CYNGAR , saint (fl. 6th cent.).
Two ‘Vitae S. Cungari’ are known to modern biographers. The oldest, recently discovered in fragmentary form at Wells, Somerset, was composed probably in the 12th cent.; the second is a fuller but later version added to the 1516 printed edition of John of Teignmouth's ‘Vitae SS.’ They relate that, after founding Congresbury in Som., S. Cungar crossed to Glamorgan and landed on the banks of the river Thaw. In Glamorgan he established two monasteries at places not exactly located, and came into contact with a king Poulentus and a prince named Pebiau. According to the ‘Life’ of S. Cybi (q.v.), which states that that saint and S. Cungar were kinsmen, S. Cungar accompanied S. Cybi first to Ireland and then to Anglesey. A Cyngar is the patron saint of Llangefni in Anglesey and of Hope in Flints. The second ‘Vita S. Cungari’ identifies the saint with S. Doccuinus, but this statement is of doubtful authority. Cyngar is also honoured in Somerset, Cornwall, and Brittany. The festival of Cyngar is variously given as 7 and 27 Nov., perhaps as the result of confusion between more than one saint bearing the same name.
Bibliography:
- Br. SS., ii, 248-53;
- Horstman (ed.), Nova Legenda Anglie, i, 248-54;
- Jnl. Theol. Stud., xx, 97-108, xxiii, 15-22;
- Anal. Boll., xlii, 100-20;
- Antiquity, 1945, 32-43, 85-95.
Author:
Hywel David Emanuel, M.A., (1921-70), Aberystwyth
