Saint
Iestyn
A Welsh saint honored at Llaniestyn, of the 6th century.
- Era
- 6th century
- Place
- Llaniestyn Llaniestyn
Life
Saint Iestyn (Iestin, in Latin Justinus) was a Welsh hermit and confessor of the sixth or seventh century. He is most often held to be a son of Geraint, son of Erbin, ruler of Dumnonia, a Celtic kingdom in what is now south-west England. His brothers include Cador, Duke of Cornwall, and Saint Cyngar, venerated at Llangefni in Anglesey.
Probably a disciple of Saint Cybi, he founded two churches in north Wales, both called Llaniestyn: one in Gwynedd and one in Anglesey. The Anglesey church keeps a carved stone of the fourteenth century showing him in a hooded cloak with a staff in his right hand; the Latin inscription says that he lies there and names those who gave the stone. It may once have served as his shrine. He may also have founded the church at St Just in Roseland in Cornwall, and he is linked with a church in Brittany.
His feast is missing from the Welsh calendars of saints, but it was kept at his church in Anglesey on 12 April and 10 October, and at his church in Caernarfonshire on 10 October. He is a saint of the undivided Church, honoured locally.