
The Saints of Wales
Saints populate the landscape of Wales in place-names, church dedications and holy wells. From St Fagans to Llandudno, St Davids to Pennant Melangell, the names of saints are familiar but are not always recognised. Some, like David and Deiniol, are well known, but many are much more obscure, their traditions forgotten.
This website aims to provide information about some of the saints who were once so important in medieval Wales. Many of the saints venerated in Wales were known from early Christian writings familiar across Christendom, while others may have only been known locally as the founders of churches in particular parts of Wales. Some saints, such as Cybi, Non and Cadog, were known across parts of Wales as well as in Ireland, Cornwall and Brittany. Others, such as Gwenfrewy (Winefride), Dyfrig (Dubricius) and Samson, are known from hagiographic texts – the medieval stories that were written about them centuries after the time when they were thought to have lived – but rarely found in place-names or church dedications.

New editions of medieval poems and texts, many of which have been prepared as the result of two research projects on Welsh and Latin literature relating to saints, provide fresh insights into the understanding of the importance of saints in Wales from the eleventh century and into the early modern period.

Only a small proportion of the imagery of saints survived the iconoclasm of the Reformation and the Civil War. However, modern perceptions of saints are displayed in more recent images of saints, mainly found in churches across Wales. Summaries of the visual representation of saints are given on these pages, with links to a database of the imagery of saints in Wales prepared by Martin Crampin.
The information presented on this website remains a work in progress. Information about other saints, and more details about the saints currently on the site, is being added. We will be providing fuller bibliographies, along with references to saints from a wide range of medieval sources.
Select a saint from the list above, or go to Advanced Search to create maps of the cults of selected saints.
For editions of saints Lives and poetry addressed to saints, and further information about the Cult of Saints in Wales projects, visit saints.wales.