[MR] BBC & Wikipedia: Welsh “Valentines” Day

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble friends,

Today, 25 January, is the feast day of the Welsh saint, Dwynwen. As a
patroness of lovers, she gives Saint Valentine a run for his money (so to
speak, as we will see).

Saint Dwynwen is believed to have lived in the 5th century, and like most
such saints, was of royal (or at least noble) descent. In Dwynwen, she was
one of 36 daughters of an apparently very busy Irish king. She fell for a
Welsh prince named Maelon Dyfodrull. Her father didn't care  for Maelon,
and forbade their union. Maelon, feeling spurned tried to rape Dwynwen.
That was too much, and she prayed to God for protection. Maelon's ardor was
cooled in a most extreme fashion by his being turned into a block of ice.
God (or an angel) then gave Dwynwen three wishes. Her first wish was to be
rid of Maelon forever, and poof!, he promptly vanished. In a more benign
telling she wished for him to be freed from his icy fate and sent away a
wiser man. She then wished that God would watch over all true lovers. Her
final wish was to remain a virgin forever. Dwynwen then retired to a
convent on the Welsh island of Angelesey.

So Dwynwen has been invoked by the Welsh lovelorn ever since. In recent
years her feast day has been promoted as a Welsh alternative for Saint
Valentine's day, complete with Welsh-language greeting cards on sale in
shops.

Saint Dwynwen's *vita* shares some features with another Welsh virgin, the
7th century Saint Winifred. She had dedicated herself to the church but was
pursued by a frustrated would-be lover, Prince Caradog. When she refused
his advances, Caradog drew a sword and cut off her head. Her uncle, a holy
man named Beuno, chanced upon the scene. Beuno cursed Caradog, who sank
into the earth. He put Winifred's head back in place and successfully
prayed for her restoration.  A healing spring bubbled up from where her
blood had fallen, which became a place of pilgrimage in the
appropriately-named town of Holywell. The shire is still there, and still
an active pilgrimage site.

Dwynwen and Winifred were lucky to survive their ordeals. The early church
is littered with virgin female saints who were martyred for their faith,
among them Cecilia, Barbara, Sidwell, Kalliopi, and numerous others.

The BBC story about Dwynwen is at
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwnnwx4dk8o .
More about the saint is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwynwen .

Wikipedia offers a page on Winefred at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Winifred . The shire has an extensive
web site of its own: https://www.stwinefridesshrine.org/ .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.