Kentigern (Cyndeyrn)


Unidentified Saint, late fifteenth century, Church of St Mary, Beaumaris
The cult of Kentigern, known in Wales as Cyndeyrn, or as Mungo in Scotland, appears to have been promoted in the twelfth century with the foundation and expansion of the diocese of Glasgow, for which Kentigern was the patron. The death of an individual called Kentigern is recorded in the Annales Cambriae and the two figures had become conflated by the twelfth century. The Cyndeyrn that gave his name to Llangyndeyrn in Carmarthenshire is probably an independent tradition. The late twelfth-century Life of Kentigern bu Jocelin of Furness has the saint visit David at St Davids, found a monastery at Nantcarfan, and a further monastery at Llanelwy. Once recalled to the north of Britain, Kentigern passes over jurisdiction of Llanelwy to Asaph, from whom the diocese now takes its name.

Feast Day: 13 January



More information

Texts

The Latin Life of Kentigern was written by Jocelin of Furness in the last quarter of the twelfth century. Other fragmentary Lives survive and Jocelin's Life was abbreviated in the surviving portion of the Latin Life of Asaph, relating his coming to Wales and to David at Menevia (St Davids), and the foundation of his monastery at Llanelwy (St Asaph).

Vita S. 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.

Achau'r Sant

Genealogical text listing the names of many saints, found in five copies dating from the 1520s and into the early eighteenth century.

Bonedd y Saint

Genealogical text listing the names of many saints, originally compiled in the twelfth century. Additions and alterations occur in later versions, which continued to be made into the eighteenth century.

Places

The only place-name containing the name of the saint is at Llangyndeyrn in Carmarthenshire. As this is some distance away from any of the places associated with Kentigern from the twelfth-century onwards, it may represent an independent tradition. The other churches dedicated to him are all joint dedications with Asaph, or Asa: the parish church and the cathedral at St Asaph, and Llanasa.

  Church
Dedication		  Well   Placename Landscape
feature		 Modern Text

1. St Asaph Cathedral, St Asaph , Denbighshire (Dedication) Details
2. Church of St Asaph and St Cyndeyrn, Llanasa , Flintshire (Dedication) Details
3. Church of St Asaph and St Cyndeyrn, St Asaph , Denbighshire (Dedication) Details
4. Church of St Cyndeyrn, Llangyndeyrn , Carmarthenshire (Dedication) Details


Online sources

Further reading

David Farmer, , The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 253–4

Barry J. Lewis, , Bonedd y Saint: An Edition and Study of the Genealogies of the Welsh Saints (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2023), 179, 180–5

K.M. Evans, , A Book of Welsh Saints (Penarth: Church in Wales Publications, 1967), 63–4

John Reuben Davies, , Steve Boardman, John Reuben Davies and Eila Williamson (ed.), 'Bishop Kentigern among the Britons' in Saints' Cults in the Celtic World (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2009)

Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson, , Nora K. Chadwick (ed.), 'The Sources for the Life of St Kentigern' in Studies in the Early British Church (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958)

J.R. Davies, , P. Dalton, C. Insley and 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

Images

Standing figures of the saint are found in churches across the diocese of St Asaph, and he is sometimes depicted as representative of the diocese in other parts of Wales, such as in the west window of the Church of St David, Neath. The story of Asaph bringing live coals to his master is depicted in windows in St Asaph Cathedral and at the Church of St Peter, Machynlleth, and 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.