Seiriol

Saint Seiriol was a Welsh saint of the early sixth century, who made a cell at Penmon Priory on Anglesey, off the coast of north Wales, and later moved to Ynys Seiriol (Puffin Island). He is commemorated on 1 February in both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches. In the Orthodox Church he is included in the Synaxis of the Saints of Britain and Ireland, as Seiriol of Penmon.

He was a son of King Owain Danwyn of Rhos, and younger brother of King Cynlas of Rhos and King Einion of Llŷn. Resolving to devote himself to the ascetic life, he made himself a cell at Penmon on Anglesey. His cell is said to have been rebuilt by his brothers, who did not think it good enough for him. Saint Seiriol's Well (Ffynnon Seiriol) lies in a small chamber adjoining its remains; both are protected by Cadw, the publicly funded body responsible for the historic monuments of Wales. Adjacent are the church and ruins of a monastery also dating from Seiriol's day. The well is a small rectangular pool set in a well chamber to the north of Penmon Priory church.

According to legend, Seiriol and Saint Cybi were good friends and would meet weekly near Llanerchymedd, at the Clorach wells. Saint Cybi would walk from Holyhead, facing the rising sun in the morning and the setting sun in the evening, and for this he was known as Cybi Felyn (Cybi the Tanned), as he was tanned on his journey. Seiriol, travelling in the opposite direction, from Penmon, would have his back to the sun, and so was known as Seiriol Wyn (Seiriol the Fair). Rhyd-⁠y-⁠Saint railway station (Ford of the Saints) on the Red Wharf Bay branch line near Pentraeth was named so, since Seiriol and Cybi are said to have met there. In his old age Seiriol retired to Ynys Lannog, which came to be known in Welsh as Ynys Seiriol; later the Vikings called it Prestholmr (Priest's Island), and in English since the nineteenth century it has been Puffin Island.

The Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sourozh of Great Britain and Ireland (Moscow Patriarchate) holds an annual pilgrimage to the Holy Well of Saint Seiriol in Penmon, most recently on 23 July 2022. Trams on the Great Orme Tramway are named after local saints, number 6 being Seiriol. The Liverpool and North Wales Steamship Company steamer St Seiriol ran excursions to the Isle of Man and served as an auxiliary minesweeper in the First World War. Saint Seiriol is depicted in a Venetian glass mosaic by Gary Drostle at the western end of the Celtic Gateway footbridge in Holyhead.