Elli

Saint Elli (Ellyw) is a Welsh saint of the 6th century, patron of the town of Llanelli; according to some opinions there were two saints, a man and a woman. The towns of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire and Llanelly in Monmouthshire are named after him. There are traditions of a male saint Elli and of a female saint Elli, and depictions show both.

According to one legend, Elli or Ellyw was a daughter or granddaughter of King Brychan and founded a church on the banks of the river Lliedi, around which peasants settled; so the Llanelli of Carmarthenshire arose. According to the 11th-⁠century Life of Saint Cadoc, Elli was the son of the queen of the Islands of Grimbul, born after Cadoc interceded for the barren queen, and a spiritual son of Cadoc. Cadoc took him to Llancarfan, where he was educated, and when Cadoc was preparing to leave for Benevento, Elli succeeded him as abbot of Llancarfan. The writer Sabine Baring-⁠Gould held that the church of Llanelieu in Powys is dedicated to the female Saint Ellyw, and he linked the other places with the disciple of Cadoc. His day is 23 January, by the Western calendar (new style). He is honored as a saint of the undivided Church.