire.[3] Avan as a man's name is probably a loan from the Latin Amandus; it also occurs as a river name.[3]

Baring-Gould continues to recount a tradition that Afan was murdered by Irish pirates (or by Danes) on the banks of the River Chwefri, and that the tomb at Llanafan Fawr marks the site of his martyrdom. A source is quoted saying that "it is not improbable that he was the third Bishop of Llanbadarn; and his churches are situated in the district which may be assigned to that Diocese."[3]

[edit] Veneration

Two churches in the deanery of Builth were dedicated to him, Llanafan Fawr and Llanafan Fechan, and another in the deanery of Llanbadarn Fawr in Cardiganshire, called Llanafan-y-Trawsgoed. Some suppose that there was once a See of Llanafan Fawr and that Afan was its bishop, though this is improbable; the supposition arises from the inscription on Saint Afan's grave at Llanafan Fawr, which reads HIC IACET SANCTUS AVANUS EPISCOPUS ("Here lies Saint Avan, Bishop").[3] The letters are deeply cut in Lombardic script, slightly ornamented, and on the top-stone of a plain oblong altar tomb in the churchyard. The tomb is not older than the end of the 13th or the 14th century.[3]

The Demetian Calendar gives Saint Afan's festival as November 16, but other calendars, including the Welsh Prymers of 1618 and 1633 give the 17th.[3]

[edit] Legend

Although little else is known about the life of Saint Afan, various writers have tried to construct a back story for him, most listing him as a descendant of the 3rd century British King Cynedda Wledig, others as a cousin of David of Wales, and some even as a relation of a 10th-century bishop, Jeuan, who was killed by Viking invaders.[1] The church dedicated to him was once apparently a site of pilgrimages, and site of at least one miracle: the English Philip de Braose was hunting nearby and decided that the church was a suitable place for him and his dogs to spend the night. When he woke at sunrise, his dogs had gone mad and he was blind; his sight was only restored when he resolved to fight in the Crusades.[1]

The same story is told in Description of Wales (1188):

At this point I must tell you what happened, in the reign of Henry I, King of the English, to the castellan of Radnor castle, in the territory of Builth, which is not far away, being adjacent to his own lands, which he himself conquered. He had gone into the church of Saint Afan, called Llanafan in Welsh, and there he had spent the night with his dogs, which was a foolish and irreverent thing to do. He got up at first light, as hunters are wont to do, but he found that all his dogs had gone mad and that he himself was blind. He had lost his sight completely and he had to grope his way out with his hand...

—Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales and the Description of Wales [4]

The narrative goes on to say that the nobleman never regained his sight, but fought in the Crusades blind, whereupon he was "immediately struck down by a blow from a sword and so ended his life with honour."[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Jones, Terry. Afan. Patron Saints Index. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  2. ^ St. Afan. Saints and Angels. Catholic Online. Retrieved on 2007-12-30.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Baring-Gould, Sabine (1907). The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish Saints as have Dedications in Britain. London: Charles J. Clark, for the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 114-115. 
  4. ^ a b Gerald of Wales (1978). The Journey Through Wales and the Description of Wales. Penguin Classics, 78-79. ISBN 0140443398. 

[edit] External links

  • Castle Wales - contains information about Llanafan Fawr, including a brief biography of Afan, and a picture of his tomb