ON ST. KEYNA, VIRGIN, IN BRECKNOCK, A COUNTY OF WALES,
Toward the end of the fifth century, or the beginning of the sixth.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
A few things are noted concerning her family, her fame for holiness, and her Acts.
Keyna, virgin, in Brecknock, a county of Wales. (S.)
BY J. B.
Saint Keyna, celebrated in Wales while the Catholic cause stood among the English, and a virgin dedicated to God from her earliest age, Wilson inscribed in his English Martyrology of the year 1640 at this day, St. Keyna, a British virgin, and adorned her with the following eulogy, which I make Latin from the English: In the county of Brecknock in Wales, the deposition of St. Keyna, virgin, daughter of Brychan, petty king of Brecknock; who, having been consecrated to God from her earliest age, left her homeland, and having advanced across the Severn (a river which, rising in the county of Montgomery in Wales, and wandering through the lands of Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, pours itself into the Irish sea), led there a very harsh life in a desert wood swarming with serpents, which no one had dared to enter: but by her prayers they were turned into stones, still expressing the form of serpents. And when she had lived in this manner for many years, destitute of human help, having returned to her homeland by a divine warning, she built herself a little hut on a certain slope, in which, intent on assiduous prayer and abstinence, and clothed in haircloth, she spent the rest of the course of her life. When she was about to die, an angel came to her, and, having clothed her in a white garment woven with gold, invited her to the kingdom of her heavenly Spouse. She died about the four hundred and ninetieth year of Christ, and was buried in the same province, in which her memory is still celebrated today. Richard Whitford, another English martyrologist, also mentions the same Virgin in his Martyrology, printed at London in the year 1526. Chastelain in the Universal Martyrology announces her thus: In England, St. Keyna, mother-in-law (rather maternal aunt) of St. Cadoc.
[2] Alford, in the Annals of the British church at the year of Christ 490, number 2 and following, recites her Acts from Capgrave, on account of her holiness where he not only extols her for holiness, but also says that she was formerly a virgin of most celebrated name, and that notable monuments of her deeds still exist. Further, what such monuments are he does not set forth: unless perhaps by that name he understands the stones into which he himself, with some others, thought that snakes were turned by the prayers of St. Keyna: and if that is so, whether Alford rightly called them Notable you will determine from what is to be said below. Camden, though not a Catholic, in Britannia illustrated, treating of the county of Somerset in England, page 172, calls our Keyna a Most holy virgin: this name is likewise given her by Dempster, in the Ecclesiastical History of the nation of the Scots, book 10, page 418, and by Bolland both in the Commentary prefixed to the Life of St. Cadoc at the 24th day of January and in his Annotations on the same. Colgan also does the same at the 11th day of February, where, treating of St. Canoc, he writes thus, rendering partly into Latin the English words of Richard Whitford, mentioned above: The Feast (8th of October) of St. Keina, virgin, who is also called Keinwira. She was daughter of St. Brychan, king of Brecknock in Wales, who had twelve sons and twelve daughters: one of these daughters was the mother of St. David, and this virgin, another, etc.
[3] she is said to have been very celebrated, Colgan says that these twelve daughters of Brychan flourished in holiness and obtained cult in various places, and presently subjoins these things: But lest anyone should think that what we have adduced about so great a number of brothers and sisters flourishing in holiness rests only on the testimonies cited, not on other more solid foundations, I have thought it worth the effort to subjoin here the names and places of cult of each, so far as (for Colgan could not furnish this as regards each one) it has been possible to gather from approved authors. Then he speaks thus of St. Keyna: The third (daughter of Brychan), St. Keyna, virgin, far celebrated in the region of Brecknock and beside the river Severn in Wales. By which words, if Colgan does anything to his purpose, he wished to indicate that St. Keyna obtained sacred cult in Wales: but I could wish that he had expressed some particular place. Giraldus Cambrensis, a writer of the twelfth century, in the Itinerary or Description of Cambria or Wales, book 1, chapter 2, makes mention of the daughters of Brychan in this manner: There was anciently a ruler of that region which is called Brecheinoc, a powerful and noble man, whose name was Brachanus, from whom also the land of Brecheinoc was named. Concerning whom it seems notable to me that the British Histories testify that he had XXIV daughters, all devoted from childhood to divine services, and that they happily ended their life in the purpose of holiness they had taken up. And there still exist many basilicas throughout Cambria made illustrious by their names: of which one in the province of Brecheinoc, not far from the principal castle of Aberhodni, situated on the summit of a certain hill, is called the church of saint Almedha.
[4] where also some places But here too, as you see, he writes only in general that churches were dedicated throughout Wales to the aforesaid daughters of Brychan, if you except St. Almedha, who has been brought into our Work at the 1st day of August. John Speed in the Theatre of Great Britain after page 109, and William Camden in Britannia illustrated after page 479, present a map of the county of Brecknock: but to which Saints the churches of the several places were dedicated I am not able to say: I have at any rate found there no place which has its name from St. Keyna: yet this does not make it necessary to hold as false what Giraldus and Colgan asserted above about churches dedicated throughout Wales to St. Keyna and her sisters. And indeed I am almost persuaded that this holy Virgin enjoyed sacred cult in the places near the river Severn, which they say St. Keyna made illustrious by her dwelling, as Colgan says; because in Speed and Camden, between Brecknock
and the river Severn, on the borders of the counties of Hereford and Monmouth, I find a place called in English Kynechurch, as if you were to say the Shrine, or rather the church, of Keyna, so that it seems to be so called from her as patroness of the place; just as the place Michaelchurch on the borders of the county of Monmouth, situated not far from the former village, and likewise another in the county of Brecknock, named Peterchurch, seem to have obtained their name from SS. Michael and Peter.
[5] Camden judges that he has found another place which has drawn its name from St. Keyna; seem to have received their name from her. since according to her Acts St. Keyna, having left her homeland, that is, the county of Brecknock, led a solitary life for many years across the river Severn: and there is in the duchy of Somerset in England, on the left bank of the river Severn (on the right of which Brecknock is situated), a town a little distant from Bristol, on the river Avon, which the English in the vernacular speech call Keynsham or Canesham, which is equivalent to the dwelling of Keyna, from the Saxon word Ham, Dwelling, villa or village. Along the same Avon, he says (which is here the boundary between this and the Gloucester country), on the Western bank is seen Cainsham, named from Keina, a most holy British virgin, who, the credulity of a former age persuaded many, changed serpents into stones; because such miracles of sporting nature are sometimes found there in the quarries. Discourse on this matter will recur below: meanwhile, if Camden's opinion about the town of Keynsham, so called from St. Keyna, is true, it will suggest another argument of sacred cult formerly paid to St. Keina in England, and of her celebrity not only among the people of Wales but of other English provinces too; and I will add to the aforesaid places of Wales the village of Keynsham (although St. Keyna is not read to have dwelt there) on the river Lugg in the county of Hereford, where it touches that of Radnor: These things concerning the cult of St. Keina.
[6] As regards her Acts and deeds, there is no need to say much about them: According to her Acts, of no great credit, born of an illustrious family for whoever reads them through even with a light eye, as they exist in Capgrave, from whom they will be reprinted below, will easily perceive that they are of no great credit, nor ancient; nay, written only from popular tradition. Hence it came about that some have ascribed to her father 24 daughters, others, to whom so great a number of daughters begotten of the same parents seemed hardly probable, 12 sons and as many daughters: Colgan, at the 11th day of February, reports the names of ten of her brothers from book 4, chapter 76, of Aengus the Culdee, a far older author, as he says, inasmuch as he flourished in the eighth century, as he writes at the 10th day of March, page 579. Of the sisters of St. Keyna the same Colgan enumerates three on page 313: Gladusa or Gladus, wife of king Gundleus (concerning whom see what was said at the 29th day of March in our Work), and mother of St. Cadoc; Melaria, mother of St. David, bishop of Menevia (concerning whom see the 1st day of March); and Carennia. A fourth, called Tyduael, Alford mentions at the year 490, number 7. That Brecanus or Brachanus, prince or petty king of Brecknock, to which he himself gave the name, was the father of St. Keyna, all the authors whom I have seen agree. Colgan makes him the son of Bracha, born of royal blood in Ireland, and on that title, as I think, numbers all the offspring of Brecanus or Brachanus among the Saints of Ireland. On the contrary Dempster, praised at number 2, numbers St. Keyna among the Saints of Scotland, because it seemed credible to him that she was of the race of that Scot Keianus who, as Nennius has in Camden (see pages 449 and 504), had obtained the Silures and Dimetae, that is, Glamorganshire and Carmarthenshire (they are provinces of Wales), under his rule.
[7] after an austere life The other parent, says Alford, just cited, at number 8, of these children (he is speaking of St. Keyna and her brothers and sisters) was Marcella, daughter of Theodoric, son of Tehpthaltus, petty king of Garthmatrin: but he seems to confuse the grandmother of St. Keyna with her mother: for Colgan, after David Powel in the Annotations on chapter 2 of the Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis in Camden, writes that Marcella was married to Bracha, father of Brecanus. And Aengus in Colgan calls the wife of Brecanus Dina, daughter of a king or duke of the Saxons. But of all these things, concerning which we have nothing sufficiently certain or proved, let the credit rest with the authors; whom we leave to be either refuted or defended by those who perhaps have better monuments of English affairs at hand. Further, as may be seen from the Acts presently to be subjoined, St. Keyna, after she had vowed herself to God from tender years, then seized with a desire for solitude, and deserting her ancestral home, is said to have inhabited a wood across the river Severn for the course of many years, and to have led in it a life as holy as it was austere. Where that wood existed the Acts are silent: Camden, as we said above, conjectures that it was situated around the town now Keynsham: and as for what they say of serpents turned into stones there by the prayers of St. Keyna, although we confess God wonderful in His Saints, I judge it to have proceeded only from popular tradition, nor would I dare to assert it without more suitable authority, whatever may be the case with the stones found in that place exhibiting the form of serpents; for unusual productions of nature of this kind are not rarely found elsewhere too.
[8] she died toward the end of the fifth century, or the beginning of the sixth. I think the same of her return to her homeland, made namely by divine direction, and of the angels who appeared to her when she was about to die. She was buried in Brecknock (in what place I have nowhere found), her homeland, by St. Cadoc, her nephew through her sister Gladus. He flourished in the time of Arthur, king of the Britons, whom the Westminster writer records to have been inaugurated king in the year 516: and hence perhaps Chastelain ascribed the sixth century, as to St. Cadoc, so to St. Keyna, his maternal aunt, whom he faultily calls his mother-in-law (Belle-mère in French): Alford treats of her at the year 490, as I said above; so that she seems to have departed from among men to the heavenly ones toward the end of the fifth century or the beginning of the following; but the particular year in which this happened remains hidden.
LIFE
From Capgrave, folio CCIV verso.
Keyna, virgin, in Brecknock, a county of Wales. (S.)
BHL Number: 4653
St. Keyna, a British virgin, and dedicated to God For the blessed virgin Keyna was sprung from a royal line in the Western part of Greater Britain. Her father, king of the people of Brecknock a, was named Braganus. And that king had twelve sons and as many daughters b: all pleasing to God and of holy life. His firstborn was saint Canoc c: his firstborn daughter Gladus, mother of saint Cadoc d: the second Melari, mother of the Holy father David, archbishop of Menevia e. The rest being omitted on account of length f, we turn our pen to blessed Keyna. For before she was born, her mother saw in a vision her bosom full of myrrh and balsam and her breasts radiant with heavenly light: she saw also that she had brought forth a snow-white dove for offspring g. And when the mother was diligently bringing up the Daughter she had borne, a certain wonderful comeliness of spiritual grace appeared in the face of the Virgin; so that sometimes she shone like snow, sometimes like the brightness of the sun. And when she had come to marriageable years, and many nobles sought her in marriage, the holy Virgin, wholly refusing union with a man, consecrated her virginity to the Lord by a perpetual vow. For on this account she who was formerly called Keyna was afterwards called in British "Keyn Wiri," that is, "Keyn the virgin."
[2] She resolved at length to leave her homeland and to seek a desert place h, she goes away into solitude, where she turns serpents into stones: where she might be free for contemplation, and, having taken to the road, coming beyond the Severn i, having found certain wooded places, she asked of the king k of that province that solitude in which she might serve God: and he answered that he would gladly grant her what she asked, except that that place was filled with so great a multitude of serpents that it had been uninhabitable as well for men as for beasts of burden and wild animals. But the Virgin answered firmly that she trusted in the help of the Most High and in His name wished, and was able, to put to flight the whole venomous multitude. The place being granted, therefore, to the Virgin, she prostrated herself in her accustomed prayers, and soon changed all that brood of vipers, killed, into the hardness of stones. For the stones to this day express the serpentine image throughout the fields and villages, as if they were carved by the art of a stonemason l. And many years having elapsed, when the fame of the holy Virgin had been spread abroad everywhere, and she had built many oratories, many having been visited, St. Cadoc, visiting the mount of St. Michael m for the sake of pilgrimage, found St. Keyna, his maternal aunt, there, and, filled with great joy, when he wished to lead her back to her own land, he was not permitted by the people of the land.
[3] At length, by an angelic admonition, the holy Virgin, returning to her homeland, making a dwelling for herself on a certain little hill at the foot of a certain great mountain, having poured forth a prayer to God, brought forth from the earth a spring, which by the merits of the holy Virgin afforded health in many infirmities. And when, the Holy Spirit revealing it, the day of her consummation drew near, she saw in a vision of the night a column as it were of fire descending down to the floor of her little bed: for she was wont to sleep on the bare floor with little branches of trees thrown over it. And two angels appeared to her; of whom one, approaching her reverently, gently took off the haircloth with which she was clothed: and, adorning her becomingly with a chasuble of fine linen together with a scarlet tunic, and with a cloak too woven with gold, he said: Be ready and come with us, that we may lead you into the kingdom of your Father.
[4] And when, weeping for joy, she wished to follow the angels, and there she dies, not without prodigies. awaking she felt that her body was weighed down with fevers and that her end was imminent, and having summoned St. Cadoc, she said: This is the place which I love above the rest; here shall be my memorial: I will often visit this place in spirit, if it shall be permitted; and it will be permitted, because the Lord has granted me this place to be possessed by hereditary right. But it will come to pass that this place will be inhabited by a sinful people: which I will violently root out from these seats, and my tomb will lie unknown for many days, until others come, whom I by my prayers will bring here, protect and defend, and in this place the name of the Lord will be blessed for ever n. And when the soul was hastening to go out from the body, she saw before her an angelic host, ready to receive her soul with joy within the palace of heaven without fear and danger. And when she had indicated this to those standing by, that holy soul was loosed from the body on the eighth day before the Ides of October o. And as it went out from the body, her holy face smiled, putting on a rosy colour, and so great a fragrance of sweetness proceeded from the virginal body that all who were present
thought themselves placed in the glory of paradise. And saint Cadoc buried her in his oratory, where in holy conversation she had led for many years a most strict life, pleasing to God.