# Cenydd

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{{Short description|6th-century Welsh saint}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with the Irish and Scottish [Saint Kenneth](/source/Saint_Kenneth) or Canice}}
{{Infobox saint
|name= Saint Cenydd
|birth_date=
|death_date=6th century
|feast_day= 
|venerated_in= [Orthodox Church](/source/Eastern_Orthodox_Church), [Roman Catholic Church](/source/Roman_Catholic_Church), [Church in Wales](/source/Church_in_Wales)
|image=LLangennith church.JPG 
|imagesize= 250px
|caption=St Cenydd's Church, [Llangennith](/source/Llangennith)
|birth_place= 
|death_place=
|titles= 
|beatified_date=  
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage= [Llangennith](/source/Llangennith)
|major_shrine= [Llangennith](/source/Llangennith) (Wales)<br>[Languidic](/source/Languidic) (Brittany)
|suppressed_date=
|issues= 
}}
'''Saint Cenydd''' (Modern {{langx|cy|Cennydd}}; {{langx|fr|Kinède}}; <small>{{abbr|fl.|Active}}</small>&nbsp;{{circa|lk=no|6th}}&nbsp;century), sometimes [anglicised](/source/anglicisation) as '''Saint Kenneth''', was a [Christian](/source/Celtic_Christianity) [hermit](/source/hermit) on the [Gower Peninsula](/source/Gower_Peninsula) in [Wales](/source/Wales), where he is credited with the foundation of the church at [Llangennith](/source/Llangennith).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LP4UAAAAQAAJ&q=Cenydd&pg=PA78 Holweck, F. G., ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints''. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co. 1924. p. 202]</ref> 

==Legend==
Liturgical calendars and [place-name evidence](/source/toponymy) suggest the historical existence of Cenydd. His [legend](/source/hagiography), however, is too late and too obviously derivative to be relied upon. According to Welsh sources collected in the 15th century by [John Capgrave](/source/John_Capgrave) and published in the ''[Nova Legenda Angliae](/source/Nova_Legenda_Angliae)'', Cenydd was a [Breton](/source/Breton_people) [prince](/source/prince), the son of "King Dihoc" (presumably Deroch II of [Domnonée](/source/Domnon%C3%A9e)) by an allegedly  [incest](/source/incest)uous relationship with his own daughter.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ceU1Wa_2VZIC&dq=Saint+Cenydd&pg=PA203 McAvoy, Liz Herbert. ''Anchoritic Traditions of Medieval Europe'', Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 2010, p. 203] {{ISBN| 9781843835202}}</ref> While the poor girl was pregnant, Deroch was summoned by [King Arthur](/source/King_Arthur) to attend the Christmas festivities being held at his court in Aber Llychwr (Loughor). 

A cripple, Cenydd was placed in a [cradle](/source/Bassinet) made of [osiers](/source/Willow) and cast into the estuary of the [River Loughor](/source/River_Loughor) (a fate that befell several [early British saints](/source/list_of_Welsh_saints)) and eventually landed on [Worm's Head](/source/Worm's_Head). [Seagull](/source/Seagull)s and [angel](/source/angel)s with a [miraculous](/source/miracle) breast-shaped bell ensured that he survived and was educated as a [Christian](/source/Celtic_Christianity).

He became a [hermit](/source/hermit), his only companion being an untrustworthy servant whose dishonesty was revealed when he stole a spear from one of a group of robbers who had been hospitably received by his master. In 545, [Saint David](/source/Saint_David) cured Cenydd while traveling to the [Synod of Brefi](/source/Synod_of_Brefi) but he preferred to remain as he was born and prayed for his infirmity to be restored.

An incised stone monument featuring images apparently of the Cenydd legend was discovered during renovation work at [St Mungo's Church, Dearham](/source/St_Mungo's_Church%2C_Dearham) (Cumbria), in the 1880s and is displayed there as the 'Kenneth Stone'. The Saint's connection with Cumbria is currently unexplained.

According to the unreliable [Iolo Morganwg](/source/Iolo_Morganwg), Cenydd was a son of [Gildas](/source/Gildas) and married and had a son before entering [Llanilltud Fawr](/source/Llantwit_Major) as a [monk](/source/monk) under Saint [Illtud](/source/Illtud). Cenydd's son, Ffili, later a Bishop, was said to be the namesake of [Caerphilly](/source/Caerphilly).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Owen|first=Hywel Wyn|title=The Place-Names of Wales|publisher=University of Wales Press|year=2015|isbn=9781783161645|pages=22}}</ref>

Cenydd is associated with the remains of a Pre-Norman hermitage on [Burry Holms](/source/Burry_Holms), an island at the northern end of Rhossili Bay.<ref>[https://gowerma.org/llangennith-church/ "Burry Holms – Church of St Cenydd", Gower Ministry Area]</ref> In [Brittany](/source/Brittany), he is chiefly associated with [Languidic](/source/Languidic), but there is a chapel (Saint-Quidy) dedicated to him in Ploumelin or, with more modern French spelling, [Plumelin](/source/Plumelin) - not to be confused with [Plomelin](/source/Plomelin) which is also in Brittany.

==Feast day==
Cenydd's [feast day](/source/gwyl_mabsant) is celebrated at Llangennith on 5 July. Up to the early twentieth century the festival was traditionally marked by the displaying of an effigy of a bird from a pole on the church tower, symbolising the legendary birds who cared for the infant Cenydd, and the consumption of whitepot or 'milked meat' a dish made of flour, milk, sugar and dried fruits, not unlike a rice pudding or [bread and butter pudding](/source/bread_and_butter_pudding) (see also [Cuisine of Gower](/source/Cuisine_of_Gower)). The practice has been revived in recent years. [William Worcester](/source/William_Worcester) also records the feast of his translation, apparently to somewhere in [North Wales](/source/North_Wales), on 27 June.

The Church of St Peter and St Cenydd is located in [Senghenydd](/source/Senghenydd). St. Cenydd Community School is in Caerphilly,<ref>[https://www.stcenyddcommunityschool.co.uk/ St. Cenydd Community School]</ref> as is the St Cenydd Leisure Centre.<ref>[https://www.caerphillyleisurelifestyle.co.uk/en/centre/st-cenydd-leisure-centre/ "St Cenydd Leisure Centre", County Borough Council]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Baring-Gould, Sabine & Fisher, John. (1907). ''Lives of the British Saints''. The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion.
*Farmer, David Hugh. (1978). ''The Oxford Dictionary of Saints''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

{{authority control}}

Category:6th-century Christian saints
Category:Medieval Breton saints
Category:Medieval Welsh saints
Category:People from Swansea
Category:6th-century Breton people

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cenydd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenydd) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenydd?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.