{{Short description|Welsh priest in the 6th and 7th centuries}} {{for2|the martial arts rank of Nidan|Dan (rank)#Ranks in Japanese|the 2000 Indian film|Nidaan}} {{good article}} {{Infobox saint | name = Nidan | birth_date = 6th century | death_date = 7th century (possibly 610) | venerated_in = Church in Wales, Roman Catholic Church<ref name=Abbey/> | major_shrine = Relics reputedly at St Nidan's Church, Llanidan | feast_day = 30 September (Wales)<br />3 November (Scotland) | patronage = In Wales: two churches in Anglesey<br />In Scotland: one church in Aberdeenshire }}
'''Nidan''' (sometimes known as '''Midan''' or '''Idan''') was a Welsh priest and, according to some sources, a bishop, in the 6th and 7th centuries. He is now commemorated as a saint. He was the confessor for the monastery headed by St Seiriol at Penmon, and established a church at what is now known as Llanidan, which are both places on the Welsh island of Anglesey. He is the patron saint of two churches in Anglesey: St Nidan's Church, Llanidan, built in the 19th century, and its medieval predecessor, the Old Church of St Nidan, Llanidan. Midmar Old Kirk in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is also dedicated to him: Nidan is said to have helped to establish Christianity in that area as a companion of St Kentigern. St Nidan's, Llanidan, has a reliquary dating from the 14th or 16th century, which is said to house his relics.
==Life== Little is known in detail about Nidan's life, and his year and place of birth are unknown. He is sometimes referred to as "Midan" or "Idan".<ref name=Abbey/><ref name="British saints"/> According to manuscript sources, such as Peniarth MS 45 (which has been dated to the 14th century)<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/c25/c25-225-250.pdf|quote=NLW MS Peniarth 45 [was] dated by J. Gwenogvryn Evans to the thirteenth century. Daniel Huws would date the manuscript a quarter of a century later and to the fourteenth.|last=Owen|first=Morfydd E.|title=Welsh Triads: An Overview|journal=Celtica|publisher=Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies|volume=25|page=225|access-date=2 June 2010|archive-date=24 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090424045902/http://www.celt.dias.ie/publications/celtica/c25/c25-225-250.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> in the National Library of Wales, he was the son of Gwrfyw ab Pasgen ab Urien Rheged.<ref name="British saints">{{cite book|title= The lives of the British saints; the saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish saints as have dedications in Britain|year=1907|volume=4|url= https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092447816#page/n21/mode/2up|last=Baring-Gould|first=Sabine|author-link=Sabine Baring-Gould|publisher=Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion|author2=Fisher, John |pages=14–16}}</ref> He was a descendant of Urien Rheged, as was Saint Grwst of Llanrwst, a town on the north Wales mainland in present-day Conwy County Borough.<ref name=Rheged>{{cite book|title= The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion: Session 1903–1904|url= https://archive.org/details/transactions01cymmuoft|publisher= Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion|year=1905|location=London|chapter=Prolegomena to the Study of Old Welsh Poetry|last=Anwyl|first=E.|page=[https://archive.org/details/transactions01cymmuoft/page/76 76]}}</ref> Urien was a "celebrated warrior" from the late 5th century, whose deeds were commemorated by the Welsh poet Taliesin.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Archaeological Journal|year=1869|volume=XXVI|publisher=Royal Archaeological Institute|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologicalj02unkngoog|title=Alabaster reliquary found in Caldey Island, Pembrokeshire, with notices of an object of the like description existing in Anglesey|pages=219|last=Way|first=Albert}}</ref>
Nidan was associated with St Seiriol's monastery at Penmon, on the eastern tip of Anglesey in north Wales, and was the monastery's confessor.<ref name="British saints"/> He is also referred to as a bishop in one source.<ref name="Scottish saints">{{cite book| title=A calendar of Scottish saints|page=[https://archive.org/details/acalendarofscott00barruoft/page/n163 158]| last=Barrett| first=Michael| url=https://archive.org/details/acalendarofscott00barruoft |year=1919|location=Fort Augustus|publisher=Abbey Press}}</ref> He founded a church in what is now known as Llanidan, also on Anglesey, near to the Menai Straits. According to tradition, this was established in 616.<ref name=Gwynedd/> He is reported to have lived at Cadair Idan, near the church, and a well about {{convert|200|yd|m}} away from the church is reputed to be his holy well.<ref name="British saints"/>
Nidan is said to have been one of the 665 monks who travelled with St Kentigern, also known as St Mungo, and reputed to be a cousin of his, from Llanelwy, north Wales, to Scotland. Together with another of Kentigern's companions, Finan or Ffinan, they are said to have established Christianity in Midmar, in what is now Aberdeenshire, in the 7th century. A church in Midmar was dedicated to Nidan.<ref name="British saints"/><ref name=Aberdeen>{{cite web| url=http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology/projects/MidMarrLeaflet.pdf| title=Aberdeenshire's Historic Kirkyards: Midmar Old Kirk| access-date=1 June 2010| publisher=Aberdeenshire Council| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302153939/http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology/projects/MidMarrLeaflet.pdf| archive-date=2 March 2012}}</ref> However, the existence of a link between Nidan and Kentigern has been doubted, with one author saying that "the whole idea that these people [i.e. Nidan and Ffinan] had any connection with Kentigern is without any real foundation."<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBE8AAAAIAAJ&dq=saint+nidan&pg=PA317|title=Studies in the Early British Church|page=317|chapter=The sources for the life of St Kentigern|first=Kenneth H.|last=Jackson|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1958|access-date=1 June 2010}}</ref>
According to some sources, he died in about 610, which would be inconsistent with the reported foundation date for the church at Llanidan of 616.<ref name=Abbey>{{cite book|quote=Midan (Nidan) (St) Sept 30 d. c.610. A saint of Anglesey who flourished early in the seventh century.|page=401|title=The book of saints|author=St. Augustine's Abbey (Ramsgate, England)|publisher=Cassell|year=1994|edition=6th}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=96u9tHR9-TQC&dq=nidan+610&pg=PA214|title=Dictionary of Patron Saints' Names|last=Sheehan|first=Thomas W.|publisher=Our Sunday Visitor Publishing|year=2001|isbn=978-0-87973-539-5|page=214|access-date=1 June 2010}}</ref>
==Commemoration== [[File:Brynsiencyn Church.jpg|thumb|St Nidan's Church, Llanidan]] The Old Church of St Nidan, Llanidan, was in use until the middle of the 19th century when it was replaced by St Nidan's Church, Llanidan, nearer to the village of Brynsiencyn. This was for two reasons: the old church needed repair, and also because the population of Brynsiencyn needed a church. The old church was then partially demolished.<ref name=Gwynedd>{{cite book|title=The Buildings of Wales: Gwynedd|page=190|chapter=Anglesey|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-300-14169-6|last=Haslam|first=Richard|author2=Orbach, Julian |author3=Voelcker, Adam }}</ref><ref name=Lewis>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47853#s13|title=A Topographical Dictionary of Wales|last=Lewis|first=Samuel|author-link=Samuel Lewis (publisher)|year=1849|access-date=1 June 2010|publisher=British History Online}}</ref> The new church contains a sandstone reliquary, about {{convert|26|in|cm}} long, which is said to contain Nidan's relics.<ref name=List>{{cite web|url=http://jura.rcahms.gov.uk/cadw/cadw_eng.php?id=5539|title=Church of St Nidan (new church)|author=Cadw|author-link=Cadw|publisher=Historic Wales|date=2009|access-date=27 September 2011|quote=Reliquary chest, moved from the old church, of sandstone, with coped lid and moulded mullions. Now with glass front, locally reputed to hold the relics of St. Nidan.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331012139/http://jura.rcahms.gov.uk/cadw/cadw_eng.php?id=5539|archive-date=31 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=journal>{{cite journal|journal=The Archaeological Journal|year=1869|volume=XXVI|publisher=Royal Archaeological Institute|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologicalj02unkngoog|title=Alabaster reliquary found in Caldey Island, Pembrokeshire, with notices of an object of the like description existing in Anglesey|pages=215–216|last=Way|first=Albert}}</ref> The reliquary's date is uncertain: it has been described as being "probably" from the 14th century,<ref name="British saints"/> but also, in a more recent description, as "probably 16th century".<ref name=Gwynedd/> It was found buried under the altar of the old church in 1700.<ref name="British saints"/>
His feast day in the Welsh calendar of saints is 30 September; in the Scottish calendar of saints, it is 3 November.<ref name="British saints"/><ref name=Rees>{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/anessayonwelshs00reesgoog |title= An Essay on the Welsh Saints |chapter=Section XIII: The Welsh Saints from A.D.600 to the Death of Cadwallon A.D.634|page=[https://archive.org/details/anessayonwelshs00reesgoog/page/n314 295] |year=1836 |last=Rees|first=Rice|author-link=Rice Rees|location=London|publisher= Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman }}</ref> Nidan was venerated as a saint, although he was never canonized by a pope: as the historian Jane Cartwright notes, "In Wales sanctity was locally conferred and none of the medieval Welsh saints appears to have been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church".<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Medium Aevum |title=Dead virgins: feminine sanctity in medieval Wales|date=Spring 2002|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6408/is_1_71/ai_n28930393/?tag=content;col1|access-date=26 August 2011|last=Cartwright|first=Jane|publisher=The Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature}}</ref> {{clear}}
==See also== Other Anglesey saints commemorated at local churches include: * Caffo at St Caffo's Church, Llangaffo * Cwyllog at St Cwyllog's Church, Llangwyllog * Eleth at St Eleth's Church, Amlwch * Iestyn at St Iestyn's Church, Llaniestyn * Peulan at St Peulan's Church, Llanbeulan * Tyfrydog at St Tyfrydog's Church, Llandyfrydog
==References== {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nidan}} Category:6th-century Christian saints Category:7th-century Christian saints Category:Medieval Welsh saints Category:7th-century deaths Category:Year of birth unknown