| Non | |
|---|---|
St Non portrayed in stained glass in St Non's Chapel |
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| Born | 5th century probably Pembrokeshire |
| Died | 6th century Brittany or Cornwall |
| Honored in | Anglican Communion; Roman Catholic Church |
| Major shrine | Dirinon, Finistère |
| Feast | 3 March |
Non (also Nonna or Nonnita) was, according to Christian tradition, the mother of Saint David (Dewi Sant), the patron saint of Wales.
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Her legend states that she was seduced by a chieftain named Xantus,[1] Sant or Sanctus and gave birth to David. Variations on her story state that she was either married to Sant before David's birth or after the birth of the saint. By tradition, she brought the boy up at Llanon (the village being named after her). Subsequently, she would travel to Cornwall and ultimately end her days in a Breton convent.[2]
Rhigyfarch, the late eleventh-century author of David's vita, wrote that the saint was the son of sanctus rex ceredigionis, where Sanctus has been interpreted as a proper name and its owner honoured by Welsh Christians as Sandde, King of Ceredigion. However, the Latin can also mean "holy king of Ceredigion". David was conceived through violence and his mother, Non, the daughter of the nobleman Cynyr of Caer Goch (in Pembrokeshire), gave birth to him on a cliff top in the middle of a violent storm. The pain of birth was said to have been so intense that Non's fingers left marks as she grasped a rock and, as David was born, a bolt of lightning is said to have split the rock in two. It is also believed that the two split pieces of rock were the foundation stones for St. David's Cathedral and St Non's Chapel.[3]
The place where she gave birth to Saint David in South Wales is now named Capel Non.[3] and is marked by the Chapel of St Non. Non's relics were initially venerated at Altarnun in Cornwall. However, these were destroyed during the Reformation.[4] She is also the patron of Pelynt in Cornwall where there is St Nonna's Holy Well.
St Non church of Llanerch Aeron parish, near Aberaeron