Saint Beuno (;[Baring-Gould &
Fisher, "Lives of the British Saints" (1907), quoted at St. Beuno Gasulsych, Early British Kingdoms website by David Nash Ford, accessed 6 February 2012] 640), sometimes anglicized as Bono, was a 7th-century Welsh people abbot, confessor, and saint. Baring-Gould gives St Beuno's date of death as 21 April 640,[ National Calendar for Wales, accessed 6 February 2012] he is commemorated on 20 April, the 21st being designated for Saint Anselm.[Miller, Arthur (1885). "" In Dictionary of National Biography. 4. London. p 444.]
Name
His name has been reconstructed as
*Bougnou in
Old Welsh, with a proposed derivation from the
common Celtic *
Bouo-gnāw-, with a meaning related to "Knowing Cattle".
[Koch, John T. (ed.), Celtic Culture, ABC-CLIO, 2006, p. 206.]
Life
Beuno was said to have been born at
Berriew in Powys and to have been the grandson of a prince of the local dynasty, which descended from
Vortigern, king of Britain. After education and ordination in the monastery at
Bangor-on-Dee in northern
Wales, he became an active missionary with the support of Cadfan, king of Gwynedd. Cadfan's son and successor Cadwallon deceived Beuno about some land and, when the saint demanded justice, proved unsympathetic. Thereupon, Cadwallon's cousin Gwyddaint "gave to God and Beuno forever" his land at
Clynnog Fawr on the Llŷn peninsula. Beuno established his own monastery at the site and died there peacefully "on the seventh day of
Easter".
[Ryan, Patrick W.F. "." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 12 May 2013]
Miracles
Beuno was credited with
resurrection, including his niece, the virgin
Winefride (Gwenffrewi), and his disciple and cousin,
Aelhaiarn. He was said to have had a "wondrous vision" prior to his death.
[
]
Legacy
Eleven churches bear Saint Beuno's name, including one in his monastery at Clynnog Fawr, and one in Culbone Church on the Somerset coast. Although his establishment at Clynnog is destroyed, his grave chapel survives. In Tremeirchion, near St Asaph, is St Beuno's, a former theological college and now a Jesuit spirituality retreat centre.[ Beunos.com, retrieved 12 November 2018]
See also
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St Beuno's Church, Aberffraw
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St Beuno's Church, Berriew
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St Beuno's Church, Bettws Cedewain
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Culbone Church, Culbone
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St Beuno's Church, Llanycil
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St Beuno's Church, Penmorfa
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St Beuno's Church, Pistyll
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St Beuno's Church, Trefdraeth
Further reading
