{{Short description|6th-century Welsh saint}} {{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix = Saint | name = Afan of Builth | birth_date = 5th or 6th century | death_date = 6th century | feast_day = {{nowrap|16 or 17 November (lapsed)}} | venerated_in = | image = File:St Afan's Church, Llanafan-Fawr - geograph.org.uk - 1468440.jpg | imagesize = 300px | caption = St Afan's Church in Llanafan Fawr | birth_place = | death_place = Llanafan Fawr | titles = Bishop | canonized_date = Pre-Congregation | attributes = |patronage = Llanafan Fawr<br/>Llanafan | major_shrine = Llanafan Fawr<br/>Llanafan | suppressed_date = | issues = }}
'''Afan of Builth''' ({{langx|cy|Sant Afan Buellt}}; {{langx|la|Avanus}}) was an early 6th-century Welsh bishop, martyr, and saint. His feast day is generally placed on 17 November, although the Demetian Calendar formerly used in southern Wales placed it on the 16th;<ref name=sabi/> it is no longer observed by either the Anglican<ref>The Church in Wales. "[http://cinw.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/english.pdf The Book of Common Prayer for Use in the Church in Wales: The New Calendar and the Collects] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215000631/http://cinw.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/english.pdf |date=2014-12-15 }}". 2003. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.</ref> or Catholic church in Wales.<ref>The Catholic Church in England and Wales. "[http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Calendar/2015/Nov.shtml Liturgy Office: November 2015]". Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, 2014. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.</ref>
==Name== Afan as a man's name in Wales is probably a loan from the Latin ''Amandus''.<ref name=sabi/> In Welsh, he is sometimes known as ''{{lang|cy|Esgob Afan}}'' ("Bishop Afan") from his title and as ''{{lang|cy|Afan Buellt}}'' or ''{{lang|cy|Buallt}}'' from his diocese around Builth in Brycheiniog.<ref name=sabi/>
==Life== Afan was the son of Cedig ap Ceredig, son of Cunedda Wledig, king of Gwynedd.<ref>Rees, Rice. [https://archive.org/details/anessayonwelshs00reesgoog ''An Essay on the Welsh Saints Or the Primitive Christians, Usually Considered to Have Been the Founders of the Churches in Wales'', p. 208]. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, 1836.</ref>{{refn|He is sometimes also erroneously given as a son of Ceredig himself.<ref name=sabi/>}} Through this line, he was a cousin of David, patron saint of Wales. Afan's mother is variously given as Dwywai,<ref>Bromwich, Rachel (ed.) ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain'', {{nowrap|pp. 506 f}}. University Of Wales Press, 2006. {{ISBN|0-7083-1386-8}}.</ref> Degfed ("Tenth"),<ref>Wade-Evans, A. W. ''Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae: The Lives and Genealogies of the Welsh Saints''. 1944.</ref> Tegfedd, or Tegwedd,<ref name=sabi>{{cite book | last =Baring-Gould | first =Sabine | authorlink =Sabine Baring-Gould| title =The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish Saints as have Dedications in Britain | publisher =Charles J. Clark, for the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion | year =1907 | location =London | pages =[https://archive.org/details/livesbritishsai00fishgoog/page/n145 114]–115 | url =https://archive.org/details/livesbritishsai00fishgoog}}</ref> all said to have been daughters of Tegid the Bald, a lord of Penllyn in Meirionnydd who was the husband of the sorceress Ceridwen in Welsh legend.
Afan was the founder of a Llanafan in Ceredigion and two others (Llanafan Fawr and Llanafan Fechan) in Brecknockshire. He is recorded as a bishop, although his diocese remains unknown.<ref name=sabi/> He may have been the third bishop of Llanbadarn in Ceredigion,<ref name=sabi/><ref>Enwogion Cymru 1852: 29</ref> bishop over Builth with his seat at Llanafan Fawr,<ref name=sabi/><ref name="cathon">{{cite web | title =St. Afan | work =Saints and Angels | publisher =Catholic Online | url =http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1149 | accessdate =2007-12-30}}</ref> or held the title without any purview beyond his own parish.<ref name=sabi/> His death was credited to martyrdom at the hand of Irish or Danish pirates on the banks of the River Chwefru.<ref name=sabi/> He was claimed as an ancestor of the 10th-century bishop Ieuan who was also martyred by Viking marauders.<ref name="patron">{{cite web | last = Jones | first = Terry | title = Afan | work = Patron Saints Index | url = http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintaay.htm | access-date = 2007-12-30 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080101133247/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintaay.htm | archive-date = 2008-01-01 | df = }}</ref>
==Miracles== [[File:Llanfechan Church - geograph.org.uk - 230355.jpg|thumb|left|300px|St Afan's Church at Llanfechan.]] A miracle recounted by Gerald of Wales claimed that the Anglo-Norman lord Philip de Braose was struck blind and saw his hunting dogs go mad when he disrespectfully used {{nowrap|St Afan's}} church in Brecknockshire as a makeshift hostel one night.{{refn|"At this point I must tell you what happened, in the reign of Henry I, King of the English, to the castellan of Radnor castle, in the territory of Builth, which is not far away, being adjacent to his own lands, which he himself conquered. He had gone into the church of Saint Afan, called Llanafan in Welsh, and there he had spent the night with his dogs, which was a foolish and irreverent thing to do. He got up at first light, as hunters are wont to do, but he found that all his dogs had gone mad and that he himself was blind. He had lost his sight completely and he had to grope his way out with his hand..."<ref name="description"/>}} He was told that his vision would only return if he resolved to leave his estates and fight in the Crusades. Some say his sight was restored upon his pledge<ref name="patron"/> but Gerald records that he traveled to the Holy Land and fought blind, where he was "immediately struck down by a blow from a sword and so ended his life with honour".<ref name="description">{{cite book | last =Gerald of Wales | title =The Journey Through Wales and the Description of Wales | publisher =Penguin Classics | year =1978 | pages =78–79 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=puyem4d6wJ8C&pg=PA77| isbn = 0-14-044339-8}}</ref> [[File:Eglwys Y Plwyf Llanafan y Trawsgoed.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Capel Afan in Ceredigion.]]
==Legacy== Afan was said to have founded the parish of Llanafan in Ceredigion (now Llanafan y Trawsgoed), whose present church serves as the chapel for the village of Llanafan and the nearby Trawsgoed Estate. Its grounds house the family crypt of the earls of Lisburne.
Two churches were dedicated to him in the deanery of Builth: Llanafan Fawr ("Great Llanafan") and Llanafan Fechan or Fach ("Lesser Llanafan"), which eventually became known as Llanfechan.<ref name=sabi/> His relics are claimed by Llanafan Fawr, which served as a pilgrimage site during the Middle Ages. Afan's grave in the churchyard there is inscribed {{sc|hic iacet sanctus avanus episcopus}} ("Here lies Saint Avan, bishop") in deeply cut, slightly ornamented Lombardic script. The present tomb, however, is not older than the late 13th century.<ref name=sabi/>
Browne Willis also considered the "Saint Afran" honored at Llantrisant on Anglesey to be a corruption of Afan.<ref name=sabi/>
==See also== * List of Welsh saints
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Robert |year=1852 |title=Enwogion Cymru: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen, from the Earliest Times to the Present, and Including Every Name Connected with the Ancient History of Wales|publisher=Oxford University |location=England |ref=Enwogion Cymru}}
==External links== * [http://www.castlewales.com/llanafan_fawr.html Llanafan Fawr] at Castles of Wales, including photographs of Afan's tomb
{{Subject bar |portal1=Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= Wales}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:AFAN}} Category:6th-century Welsh bishops Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown Category:Medieval Welsh saints Category:Welsh folklore Category:Ceredigion