Asaph (Asa)
Photo © Martin Crampin
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https://saints.wales/saint/8 (accessed 21 Nov. 2024)
Feast Day: 1 May
Asaph is thought to have died on 1 May, and this has been his feast day in both Wales and Scotland.More information
Texts
A Life of Asaph was written in the Llyfr Coch Asaph (Red Book of St Asaph), which contained documents dating from around 1220 until the second half of the fourteenth century. The manuscript has been lost and although parts of it survive in later transcriptions, none of them include more than the beginning of the Life, which relates to the founding of the church at Llanelwy (St Asaph) by Kentigern. This material is known from Jocelin's Life of Kentigern, and consequently the text tells us little of Asaph.Partially surviving Life of Asaph probably dating to the thirteenth century. The original manuscript was lost and only the beginning of the Life has survived in transcription.
Places
A cluster of place names, wells and three church dedications to Asaph occur in north-east Wales on both sides of the Flintshire/Denbighshire border. The cathedral city of St Asaph takes its name from the saint, although the dedication of the cathedral, the parish church in the city, and the church at Llanasa, are all joint dedications to Asaph and Cyndeyrn (Kentigern). A western outlier of the sites associated with Asaph is the well at Eglwysbach, on the eastern side of the lower Conwy Valley. | Church Dedication |  | Well |  | Placename |  | Landscape feature |  | Modern |  | Text |
Further reading
S. Baring-Gould and John Fisher The Lives of the British Saints (London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1907), 177–85 View online
S. Baring-Gould and John Fisher The Lives of the British Saints (London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1913), 373 View online
David Farmer The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 28
Martin Crampin Welsh Saints from Welsh Churches (Talybont: Y Lolfa, 2023), 130–3
K.M. Evans A Book of Welsh Saints (Penarth: Church in Wales Publications, 1967), 63–4
David E. Thornton 'Asaf (supp. fl. 6th cent.)' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) View online
John Reuben Davies Steve Boardman John Reuben Davies Eila Williamson (ed.) 'Bishop Kentigern among the Britons' in Saints' Cults in the Celtic World (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2009), 83–7
J.R. Davies P. Dalton C. Insley L. Wilkinson (ed.) 'Cathedrals and the Cult of Saints in Eleventh-and twelfth-Century Wales' in Communities and Conflict in the Anglo-Norman World (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2011), 109–11 View online
S.M. Harris 'Liturgical commemorations of Welsh saints (II) St. Asaf' in Journal of the Historical Society of the Church in Wales (1956)
Saints in Scottish Place-Names (2013), saint.h?id=656 View online
Images
A medieval image of the saint is found in the east window of the Church of St Tyrnog, Llandyrnog. All other depictions of the saint date from the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the earliest of which is a small figure in the tracery of the east window of Bangor Cathedral (1873).The majority of these images can be found in the diocese of St Asaph in north-east Wales, although the saint is often used to represent the diocese in windows further afield, such as at Grangetown, Pembroke and Oystermouth. In some cases Asaph is supplanted by Kentigern, in recognition of his status as the original founder of the church and monstery at Llanelwy (St Asaph), before passing on the bishopric to his pupil Asaph.
The story of Asaph bringing burning coals to Kentigern in his cloak is shown in windows at St Asaph Cathedral and at the Church of St Peter, Machynlleth, and sometimes Asaph is depicted holding the burning coals or fire. Scenes depicting the appointment of Asaph as successor can be found on the reredos of the Church of St Paul, Colwyn Bay, and in the west window at Christ Church, Ebbw Vale.
View images of Asaph on the Stained Glass in Wales website
