Saint Dwynwen

 

Brychan Brycheiniog was a legendary 5th-century king of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire,) and father to Dwynwen, The Welsh Patron Saint of Lovers

 
The legend of St Dwynwen is not a particularly happy tale, but one of heart break and strength.

Dwynwen fell in love with a man named Maelon Dafodrill, she presented this man to her father and asked for his permission for them to marry.

King Brychan had already arranged for his daughter to marry another suitor, so declined that the two should be wed.

Maelon was filled with rage at the Kings refusal and attacked Dwynwen, finally leaving her alone and walking away from the woman he claimed to love.

 
Dwynwen beside herself with grief took to the woods nearby  where she prayed to God for him to rid her of her feelings.

In answer to her prayers an God appeared to her in a dream and presented her with a  potion that would ensure that she would forget Maelon and then turned her ex lover into a block of ice.

 

God then granted Dwynwen three requests.

The first request was for God to thaw Maelon, the second was that God would look kindly on the hopes and dreams of all true lovers, and the third was for herself never to marry.

 

Dwynwen then spend the rest of her life as a nun devoting her life to God and living her days on Llanddwyn Island in Anglesea