Illtud (Iltutus)

First abbot and patron of Llantwit Major, or Llanilltud Fawr, whose cult is centred on the south-east of Wales. According to his twelfth-century Latin Life, his pupils included David, Gildas, Samson of Dôl and Paul (Paulus Aurelianus).

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Feast Day: 6 November

6 November is usually accepted as the date of Illtud's death and his feast day, which is the date given in his Latin Life, and other sources. The Missal of Tréguier and the Breviary of Léon (1516) state his feast day as 7 November, although a later Léon Breviary (1736) gives a date of 14 November. 6 November was also observed at Llanellyd in Merioneth according to Browne Willis, although Edward Lhuyd says that it fell on St Stephen's Day, 26 December.

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Texts

The Life of Illtud is found among the Lives collected in the British Library Cotton manuscript Vespasian A.xiv, probably compiled in Monmouth in the twelfth century. It betrays the influence of the earlier Life of Samson, and also the Life of Cadog. An abbreviated version is found among John of Tynemouth's Nova Legenda Anglia. Illtud is also mentioned in the Book of Llandaf, in which he is consecrated abbot of Llantwit by Dyfrig. A poem to Illtud by Lewis Morgannwg includes many details found in the Latin Life.

Images

There are no known medieval images of Illtud in Wales, but a fifteenth-century statue of him is noted by Baring-Gould and Fisher at Loc-Ilut in Brittany. Images of the saint are increasingly found in churches from the end of the nineteenth century, and his importance ensured that this was not limited to the churches that were dedicated to him. In the tracery lights of east windows at Bangor Cathedral and Llantwit Major he is shown in ecclesiastical dress, with a plough. In war memorial windows at Llantwit Fardre and Burry Port he is depicted as a soldier holding a falcon, in reference to his service in the court of Arthur immediately before his adoption of a monastic life. His calling by an angel is depicted in a lively window by Theodore Baily, a monk on Caldey Island in the 1920s, at the priory church on the island, beneath a standing figure of the saint.

Illtud is sometimes shown with the young David, and refers to the tradition in the Life that he taught David at Llantwit Major. At the Church of St Catherine, Pontypridd, Illtud is shown teaching a larger group, with David joined by Cadog, Teilo and Padarn.

View images of Illtud on the Stained Glass in Wales website