Dwynwen

Saint Dwynwen was a holy woman of Wales in the fifth century who lived in asceticism on the island of Llanddwyn and reposed around 460. In Wales she is honoured as patron of lovers.

The story of her has mixed with folklore, and there are several versions. She is believed to have been a daughter of King Brychan Brycheiniog and to have lived in Anglesey. In one version a young man, Maelon Dafodrill, falls in love with her but she rejects him; in another, her father had already promised her to someone else. Distraught, she prays to fall out of love. An angel brings her a potion, and Maelon turns to ice. God then grants her three wishes: that Maelon be thawed, that God, through her, watch over all true lovers, and that she herself remain unmarried. In thanks she withdrew to solitude on the island of Llanddwyn off the coast of Anglesey, and built there a church called Llanddwyn, the church of Dwynwen, whose ruins remain visible today.

The church became a major shrine in the Middle Ages, and a holy well on the island was visited by pilgrims, who believed that the movements of the sacred fish in its waters foretold the fortunes of lovers. The Welsh poets Dafydd ap Gwilym and Dafydd Trefor mention these pilgrimages. After the Reformation devotion declined; in the nineteenth century two crosses were erected on the island in her memory. She is also honoured as a patron of sick animals. Her feast, Dydd Santes Dwynwen, is considered the Welsh equivalent of Valentine's Day, on 25 January. She is a saint of the undivided Church, also venerated in the Orthodox Church.