Gundlaeus

CONCERNING ST. GUNDLAEUS, PETTY KING OF SOUTH WALES IN BRITAIN.

AROUND THE YEAR 500.

Gundlaeus, Petty King of South Wales in Britain (Saint)

[1] Alford, in his Annals of the British Church at the year five hundred, complains -- and not without reason -- that certain authors of the Lives of Saints in Capgrave were more diligent in seeking out from every quarter and patching together than in selecting and sifting, and mixed together without discrimination many things which, if a careful comparison of facts were made, could and indeed should be better distinguished. But corrections are more difficult to apply to none than to the Britons, the ancient inhabitants of Cambria or Wales, matters disputed in the Acts of the Saints of Wales because better writers are lacking by whose reading they might be emended. "One may observe this," says the same Alford, "in the Life of Cadoc, where a simpler narrative would have better illustrated both the man's holiness and the certainty of his acts." Two persons of this name are established: the elder Cadoc, by another name Sophias, Bishop of Benevento and Martyr, of whom we treated on the 24th of January; the younger is believed to be the son of St. Gundlaeus, of whom we treat here, and to have lived as Abbot of Nantcarvan, and to have died in Cambria among the Ordovices. Meanwhile in the Acts of Cadoc the Bishop, St. Gundlaeus is established as the parent of the former. We admit that there may be falsehood underlying this, as we have warned the reader on this matter, yet we define nothing in a doubtful case. Nantcarvana or Llancarfan is in the province of Glamorgan in South Wales, on the Severn Sea or estuary, three miles distant from the city of Cowbridge, where Llandaff is also an episcopal See, whence St. Dubricius the Bishop was summoned and stood by the dying man. He is reported to have died around the year 522, which will be examined on the 4th of November in connection with his Life.

[2] In this part of Wales or South Cambria, therefore, we judge that St. Gundlaeus was a petty king or some chieftain, and that he flourished around the year 500. St. Gundlaeus, petty king His wife Gladusa or Gladus is called the firstborn among the ten daughters of Brychan, a petty king or prince, whose other known sisters are Melaris, mother of St. David, Bishop of Menevia, whose Acts we gave on the Kalends of March; then St. Almedha, who died on the Kalends of August; and especially St. Keyne, in whose Acts to be elucidated on the 4th of November those things are found. The same Brychan had ten brothers, of whom the firstborn is established as St. Canoc, of whom we treated among the Passed-Over on the 13th of March.

[3] his name in the Martyrologies The Acts indicate that St. Gundlaeus died on the fourth day before the Kalends of April, on which day Richard Whitford in the English Martyrology printed in English at London in the year 1524 writes the following: "In England, St. Gundlaeus, King of the southern part of the English and son of a King, to whom an Angel appeared, greatly desirous of spiritual progress and perfection, and sent him to a place and hill suitable for his desire, to serve Almighty God. Wherefore, immediately transferring the crown and kingdom to his son, he there built a church and led a holy life illustrious with many miracles." Wilson also treats of the same in his English Martyrology of the later edition, compiling more from the Life, the Life as written which we give from the manuscript codex of the monastery of Rouge-Cloitre of the Canons Regular near Brussels, collated with the edition published by John Capgrave, which James Ussher ascribes to John of Tynemouth in his Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum, page 464.

LIFE

From the Manuscript of Rouge-Cloitre and Capgrave.

Gundlaeus, Petty King of South Wales in Britain (Saint)

BHL Number: 3702

[1] St. Gundlaeus was the son of a King of the southern Britons; and after the death of his father, when the kingdom was divided into seven parts, his six brothers received their portions, at the admonition of an Angel he leaves his possessions and obeyed him as the eldest in all things. Gundlaeus begot from his wife Gladusa a son Cadoc, a holy man pleasing to God. For when one night they were sleeping in their chamber, an angelic voice addressed them, saying: "The heavenly King, Ruler of earthly things, has sent me here: that you may turn with all your heart to his service. He calls and invites you; he chose and redeemed you, ascending the gibbet. I will show you the straight path that you must hold to reach the inheritance of God. Raise up your minds, and do not despise your souls for perishable things. Near the bank of the river there is a certain hillock, and where a white ox shall be seen standing, there shall be the place of your habitation."

[2] Rising in the morning, he abandoned the royal palace, and having commended the kingdom to his son Cadoc, he came to the hillock announced to him by the Angel. he builds a church And finding the white ox, he built a church and there began to live in great abstinence and holiness of life. He wore a hair shirt and ate barley bread mixed with ashes in a third part, he lives in great abstinence and was accustomed to drink water. Rising at midnight, he immersed himself in cold water, and taking nothing from another, he led his life by his own labor. St. Cadoc his son, having become Abbot of Nantcarvan, often visited and comforted him, asserting that the crown was promised not to those who begin but to those who persevere in good. he draws forth a spring Gundlaeus moreover, for

on account of the dryness of the hillock, pouring forth prayers to God and touching the arid earth with the point of his staff, caused a clear and perpetually flowing spring to issue forth in that same place.

[3] When the end of his life drew near, he sent for Dubricius, Bishop of Llandaff, and his son Cadoc, to deign to visit him. after death he is illustrious for miracles When he had comforted him and fortified his soul with holy Communion, he departed to the Lord on the fourth day before the Kalends of April. And when his body had been honorably buried, a multitude of Angels was seen visiting the place of his burial, and the sick who implored his aid were cured of every disease and glorified God in his Saint.

[4] pirates are drowned for plundering his church Griffinus, King of Gwynedd, expelled from the borders of Britain by the elder King William and fearing ambushes, sailed to the Orkney Islands, and returning with twenty-four ships assembled, carried off much plunder. His servants, breaking into the church of St. Gundlaeus, seized whatever precious thing was found in it. And when they wished to return to the Orkney Islands, they saw a terrible man riding and pursuing them day and night. And the more diligently the rowers steered the ship, the more the waves of the sea drove them back sideways. Each prow crashed into another, and the entire fleet except two ships was overturned, as their offenses demanded. King Griffinus, however, was not aware of the plunder; but he waited with his companions on the shore for the arrival of the pirates. Afterwards, having been reconciled with King William, he narrated to all the marvels he had witnessed.

[5] In the time of St. Edward the King, Earl Harold, offended by the Welsh, came with an army, cheeses taken by force become bloody burned and devastated everywhere, and sparing no one, seized everything he found. Certain men, entering the Church of St. Gundlaeus after breaking the lock, seized everything they found. But when the stolen cheeses were cut, they appeared bloody on the inside. The army, therefore, astonished, restored everything they had seized, together with many offerings.

[6] A certain thief, entering the church of Blessed Gundlaeus one night and taking the chalice and sacred vestments, the thief cannot flee began to return to his home. On the road, however, he saw the sea rushing and rising against his face. Meanwhile he kept turning back from the apparent flooding of the sea, until he returned to the threshold of the church; and entering the church, he remained there until morning; and being apprehended, he was freed from temporal death by the Bishop of Llandaff.