CADFAN (fl. 550?), saint;
according to tradition he was the son of Eneas the Breton and crossed from Brittany to Wales with a party of other monks, many of them his relatives who were intent upon missionary work. He is the patron of Llangadfan in Mont. and is credited with the foundation of the monastic settlement on Bardsey island. But his main achievement was the establishment of the ‘clas’ of Towyn in Mer., which had an abbot as late as 1147 and was served by a group of clerics in 1291. Its wealth and privileges are celebrated about 1240 by Llywelyn Fardd (q.v.) in ‘Canu i Gadfan,’ and it was the mother church of all Meirionnydd south of the Dysynni. The much discussed ‘Stone of S. Cadfan,’ despite its present name, bears no reference to the saint.
Bibliography:
- Br. SS., ii, 1-9;
- Hist. W., 490;
- Inv. Mer., 170-4;
- H.G. (Hendreg. MS.), 42-8.
Author:
Sir John Edward Lloyd, D.Litt., F.B.A., F.S.A. (1861-1947), Bangor
