Gwen Teirbron

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Saint Gwen Teirbron (French: Blanche; Latin: Alba Trimammis or Candida; possibly English: Wite) was a Breton holy woman who supposedly lived in the 6th century. Her epithet is Welsh for 'of the three breasts' from Proto-Celtic *tisres and *brundā.[1]

Contents

[edit] Traditional biography

Gwen was one of the many daughter of the the King of Brittany, Emyr Llydaw. By her husband, Saint Fragan, she is said to have been the mother of the twins, Saints Wethnoc and Iacob (more commonly called Jacut). They were born in Britain, where Fragan appears to have been a member of the Dumnonian or Cornish Royal family. During a time of plague, the family embarked for Brittany and settled at PlouFracan, near Saint-Brieuc, where they had a further son, Saint Winwaloe of Landevennec, and a daughter, Chreirbia.[2] Gwen, presumably later, married Eneas Ledewig and became the mother of Saint Cadfan.[3]

[edit] Veneration

Popular devotion interpreted Gwen's unusual physical and spiritual fecundity by God's gift to her of a third breast. Her iconography naïvely followed suit. Gwen is invoked for women's fertility. She is commemorated on 3 October in the Catholic Church (although this has been transferred from Saint Candidus of Rome), and on 18 July (NS) by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in Australia.[4]

[edit] Possible identification

David Nash Ford suggests she be identified with Saint Wite of Whitchurch Canonicorum in Dorset.[5]. She is interpreted by Dyfed Lloyd Evans as having been a euhemerized mother goddess[6].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Proto-Celtic—English lexicon and English—Proto-Celtic lexicon. University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies.
  2. ^ Doble, Gilbert H. (1965). The Saints of Cornwall Part II. Truro: Dean and Chapter of Truro. 
  3. ^ Bartrum, P.C. (1966). Early Welsh Genealogical Tracts. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. 
  4. ^ Canberra Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church (Abroad). Brief Lives of Saints, 2007.
  5. ^ Ford, David Nash (2001). St. Gwen Teirbron. Early British Kingdoms. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  6. ^ Nemeton: Gwen Teir Bron
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