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in the parish of Bletherston, in Pembrokeshire. Keynsham Church, now dedicated to S. John Baptist, was dedicated to her originally. The name occurs in Domesday as Cainessam. As Ceinwen she is patroness of Llangeinwen and Cerrig Ceinwen, in Anglesey.

There are in Cornwall dedicated to her, S. Keyne, by Liskeard, where is her famous holy well,1 Kenwyn, by Truro, and a chapel at East Looe, re-dedicated to S. Anne. The well is situated about half a mile from the church, and is covered with old masonry. The husband or wife who first drinks the water of the well after marriage retains the mastery ever after. It is the subject of a ballad by Southey, which concludes with the following verse

I hasten'd as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my wife in the porch;

But, i' faith, she had been wiser than me,
For she took a bottle to church!

The Calendars in the Iolo MSS., Sir John Prys's Prymer (1546), and Hafod MS. 8 give S. Cain, or Ceinwen, on October 8. Allwydd Paradwys (1670), however, enters "S. Keina " on the 7th. Angharad Llwyd says her festival at Llangeinwen was the second Sunday after Michaelmas.2 3 Browne Willis 3 gives October 7 for Llangeinwen and

Cerrig Ceinwen.

Cressy, in his Church History of Brittany, Rouen, 1668, gives S. Keina on October 8. Whytford does so as well: "The feest also of Saynt Keyna, called also Saynt Keynwir a virgyn, and doughter vnto Saynt Breghan Kynge of breknoke in Wales, whiche had xii sones and xii doughters all holy sayntes; one of ye which doughters was moder unto Saynt David, and this virgyn an other that was shewed by reuelacyon before her byrth; and after forsoke her kynne and countree, and dwelled in a desert full of venymous serpentes, whiche by her prayers were turned al in to stones that yet unto this daye done kepe the fourme and fashon of ye same serpentes, where she contynued in hygh p'feccyon and many myracles."

The Ceinwr of the Iolo MSS. owes his existence to the name of the parish, Llangeinwr, now Llangeinor. In one document it is said that he was a son of Cedig ab Dyfnwal Hên, and a saint of Llantwit; but the genealogies usually give only Tudwal Tudclud, Serwan, and Senyllt as sons of this Cedig. Another document,5 ascribing to

1 Quiller-Couch, Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall, 1894, pp. 107-112. 2 History of Anglesey, 1833, p. 275; so also Arch. Camb., 1847, p. 42, where it is further stated that at Cerrig Ceinwen it was October 8. 4 P. 138. 5 P. 148.

3

Survey of Bangor, p. 281.

him the foundation of Llangeinwr, adds, "S. Ceinwr, the son of Coel ab Cyllin ab Caradog ab Brân ab Llyr Llediaith ab Baran ab Ceri Hir Lyngwyn, founded the church of Llangeinwr in Glamorgan. He was a man who would not believe any being corporeal or spiritual, neither out of this world would he believe any except God Himself, or who came with the authority of God by miraculous wonders, so that there should be no manner of doubt respecting his being of God, in all that could be seen and understood of his acts and words; which should be, in origin and purpose, consistent with what was seen in the Son of God and His Saints; so that there should be no room for doubt that they proceeded from God. And he daily and nightly prayed to God to obtain from Him by sight and hearing what he ought to believe. And he received through sight and hearing a power of understanding so evident that it could not be doubted that he obtained what he desired."

The legend is printed from a MS. circa 1600, and is written in the bombastic Welsh much affected by the bardic fraternity at that time and later.

S. CAIN, daughter of Caw, Virgin

IN the Iolo MSS. genealogies is given another S. Cain, who is said to have been a daughter of Caw, lord of Cwm Cawlwyd.1 Her church, we are told, is in Ystrad Tywi, by which is intended Llangain,2 below Carmarthen. Her name in these lists of Caw's children is also spelt Canna and Cannau, and once, when her three sisters, SS. Cywyllog, Peithian (Peillan), and Gwenafwy, are mentioned, her name occurs among the sons of Caw. The four sisters are credited with having had dedications in Anglesey. The Life of Gildas by the monk of Ruys also mentions Peteova, apparently Peithian. It is possible that she may be the Candida, a Latin rendering of Cain, who is culted as a holy abbess at Scaër in Finistère. But it has been also supposed that Candida is S. Nenoc, a reputed daughter of Brychan. So many of the family of Gildas settled in Armorica that it is not improbable one of his sisters may have gone there.

1 Pp. 101, 109, 117, 139, 142-3.

3

2 It is called Egliskein in a Charter Roll of 1247 printed in Daniel-Tyssen and Evans, Carmarthen Charters, p. 5.

3 Ed. Hugh Williams, p. 326.

S. CAINNECH, or CENNECH, Abbot, Confessor

THIS Saint's name does not occur in any of the pedigrees and lists of the Welsh Saints, except in the Myvyrian Bonedd,1 a catalogue compiled by Lewis Morris, and therein the name is given, but without genealogical particulars. The name is variously spelt in Welsh Cennech, Cennych, and Cynnych. He is the patron of Llangennech, in Carmarthenshire, though some authorities,2 quite erroneously, give the church as dedicated to S. Gwynog. We have his name probably also in S. Kennox, in Llawhaden parish, Pembrokeshire.

There can exist no manner of doubt that Cennech is none other than the great S. Cainnech, better known in Ireland as S. Canice, and in Scotland as S. Kenneth.

His Life is given, very incompletely, by the Bollandists, with omission of many miracles and quaint stories, that not a little startled the editors. A complete Life is in the Codex Salamanticensis, and in the Liber Kilkenniensis so called, in Bishop Marsh's Library, Dublin. A Life compiled by Colgan exists in MS. in the Franciscan Convent, Dublin. No indication is afforded by which the date of composition of the Latin Lives is given, but they were certainly drawn up at a late period, as they abound in miracles and fabulous matter. Nevertheless, there is sufficient thread of historic material to enable us to draw out the true story of the Saint's life.

Cainnech's father was named Laidech or Lugaidh, and he belonged to the Mac-ua-Dalann sept, from the North of Ireland. His mother's name was Mell or Melda. They lived in the modern barony of Keenaght, in Londonderry, and were needy persons, though of good birth. Cainnech had a brother named Nathi, and a sister named Columba. His birth occurred in or about 517.5 He first saw the light at Glengiven in the valley of the Roe, county Londonderry. At that time his parents were destitute of even a cow, but when Cainnech was born, a cow that had recently calved came lowing to the door of their mud cabin, and they deemed that it had been specially sent from heaven to relieve their necessities. However, shortly after, a Bishop Luceth or Lyrech came to their door in quest of some stray cattle of his own, and he consented to baptize the child, and to leave the cow with them.

As a child Cainnech was employed tending cattle, and had as his

1 Myv. Arch., p. 422.

2 E.g., Carlisle and Lewis in their Topographical Dictionaries of Wales.

3 Acta SS., Oct. V. pp. 54-6.

4 Acta SS. Hib. ex Cod. Sal., coll. 361-92.

5 Chron. Scot., 516, corrected to 517.

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companion a foster-brother, Teal Bretach, or Albus the Lyar, son of a petty chieftain. The differing dispositions of the lads showed early, for, whereas Teal fashioned toy spears and shields, Cainnech built doll-churches. Moreover, their stomachs differed in moral. perception, for, whereas Teal ate indiscriminately stolen apples as well as others lawfully obtained, Cainnech was invariably sick after having partaken of the former.

At an early age he was sent to Britain and was confided to S. Cadoc at Llancarfan, to be educated for the ecclesiastical profession. He was a docile, gentle boy, and Cadoc became warmly attached to him, so much so that the steward and others of the monastery became jealous and spiteful, and did their utmost to cross and inconvenience Cainnech.

In the Life of S. Cadoc we are informed that he had two Irish pupils under him, Finnian and Macmoil, and the account of the Saint and his pupils in the Vita S. Cadoci agrees singularly with the narrative in the Vita S. Cannechi, without one being derived from the other. Probably the Macmoil of the Life of Cadoc is Cainnech, so called as the son of his mother Mel, Mac Mel.

So prompt was Cainnech in his obedience, that once, when he was writing, he began the letter O, when the bell sounded summoning the brethren to work in the fields, whereupon he sprang up and left the letter incomplete. We are told in the Life of S. Cadoc that he built a church for his pupil Macmoil, in Bedwellty, Monmouthshire. further under S. MACMOIL.

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After he had become thoroughly instructed, Cainnech was ordained priest, and then went to the Continent, and made his way to Rome to the "limina apostolorum." On his way he made the acquaintance of a certain king-we are not told whom-and Cainnech incautiously promised to remain with him and end his days in that country. But no sooner had he made the promise than he repented of it, and how to get out of his undertaking puzzled him greatly. At last he hit on a device. He cut off the little toe of his right foot, and left that with the king in the certain country, and departed. In that land "the name of Cainnech, as learned men affirm, is held in high honour unto this day." He returned to Ireland, and went into the North to Assaroe of the Salmon's Leap, Ballyshannon, in Donegal. He visited. and studied with S. Mobi Clairenach, along with SS. Ciaran, Comgall and Columba. He also visited Teal Bretach, his fosterbrother, who was now a petty prince, and he urged him to renounce the world and give himself wholly to God. Teal Bretach, or Albus the Lyar, promised that he would do so, but, changing his mind, cut

off his little finger and gave that to God instead of his whole body, mind and soul-taking a hint how to escape from strict observance of an undertaking from what Cainnech had himself done.

One day Cainnech, Columcille, and Comgall were out when a storm of sleet and snow came down on them with a bitter blast. When it had passed, Columcille said, "My poor fellows who are out in a boat, I have been thinking of them." Comgall said, "I was thinking of my brethren in the hayfield.” "The Son of the Virgin knows," said Cainnech," that my mind all the while was with the angels in heaven."

The two first showed the more generous minds, but the biographer did not think so.

It is not our intention to give the Life of S. Cainnech at length, but we must say something further concerning him, for we are expressly told that he frequently visited Britain,1 and that he also crossed over the dorsal chain of mountains dividing Lancashire from Yorkshire, and Cheshire from Derby. He probably was visiting the Britons of the small British kingdom of Elmet, enclosed on all sides by the Saxons. But we are not aware that he has left any trace of his presence there. He is, moreover, said to have settled near the roots of a mountain in Britain, which cut off the sun from him. An angel appeared to him, and volunteered to remove it for him, but Cainnech declined. In the following night, however, the Almighty laid hold of the mountain and tried to root it up, but Cainnech severely reproved Him, and insisted on His letting the mountain remain as it was. "But to this day, the mountain has a rent in it, as the learned assert, in token of the removal that would have taken place, unless prohibited by Cainnech." 3

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When crossing over the "backbone of Britain there was much snow on the heights, and Cainnech lighted on a poor woman and her daughter half frozen, and the child all but dead. He had a fire lighted, and managed to revive them with heat and good food.

Once, when on a journey, he put up at a convent during Lent, but the only provision supplied was fat bacon. Cainnech made the sign of the cross over it, and said, "We will take it as bread." According to the biographer, the bacon was transformed into bread,

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Frequenter in Brittaniam vadit." He was on one occasion in Britain for seven consecutive years. Acta SS. Hib. ex Cod. Sal., col. 370.

2 "

Quadam die (cum) S. Kannechus trans dorsum Britannie ambularet," etc. Col. 372.

3 "

Deus vero, volens placere Kannecho, in sequenti nocte montem temptavit jacere donec sanctus prohibens dixit, Exibo, exibo a loco isto; montem autem nolo mutari usque ad diem judicie. Et sic factum est." Col. 372.

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