St. ILLTYD

THE STORY OF TWO PARISHES

DOLGELLEY & LLANELLTYD

by T.P.ELLIS

IV. ST. ILLTYD.

 
THE COMING OF CHRISTIANITY-ST. ILLTYD-THE EARLY ORGANISATION OF THE CHURCH-EARLY VILLAGE CHURCHES IN WALES-LLANELLTYD CHURCH-ST.ILLTYD, SIR GALAHAD.

THE story of the coming of Christianity into the land is a long one, but it happens to concern Llanelltyd to some extent.

The new religion was brought into this part of the world by wandering missionaries) mostly Welsh-men or Bretons by race. Among these missionaries  was St. Illtyd, after whom the village of Llanelltyd is named. He was of pure Welsh descent, and a relative of Meirion, from whom the land of Merioneth takes its name.

Illtyd's grandfather had settled in Brittany, whence Illtyd himself returned to Wales, somewhere about the year 500 A.D. He came as a soldier-so story says-to fight under King Arthur against the pagan Saxons; but he soon became a monk, and settled down eventually at Llantwit Major in Glamorgan, where he founded a great college. Among his pupils were Dewi Sant, Wales' patron saint, St. Samson) Paul of Leon, the historian Gildas, and one of the greatest of Welsh kings, Maelgwn Gwynedd.

To the people generally he taught many things, among which was an entirely new and improved style of ploughing. Turning from the field of battle, he tried to teach the most important arts of peace.

His college at Llantwit Major was the immediate source from which the Christianization of Ireland and a large part of Western Europe was effected.

In those days the Church was differently organized from what it is now. A missionary settled down in a chosen spot, and established achurch there, which became what was called a mother-church. In course of time, the mother-church sent out some of its clergy to preach in other parts. They, in their turn, settled down and built a new church, which became a daughter-church of the mother-church.

Sometimes the missionary himself wandered over the countryside, abiding for a while in a lonely spot, proceeding on from there to another, leaving his name behind to mark for all time the place where he had tarried.

Whether St. Illtyd himself actually abode at Llanelltyd or not we cannot say for certain. If he did not, a monk may have set out from the church at Llantwit Major, and built a daughter-church on the banks of the Mawddach, erecting a little wooden edifice on the site where the present church stands, dedicating it to the memory and the spirit of St. Illtyd.

Churches like these were built, not in the midst of human habitations but in some spot allotted for the purpose by the chief of the tribe to whom the missionary came. They were built partly as retreats; and around the churches so established in Wales small settlements tended to grow, and the foundation of Llanelltyd as a village springs from the foundation of the church on its present site.

 

Eglwys Llanelltyd Church

It is worth while thinking for a moment what that means. There is in Llanelltyd a little church-a beautiful little church, of which we shall have more to say later-occupying a site which has been dedicated to Christian worship for something like 1,300 years or more. There are many similar churches in Wales; and in these days hardly enough importance is attached to that fact. Nowhere quite so markedly as in Wales do the village churches bring us into touch with the long ago and the hopes and aspirations of those who have gone.

It is worth while remembering that, within them, countless generations have passed on the long tradition of worship and of praise. The whispering echoes of the hymns and petitions of the past seem to hover round in the really old Welsh churches, in a manner peculiar to themselves; and these old churches have been the centre of social and religious life for century after century. It is only of late years that this long harmony of the past, present and
future, has been broken.

Llanelltyd people, quite rightly, insist on the adoption of the view that St. Illtyd himself brought the faith into their valley. In doing so, they link themselves up wan one of the great figures of the western world. The name Illtyd is little known, in its original Welsh form, outside Wales; but in another form, it is known throughout the whole world, for St. Illtyd appears to he the original of no other than the great Sir Galahad, he who, in days
of old, saw the vision of the Holy Grail, and followed it, to be crowned king at last in the " far spiritual city."

Is it more than chance that Tennyson, who spent much time in these parts, in giving the old Welsh story to English readers, should have had, before his mind's eye, a natural setting similar to that of Llanelltyd?

                        I dropt into a lowly vale,
Low as the hill was high, and where the vale
Was lowest, found a chapel . . . .
      There rose a hill that none but man could climb,
Scarr'd with a hundred wintry water courses,
     Storm at the top  . . . .

Did Sir Galahad see the vision he saw in the little church that bears his name, in the shadow of the crags of Cader, and did he follow it, as story says he did, across marsh and flood, and at length out to sea, until he reached the final home of Ynys Enlli, the goal of all the old Welsh saints?

Sir Percevale, at any rate, speaking of Sir Galahad's assumption, is made to say :-

I saw the spiritual city and all her spires
   And gateways in a glory like one pearl-
So larger, tho'  the goal of all the saints-
  Strike from the sea.

A later, much later, seeker for the Grail. George Fox, the Quaker, dreamt of the spiritual city of his search as being in this valley of perfect beauty.

Hafan Home

Llyfrau Books

Mynegai'r llyfr This Book Index

Diiwethaf Previous

Nesaf Next