St Kynemark's, (Cynfarch's) at Chepstow Part II

Below is a very rough sketch of St Kynemark's minus the church, and we have no idea of its location. It was stone built, rendered and limewashed, the building on the right being larger and 15th century built. The smaller building may be an early building follwing te design of a mud and wattles building or even wooden building-and so may the church have been, if there was not such a lot of stone around from the quarries of the Forest of Dean. The plan is a somewhat simplified one from the one prepared by LAS Butler, and the South Range seems to have been further away than I have shown it.

Original Version of Habit, such as it would have been at St Kynemark's at the Reformation.

Thanks Tad Allan!

Restoration of a site and Augustinian Canons, such as there would have been at St Cynfarch's wear this habit. Thank you to Stephen Webb for the tip about the habits! It is also easy to see why some thought this Abbey to be Premontensian!as the habits are similar perhaps.Augustinian Canons were also at Llanthony Priory, prima and secunda.

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Yesterday we learned that the location of this priory (of which there are now few signs) has been excavated and a paper by L.A.S Butler published. What was puzzling, when the excavations happened was that the Church of St John the Baptist are not part of the priory, which was a small one, and possibly of the scale of the little Penmon Priory and that of the church at Peterstone. The monastery seems to have been simple in design, although pieces of decoration on the interior of the stone walls , were colour washed in pink and then in white, with imitation stone pattern picked out in red lines and a trailing leaf patterns added in green rock floors had been made smooth by layers of sand and mixed with soil and covered with rushes.In the diagram above, it is important to realise there were more buildings to the south and all was enclosed in a boundary wall, which may have been originally a circular shape, adapted to a more rectangular shape in Norman times.
St Kynemarks lies nest to the ridge at Crossway Green one mile north of the church on the road to Tintern and Monmouth.Post Mediaeval spelling was Kinmark or Kingsmark.

Destruction of the Llandaff Records

The religious house at St Kynemarks may originally have been ancient and royal, but was quite small in size and its possessions were all local, so the house is not mentioned much in the records. The Mediaeval books were destroyed when Llandaff was sacked and ruined by Owain Glyn Dwr and again by robbers and brigands from Bristol. The records of many houses literally disappeared during these times. However the Book of Llandaff does contain references to Arthrwys, King of Gwent, who gave the Church of St Cynfarch to the see of Llandaff early in the seventh century. The church of St Arvans in a tenth century gift also came to Llandaff in a papal Bull of 1128-the year of the canonisation of St David of Wales by Pope Calixtus II .Porthcaseg Church, another local church and the two other churches were also confirmed to the see of Llandaff in this Bull of Pope Honorius II but may have just confirmed what was Llandaff’s . The Church of St John Baptist seems to have disappeared.

St Cynfarch, disciple of Dyfrig/Dubricius giving Llandaff its claim

We know it existed four or five centuries before Chepstow Priory was built by the Normans, and is the church to which the inhabitants of Chepstow would have resorted. The first mention of it is when Arthrwys ,King of Gwent granted this church-ecclesiam cynfarchi with others to Comereg one of the assistant bishops to Teilo in the sixth century. I was also one of those churches confirmed by Pope Honorious II to Bishop Urban (1108-1133) and the see of Llandaff, where it is described as Villa Lanncinnmarch cum Prato.

Augustinian Canons fomed from Celtic 'Llans'

The Augustinian Priory was founded here in the eleventh century, when the priory was probably reorganised from a former Welsh Celtic style llan. I have already shown why the Celtic foundations would have chosen the Augustinian charism after the style of Anthony of the Desert. In the Norwich Valuation the Church of St Kennemarco is described as a Chapter Property and assessed by one mark. In the mid thirteenth century Butler says that the church at Striguil(Chepstow) is included and also the chapels of Porthcaseg and St Arvans, both dependent chapels served by St Kinmark’s;the omission of St Kinmark’s implies it still belonged to Llandaff.

The Wentwood Dispte over Hay, House and Fire-bote (-boot)

Throughout the Middle Ages Llandaff kept an interest in St Kynemarks . In 1270 St Kynemark is presented in the survey of Wentwood –that the Prior and monks of St Kynemarks ought to have Hay and House boot in Wentwood. The Prior of Tintern, of Chepstow and St Kynemarks all attended the court to dispute the hay and house bote.Others present were Robert son of Pagan of Llanfair Uchoed, William Blewitt (who ‘ought to have hay and house bote in Wentwood by right of conquest’,William Denford de Cricke,Richard de Moor and Bartholomew de Moor , Knight,Robert de Moor, John Martyll Mathew Deband of Portskewett, William de St Maure of the manor at Penhow, and manyothers. Wentwood, called in Welsh Coed Gwent, was the largest forest in the vicinity and was much larger than it is today, extending to Chepstow Park. This is borne out by occasional ‘assarts’ that is references to land reclaimed from woodland. The lords of all the manors holding under the lordship of Chepstow had rights in Wentwood to cut timber to build houses called ‘house boot’, hay boot was the right to cut brushwood (called tinnet nowadays) for making fences; and though not mentioned in the lists of lords of the manors , fireboot was the right to cut certain woods for fuel’.The owners of the various rights to the boots kept these until about 1630.

Inquest into the Death of Roger Bigod

At the inquest into the death of Roger Bigod , Earl of Norfolk and Lord of Striguil in 1306, the Prior of St Kinmark’s is listed among the free tenants and pays rents on two tenements at Chepstow.

Prior William Hennyg of St Kynemark in court to prove a title

Butler also lists the 1415 Court Case, where Father William Hennyng, Prior of St Kynemarks , produced as a title to his land which the priory held in the lordship , a grant held by an earlier lord Gilbert Marshall, Earl of Pembroke (1234-1241)the fact that the document which was roduced was a confirmation and not the original deed could, says Butler imply that the priory was of considerable antiquity, possibly even of Celtic origin.

Augustinian Devotion to St John Baptist

In 1355 it appeared as St John the Baptist Church, no surprise because St John Baptist was himself a hermit and a favourite saint of the Augustinians. On 13th of August 1355 . Richard de Tuddenham, a canon who for some nefarious reason was in monastic prison cell and broke out and fled. Pope Bonifcace IX gave a mandate for him to reconcile to his Order. In fact he was often incarcerated and often escaped, but clearly had something about him that they kept taking him back.

By 1603, however St Kynemark’s is no longer mentioned but there is a record of a Chepstow parish register records the baptism of Eleanor, daughter of Walter Hutton at St Kynemark;s in 1642, so the church was still in use at this time. The location of the land of St Kynemark’s are no longer clear. Some of them belonged to William Lewis of St Pierre (‘caires in St Kynemark’, St Lawrence in Chepstow held of the Earl of Wigorn and the Bishop of Llandaff) So it seems Llandaff still had kept some of the lands.

Crossgreen Farm stolen by Roundheads in 1648

In 1648 it seems that Cross green Farm was among the posessions of Llandaff stolen by parliament. This farm is outside the present parish of St Kynemarks and was in St Arvan’s parish. As for the lack of a church on the site, what of the ancient tower in Piercefield Park? Bradney writes of the tower in the park :’A feature in the park is a tower now nearly a ruin of whose history no record remains. Parts of it are very ancient especially the doorway. Around are signs of buildings . From under the door there runs for about 20 yards an underground passageway along which a man could crawl and around are signs of buildings. It stands on the Roman Road about a mile from Crossway Green and is marked on the plan of piercefield by Archdeacon Coxe in 1801 as ‘Grove House’?Bradney:Hundred of Caldicot p 40. Question is as the model army wnt around destroying beautiful churches-did they also destroy the church of StJohn the Baptist and only leave the tower? Or what of St Lawrence's?

Pope Nicholas' Taxation 1291

Financially the Priory was assessed at £1 16s 1d from the assessment from Abergavenny Priory of the tenth or the total income of St Kynemark.. In Pope Nicholas’ taxation of 1291 the priory held land and estates in Langstone, Striguil/Chepstow, Stowere and St Kynemark to a total value of £7.2s 10d and also held the rectories of St Kynemarks, St Arvans and Porcasseg. This last assessment, says Butler, shows the small scale of the Abbey and number of monks was probably quite small.

Brother John ap Howell presented for Ordination at Hereford 1531, just before the Henrican Holocaust.

In 1531, John ap Howell was presented for ordination in the diocese of Hereford by the Prior of St John’s Monastery by St Kinmark and proceeds by way of acolyte and subdeacon to the order of priesthood.

Financial Difficulties

In 1492, the Prior could not pay the annual pension of 13/4d to the monastery of St Augustine, Bristol (seemingly the Mother House) and five years later they were still in arrears.The pension was supposed to net £46 over sixty years and the terminal date was in 1527-8. Possibly the payments would have started as larger payments in 1458.

The Lease of the Earls of Worcester

Butler also gives details of a lease of 1529, shortly before the seizure of the priories. Father John Pynnock, the Prior St Kynemark and the Convent of that place leased to William David ap Richarda cottage in Chepstow earlier rented by John Fyer and Maragaret his wife. The priory seal is attached to the leasewhich is dated in the Chapter House of the Priory.

After the seizure and destruction of most of the monasteries, most of their lands and possessions went to the Earls of Worcester. The Somerset family had been stewards of the two larger monasteries , but it is less likely that they bothered with St Kynemark’s. In fact they may well have remained there until they died, since the Earl of Worcester ‘s son was a Catholic , received recusant priests into his castle at Raglan and was generally well disposed towards clergy, although clergy in England were hunted more assiduously.

Willis Bund describes St Kynemark as Norbertine or Premontensian, but the Priory existed for three centuries and there are no records, and it may be that negotiations were underway to perhaps share the Priory with Norbertines.
However we know for certain that Tuddenham the apostate was an Augustinian Canon. Possibly the Priory was formed from the well established house of Roger de Bereceroles of Bristol or possibly Llanthony. Still there must have been some reason for the Catholic Encyclopaedia calling it Premontensian, but it is useless to speculate, although there may have been some sharing perhaps a younger order taking over from an ageing one. The documentary evidence is very slight because most of the records were destroyed at Llandaff and its holdings and rectories were not part of Herefordshire or Worcester or Bath and Wells. The only direct link there is ,is of the earls of Worcester being given the lease of 1529 ,which must have been part of the monastic deeds of the Earls of Worcester such as Tintern Abbey and Chepstow Priory and many of those were destroyed when during the Civil War, Raglan Castle itself was destroyed and burnt out. The Earls did possess St Arvans and St Kinmarks as seen in one of the few surviving deeds at Badminton MSS in the Tintern Court Rolls.

Difficulties with the site of the Priory

The exact location of the monastery and its compass has yet to be decided. It is not clear, whether the Priory of John the Baptist and the Church of St Kinmark were adjacent as appears to have been the case elsewhere, or whether the two buildings were apart. As the house was so small, it may even have been that a small chapel or oratory was housed in the East Range as so often the case in today’s Abbeys, so that the monks served their church as a parish church.Butler says ‘the elevated position is unusual for a monastery of early foundation , when compared with the secluded position of Llancarfan, Llantwit Major for example but would not be remarkable for a parish church. In 1840 an archaeologist called Nicholson stated that the stone walls around St Kynemark’s farm were a remnant of the priory, and David Williams in 1796 stated it was at the Turnpike on the road from Chepstow to Tintern. An excavation in 1962 and 1963 found the foundations of two buildings within the farmyard with their exis being North to South and a cemetery with at least 17 burials in rock cut graves. L.A.S Butler does say that far more work is to be done here. It seems the farmhouse itself may have served as the south range of the Abbey, only more research will tell, since the relationship between the bishopric and the Augustinian Priory needs to be understood more clearly, and with documentary evidence lacking only archaeology and the practices of the Augustinians can give us information.

Everyday Life

My drawing at the top (and I am no artist) is meant to show how it may have looked. We know it was stone built, possibly rendered and lime washed as was typical of the time. I have shown chickens being kept, bees, vegetables etc but no doubt they brought in other meats and had a farm close by where they could get milk and other things. There was a mill at Tintern and possibly even closer at Trellech , where they could buy in what they needed.

Fishing-Prior's Weir, Prior's Reach

The subsequent history of the priory seems to have been one of decay as locals robbed the stone. It is also clear from Mr Butler’s excavations even the stone from the foundations was taken, which has made life difficult and introduced more speculation. Finally, no doubt the Black Death in the 14th century made life a great deal harder, for the maintenance of the buildings and work in the fields. People could not pay tithes if they were ill or dead and as in so many places, perhaps the vocations dwindled as people made for the towns. There was also the fact that the Crown itself during the time of Henry VIII imposed always greater taxes on religious houses to deliberately bring them down. St Kynemark’s had valuable fishing rights on the Wye. Records of Lancaut Church show the name of the Prior’s Weir. A man described as the farmer of the Prior of St Kynemark’s weir who was involved in a tithe dispute was presumably holding the weir at Lancaut which with a weir-house was among the former possessions of St. Kynemark's Priory, in 1577; it was probably Liveoaks Troughs Weir which lies just below a stretch of the river known as ‘Prior's Reach.’

It is, however, important to remember and commemorate the work of prayer of the Augustinian Canons, who laboured there in their desert from the time of Dyfrig (Dubricius). A life spent in prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours, Physical work, frugal meals, service to the Community as they served the people of Chepstow as priests of St Lawrence and St Kynemark. The Chepstow Priory Church in later times became a parish church even before the Reformation, but St Kynemark’s was a small fairly unimportant house, but a home for people who made a big difference to the people around them. The religious brothers, who even in the world today improve the quality for the people, helping their disputes and acting as Christ in our midst. Though not all of them were perfect, most devoted their whole lives to their vocation and the seventeen stone coffins no doubt contained their mortal remains.

The house was never worth much and seemed to be in financial trouble for its last 50 years, so not much was done with it, except to lease it out to local farms, when anything valuable had been sold off and yet there is othing recorded in the Monasticon, so the brothers obviously dd live simply and poorly, as they do today.

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Augustinian Canons today

The spirit of St Augustine is alive and well and all over the world. It is the building which has vanished.

The spirituality of the Brothers at Llanthony,St Kynemark's and Peterstone can be seen in this novena by the Augustinian Bishop of Manila:

+In nomine Patris, filio et Spiritui sancto.

Dear Brothers,

With St. Augustine we say ,You have made us for Yourself O Lord, for you alone our God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

As we begin our novena to our Father St. Augustine we pray for the grace to make his spirit our own, on our journey towards our inner self. We reflect on who we are and where we are going as Augustinian Religious and devotees in the context of our time. Move by the spirit of Augustine’s restless pursuit for truth.

What motivates me to continue searching for God?

Having found Him, how do I make Him alive in my relations to people with whom I live?

If there is one thing that Augustinian emphasizes over and over again in treating of the search of God, it is that we must begin by going with ourselves. The keyword is WITHIN. There will find truth, light, joy in Christ Himself.

There we will be heard when we pray; there we will love and worship God. But while this within signifies the very depths of our being, this is only the first stage of the journey. Augustine urges us to keep moving on even to what is beyond ourselves, to the source of our inspiration and light to God Himself.

Augustine would tell us, “Do not go outside yourself, but turn back within. Truth dwells in the inner man; and if you find your nature given to frequent change, go beyond yourself. Move on, then to that source where the light of reason itself receives its light.. (End of the reading – Some moments of silence)

LITANY IN HONOUR OF SAINT AUGUSTINE


Lord, have mercy on Lord, have mercy on us
Christ, have mercy on us Christ have mercy on us God the Father of Heaven Have mercy on us
God the Son, Redeemer of the World Have mercy on us World God, the Holy Spirit Have mercy on us
Holy Trinity,One God
Have mercy on us
Mary,MotherofJesus
Pray for us Mary, Mother of Consolation Pray for us
Mary, Mother of Good Counsel Pray for us
St. Augustine, bright star of the Church Pray for us
St. Augustine, filled with zeal for God’s glory Pray for us
St. Augustine, dauntless defender of the truth Pray for us
St. Augustine, the triumph of divine grace Pray for us
St. Augustine, on fire with the love of God Pray for us
St. Augustine, so great and so humble Pray for us
St. Augustine, prince of bishops and doctors Pray for us
St. Augustine, father of monastic life. Pray for us
St. Augustine, holiest of the wise and wisest of the holy Pray for us


Pray for us St. Augustine, That may become worthy of the promises of Christ.

ALL: You have made for yourself O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. We ask you to bless our restlessness in our search for you will live in our lives, and in the events confronting us.

Finding you, may we be faithful to you God of history, faithful to Christ our Lord and Saviour, faithful to the Church and her teaching and faithful to our particular state of life, which we have chosen to serve you. This we ask of you loving Father, through Christ our Lord and through the intercession of Saint Augustine, our Father.
Amen.

Autumn Colours, rushing stream and Mounton, Grange of Chepstow

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I have begun to blog about the great Augustinian foundations and am soon continuing with St Kynemark, near Chepstow and also the Austin (Augustinian) Friars Minor at Newport.Last Friday, however, I was fortunate to be taken by Anthony Utting and the Vicar of the parish Revd Julian White, in whose parish Mounton lies. I had already visited Mathern some time ago when mentioning it as the church which houses the (still existing) relics of St Tewdrig, who died from wounds whilst defnding th Christian faith against the paganSaxons in the sixth century and is buried in the church. His son was the 'Meurig' of Pwll-Meyrick(-Meurigs pool or well)who buried his father in the holy Tatheus' Church in the old Roman town. So I thought, asMountain was a Grange of Chepstow, I would post this now whilst preparing the next post. Hope you enjoy the visit!

History of the Norman Abbey Foundation & St Pierre of Cormeilles

Between 1035 and 1066 the new Norman aristocracy had founded many abbeys in Normandy. Countess Lescaline and her son Robert , Count of Eu, was responsible for the abbey of St Pierre sur Dives. Count Robert set up the abbey at St Michel de Treport. Herluin, Vicomte de Conteville ,his wife Herleve and his son Robert, Count of Mortain founded the abbey of Grestain.

FitzOsbern was the favoured Son of a Steward,ennobled by William the Conqueror by doing his bidding

William Fitz Osbern, son of Duke Robert’s steward, in the same way and around the same time, established the monastery at Lyre and then followed this up with a similar foundation at Cormeilles. In Upper Normandy, the House of St Victor en Caux was set up by Roger Mortimer as a Priory of Saint Ouen. William FitzOsbern made substantial and lavish gifts to the Abbey of St Ouen as well as supporting his own abbies (Lyre and St Pierre at Cormeilles)Most of these houses were in central Normandy and also encompassed Holy Herluin’s House at Le Bec (to whom the Priory at Goldcliff was given)

The Monks School and Theological College and Scriptorium at Chepstow (now under the car park opposite Priory church)

It was significant, therefore, that many of these Norman priories were built close to land which was to be colonised. The Benedictine Priory at Chepstow also had a small school, where it taught boys and the young monks theology, singing, writing and copying, philosophy and rhetoric. This school or college did its work so well that gradually local boys became monks and these becoming Welsh or ‘denizen’ gradually became less susceptible to closure during the various French Wars during the later Middle Ages.

It would be wrong to suggest that the monks of the Norman monasteries were not devout. The reforming spirit of the monks of Cluny was already spreading up towards Normandy. The Houses built at this time probably owed most to the Abbey of St Ouen at Rouen (R-ouen)The first five abbots of Holy Trinity ,Rouen came from St Ouen and Holy Trinity passed on the succession by supplying the first abbots for William FitzOsbern’s monastery of St Pierre at Cormeilles

St Adoenus (Saint Ouen of Rouen)Dedication of this Church

So who was ‘St Adoenus?’ (Lit ‘To Owen’ad Oenus) This was the most beloved saint of the Benedictine Normans. St. Owen was bishop of Rouen, France in the 7th century. He was born in Sancy, near Soissons, about 600 AD of a Frankish family. While he was still a child, his family housed and entertained the exiled St. Columban, who greatly influenced his early education. In his youth Owen was sent to the court of St. Clotaire II where he became an outstanding student. He gained the favour of the King and his son, who appointed him chancellor. While in office, Owen steadily opposed the then prevalent practice of simony (paying for holy relics or offices-something abhorred by Pope Leo IX who declared it a mortal sin).

Owen, a nobleman, at a corrupt court, began to see the size and shape of the struggle to keep the light of Christianity burning. He became a monk and priest and a monastery builder in 636AD. He was made bishop of Rouen in Normandy in 641, and built monastery after monastery, for he clearly saw that only through these centres of Catholic living and learning could Europe be saved from darkness. He kept up his court connections, advising the weak Merovingian kings. A sort of French Dubricius, he laid the foundation for all the Norman abbey building in later times.

As a layman, St. Owen, with his zeal, piety and learning, was considered equal to any of the bishops. He gained a reputation for assisting the poor and homeless and did the Will of God generally, caring for widows and orphans throughout Armorica (Celtic Gaul-Brittany and Normandy)

He died on August 24, 684, and is buried near the main altar of St. Owen Church in Rouen.

May we rejoice and be inspired by the great qualities of the Patron. We ask for his blessings and pray for his guidance in the years ahead for the Community of St. Owen in this Valley in Monmouthshire.

My Visit 9.10.09

It may now be seen why the little church at Mounton(Monks’ Town), and the small chapel at St Pierre, were named after the foundations at home. The dedication of the monks’ town being to St Ouen (Ando-enus) and St Pierre the dedicatee of almost all the Norman Abbies. William FitzOsbern, builder of The Priory Church of Our Lady at Chepstow also first built the castle, as the most important priority in this strategic marcher area. He also granted money later to help the Cistercian monks at Tintern with stone and materials for building that abbey. In turn various churches and chapels were given to the French monks and Mounton, a grange, had its own accommodation (now known as ‘Monks’ Rest’-now a private house), a beautiful running stream and also its mediaeval track road, down which Farmer Bob travels at speed with his huge tractor! The south door looks to the track and then to the great wooded cliff face opposite, beautiful in the autumn sun. the small brook gurgles down the valley under a tiny bridge, where you could almost 'imagine' a monk with his fishing rod or even reading his office.

On the other side of the brook, more mountains loom and isolated farm houses appear between them, perhaps the descendents of the early farm, which provided food for monks and for sale to the castle and others. The air is still apart from Farmer Bob’s tractor and his accompanying dog, barking excitedly chasing it. On the other side of the road is a small churchyard.

Accompanied by the Vicar Julian and Churchwarden Anthony Utting, I walked into the little church, which has had a Victorian restoration. The rood is removed of course, but the piscina is still there, although on the other side of the chancel/sanctuary area. The priest’s door has also disappeared in the renovation. Yet the spirit of the place remains, the holiness and veneration. The early relic of St Ouen seems to have disappeared during the ecclesiastical upheaval in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the altar is replaced with a beautifully carved wooden table. The church is, in reality a small chapel and its restoration has left the walls sparkling white .

There are a number of beautiful stained glass windows of modern date. The window on the East side depicts the earthly death of Christ in the tomb and then the Resurrection. The South Wall has windows depicting Our Lady, the Child Jesus and the Baptist in striking mediaeval ochre tones and there is a wonderful window dedicated to a parishioner (perhaps the player of the small electric organ in the church in praise of God’s gift to music.

The West door has its font(19th century?) in situ currently colourfully decorated for the Harvest Festival . There are also windows in the North Wall ,one depicting St Francis of Assissi, one of the most loved saints and in the same window, the Blessed Mother. We remarked now that the monks’ church would have been a great deal darker than the present church. There would have also been wall paintings lit with candles. Candles were still everywhere on the window sills of the ancient thick walled church.




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ST OUEN, Bishop of R-ouen . Patron of Mounton Church

There was also , next to the altar a citation for a soldier commended for bravery and awarded a VC during the second world war. I do not have permission to publish his name here, but his bravery was attested to by the men under his command who made him a cross on the field of battle, which they brought back to Mounton.He is buried in the churchyard. There are some ancient tombstones-one dated 1680 by the vestry door and another nearby of the same age. Monks and laity were usually buried under the floor of the church, but often in a separate graveyard near the church after the plague era. The Churchyard was often kept for mirth, holidays, even Eisteddfods, Christmas dancing and fairs as well as processions on Festival Days. The great hymn ‘Festa Dies’-‘Hail thee Festival day’ in plainsong was sung by all in the churchyard on the great feast days of the church, before a large procession would enter the sacred space for the great battle against evil that is the Mass.

Life at Mounton during Benedictine Times

Mounton remains a pretty church, simple and stark and will no doubt have buried many parishioners under its flagstones, those who were once baptised in the font.The French monks would have had no problems communicating in Church, since the language was still Latin from Celtic times.

The monks would have kept the Opus Dei, the Angel’s Prayer or Angelus Bell would have rung at 6 to wake people up and and 12 lunchtime and at 6 at night and probably once at the Hours of Lauds (6.am) Mattins,(7am) prime(9am), terce,(12 noon), nones, (3pm) vespers(6pm) compline(9pm)which closes with the haunting ‘Salve Regina’ and mattins (2am) The hours would vary according to the time of year. These are the same hours as being sung today. Mass would be at nine.

Mediaeval People understood what the Mass was and what was being said and sung as they were taught for their first Communion and Confirmation, and there was always an element of catechesis or teaching during the sermon or homily in English. The pathway outside the front of the little church is an ancient trackway leading to Chepstow and to Tintern, st Kynemark’s and Trellech and Trellech Grange.

Roger Shrewsbury, Last Prior of Striguil

It is about 40 minutes walk to Trellech or Chepstow from Mountain. The stillness , the birdsong and the marvels of God’s creation were with me as I left. I could almost hear the voice of Father Roger Shrewsbury, the last prior calling me back!Monkstown had a stipend or donation of £10 a year for the church, which reverted to Henry VIII after he had taken the abbies and priories and their churches. The little chapel became a parish church after the disturbances of the sixteenth century, when its furnishings, rood screen, altar, relics everything ripped out and destroyed and the whole became much plainer in obedience to the new King Edward’s orders and later those of Elizabeth.

Catholics from this time for two hundre years, met in secret places to carry on their faith and perhaps even in places like this. Luckily we are in a time of healing and respect now and almost all will recoil at the level of destruction of beautiful works of art that are irreplaceable, although in many cases church furniture was hidden and then restored in more clement times.£4 4s 6d was what the priory fetched for Henry VIII and often the shells of the buildings when everything had been stripped out, were given to the very people who had carried out the destruction, so he did not need to pay them for the ‘work’.It is also wrong to say all the monks had pensions. Most of them and all the nuns did not and either made for familes, for France or starved or died of cold if they could find no shelter.This was the time when the Catholic nobles of Wales, like the lord of Raglan Castle, and Herberts and Morgans at Llantarnam began to receive covert priests and hold masses in their homes, trying to potect the Faithful and see to their interests.

Monks’ Rest

We walked up to the accommodation for the monks – a small cottage now much improved and extended , known as the ‘Monks Rest’. There are remnants of the original stonework on the South wall. The garden is very pretty and beautifully kept.

Paper Mills

Anthony Utting also told me about the paper mills which once provided employment for the area (100 at one time in the nineteenth and twentieth century) Luckily the numbers have grown again in the area not far away, where a new estate of houses has been built, which has given the pretty church a new lease of life.

Hando's MountonFred Hando' Sketch from 1944 shows a large house opposite the church, which no longer seems to be there, unless Iam looking from the wrong angle...
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Hando wrote of Mounton in 1944 in his own wonderful poetic wayin his wonderul book 'The Peasant Land of Gwent' published by Johns of Newport.Oten for sale onEbay.

When you step over the stile at the New Inn at Pwllmeryic you take a field path that runs close to the mountain brook. The water in the brook is crystal clear. The country is open. But as you walk onward, the wooded hills close in on both sides. You are now in Mounton Valley.Great trees rise ahead.

Between two of these trees you get your first view of the village. Thrown into high relief by the trees and the brown cliff are a little church and a cottage with dormer windows. A poplar, superbly placed rises like grey smoke into the heavens;a pretty footbridge crosses the brook. Cows stand deep in the water .All sounds, except for water and the bird song are hushed.

You walk between cottages set between gardens overflowing with colour. Even the walls grow flowers in Mounton. High hills soar ahead and on both sides, and the scented air is warm and still. Beyond the village the stream flows though flat meadows and the valley widens . On the banks are ruins of buildings of unusual form.

Mounton, the ancient Monkstown , for the land was owned by the Priory at Chepstow-knew industrial prosperity a century ago (19th century-MM) . Its three mills, with names as beautiful as the brook –Lady Mill,Lark Mill and Linnet Mill –produced carpets and paper, and for some time the paper used for the Bank of England notes was made here.

Now the mills are picturesque ruins and the wheels of industry are stilled. From the ancient markstone near the church to the house at the far end of the village,the eye rests with pleasure on the works of nature and of man.

Where the road forks above the village,the road to the right leads you to a narrow valley (accessible by car-MM-)The brook rushes swiftly along .You pass a couple of cottages, one approached by a bridge over the brook and then the road ends.

The valley now widens. Great trees stand above you on the sun lit hillside; others lie recumbent on the slopes and the valley bed; and the wooded hill on the left rises in mysterious shadow. The only sound now is the allegretto dance rhythm of the brook. Here , many years ago, were laid several of the scenes in the film version of ‘Ivanhoe’. In my opinion Puck and Ariel are more to be found here than the spirit of any Plantagenet.

Mounton has been a well kept secret. Cars scream past Bankhead the head of the Valley; unceasing traffic roars through Pwllmeyric at the other end.No tourist dreams of turning northward (Left from Newport Right fro Chepstow) from Pwllmeyrick, for Mounton is no show place, but for us, at any season of the year is a home of peace and beauty.

We love it best at the height of Autumn. We choose the time of our visit so that the trees, still heavy with leaf, shall glow at their brightest. ON our last visit in early November , many flowers still bloomed in the gardens, and at the church we stayed a while and looked upwards. Never shall we forget the pattern of gold and daffodil, of peach and berry red, of leaf green and bronze, flaked by the leaves against a pale sapphire sky. Nor shall we forget a recess, carved like a little shrine in the hillside opposite, in which a young fir tree stood ensconced’

Travels at home are cheap and safe. Salvation
Comes mounted on the wings of meditation
He that doth live at home, and learns to know
God and himself, needeth no further go’.

(Excerpt from Anglican George Herbert’s ‘Travels at Home’ (1633)

So nothing much has changed here since 1944 or probably from the times of the Monks, who are probably still looing down on thislittle acre of paradise....

Benedictine Priory of Our Lady at Chepstow (Striguil)

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Priory of Our Lady,
Striguil (Chepstow)

Founded by 12 French Monks from the Abbey of Cormeilles in Normandy, by William FitzOsbern and then his son, Roger of Bretuil (Bristol)The lands between the Usk and the Wye were given over to Cormeilles for rent to found the Priory.Pope Alexander III confirmed the gift, and Henry II granted a charter. In the Wentwood Survey of 1271, the Prior was said to have been entitled to houseboot and hayboot'by prescription since the Conquest'(Wood 1910-42-43) but there was a dispute with St Kynemark's (Cynfarch) over this.It does show the early foundation sate to be likely, however.

Duties of the Benedictines

St Benedict had reformed monastic life by his Rule , and the Normans were powerful supporters of the Benedictines, having had a care for their future after death. These monks did all their business for them, collecting tithes and taxes , bringing the chaotic into order and acting as a civil service for the new Lords. They had to keep records as well. Benedictines took over some original Welsh Church sites, but some, who were celibate were allowed by the Normans to remain if they embraced the Augustinian Rule, follwing the 'Desert' charism of the Ancien Welsh Churches anyway.

In addition, the Benedictines had considerable spiritual duties to perform-all the customary Sacraments, caring for the sick and becoming a sort of Social services as well. The Word 'DOLE' came from the Abbeys and Priories. In addition, the Benedictines had to service the Chapel of Our Lady in the casle itself.

Sub Tuum (Contemporary prayer to Our Lady-as the monks wuld have understood it)

Sous l'abri de ta miséricorde,
nous nous réfugions, Sainte Mère de Dieu.
Ne méprise pas nos prières
quand nous sommes dans l'épreuve,
mais de tous les dangers
délivre-nous toujours,
Vierge glorieuse, Vierge bienheureuse

I have spoken on the blog a great deal about how the Normans tried to subdue Wales , giving the Marcher Lords of Wales huge powers to conquer lands. He would both keep them busy AND gradually conquer Wales and the Welsh. Castles were built all over and the Welsh called the Normans ‘The Castle Men’. Over the next three hundred years many religious houses sprang up, firstly catered for by the Benedictines. Castles occupied many places on the Marcher Borders. I also mentioned it was not Norman policy (in the beginning) to subdue the Welsh .Monmouthshire, as I said was won by the quarrels the Welsh princes, such as Prince Meredith had among themselves, enlisting Norman help in fighting each other.

These Priories, erected by the Normans , in the main, next to the new Castles were to afford the new French monks protection. All were dedicated to Our Lady and the Chepstow Priory was founded from the great Abbey at Cormeilles.

OTHER BENEDICTINE PRIORIES

Abergavenny Our Lady and St Florent 1100-1135-Hammeline de Balun, first Norman Lord of Abergavenny


Usk

Our Lady, (now St Mary’s Parish Church)St Mary Magdalene and St Radegunde of Thuringia! was formed later as a Nunnery with six nuns, connected with the family in the local castle.Famous Mediaeval shrines.


Llangua, (Laln-Ciwa-St Kew)Priory Monks from the Abbey of Lire (Lyr)


Monmouth Priory 1101(Our Lady and St Florent)

Withenoc,Lord of Monmouth 1075 -1082.St Florent, Saumur.


And at the top of the county were:

Grosmont (Former Celtic settlement developed into the large St Nicholas Church)

Skenfrith (the former St Bridget Settlement made into St Bridget’s Church)

Castell Gwyn (Gwyn’s Castle) erroneously called ‘White’ Castle


Several more Benedictine Establishments in the South of Gwent were:

Benedictine Priory of St Mary Magdalene,Goldcliff White Benedictines Bec Abbey)

These monks were famous for strengthening the sea wall created by the Romans. They came from the Abbey of Bec , also in Normandy and wore white habits.The Abbey of Bec has been restored to Benedictine use as an Abbey.

Benedictine Priory of Our Lady, (Cluniac)at Malpas

(Cluniacs from Montecute Abbey in Somerset)

Benedictine Priory of Bassaleg

near Modern Newport (from Glastonbury Abbey)A small cell holding lands at Mendelgief.


St Peter’s Abbey Gloucester received the Old Welsh churches at

St Gwynllw’s (Woolos’) Newport
St Bride’s Wentloog (Gwynllwg)


The Benedictines had many duties, apart from seeing to the legal and domestic matters of the Lord of the Manor. It was their duty to organise the Lord’s Lands and business affairs, as well as their necessarily working to pay for their needs and looking after the affairs of those in their charge

Founding of Chepstow Priory and the Castle

William FitzOsbern, (a great supporter of William the Conqueror )built Chepstow Castle and founded the Priory from the Abbey at Cormeilles, which was named after the Beati Spetri de Cormeliis (1171) It lies on the old Roman Road going to Lisieux-, (famous home of St Therese in the nineteenth century). In 1055 William FitzOsbern founded the Abbey of Notre Dame et Saint Pierre at Cormeilles ,which was occupied by Benedictines monks until the French Revolution. Most of the abbey buildings were destroyed in 1778, and sadly, only the facade of the abbey and its enclosing walls survive.

Chepstow in Saxon Times

The Welsh called Chepstow ‘Ystraigwl' (us-try-gool) meaning ‘The bend’.
During Saxon times, the Chepstow area was of some importance. Harold had conquered it, but in general left the local Welsh to get on with running the ferry from Sudbrook. Nothing much was situated actually at Chepstow until the Norman Conquest and the building of the Castle on a site carefully chosen by them to control shipping into the Wye . The Priory was built as a package with the Castle, as I will explain later. Shoesmith who did recent exavations at the old Priory Church, believes that Nelson street was constructed next to a Roman road, which served as a boundary for the grounds of the Priory.

William Fitzosbern

William Fitzosbern, who was given the Lordship of Striguil after the conquest, was not totally happy and wandered back to Normandy and sadly died in a battle. He had built Chepstow to subdue the Welsh and control the River Wye and collect the lucrative taxes due for using the River,
Insofar as possible, as far as the Church was concerned, the Conqueror attempted simply to take over the pre-Conquest structures and to exploit them for his own ends, always trying to satisfy the pressures acting upon him with a minimum of expenditure and loss of personal power.

William the Conqueror as a Politician and William FitzOsbern

William made brilliant choices in his choice of Bishop of Llandaff and St David’s, men of Welsh extraction who had great empathy with their flock and clergy. What he had to do was be practical and not cause conflict all the time. When the conquest of South Wales began, FitzOsbern began to build Chepstow Castle, and the Priory of Our Lady, which he founded in 1071, sixteen years after he founded its mother house in Cormeilles.

Twelve Benedictine monks arrived and supervised building work and prayed for the souls of the Conqueror and his Knights, presumably because of the bloody way William dealt with the Northern English and rebellions in various places.
William FitzOsbern was. born in 1020 and died in 1071, after he had begun to build the castle and Priory. He was Lord of Breteuil, from where we get the name of ‘Bristol.’ He was a relative and close advisor William the Conqueror. William FitzOsbern became one of the great magnates of early Norman England having been right hand man of the Conqueror. He was created Earl of Hereford in 1067, one of the first peerage titles in the English peerage.

William FitzOsbern was probably raised at the court of his cousin and namesake Duke William, and , like his father, became one of the ducal stewards. He urged William to invade England, and tradition holds that he convinced the doubters amongst the Norman barons of the feasibility of the invasion.

As Duke William took control of England (becoming William I of England), FitzOsbern was given charge of the Isle of Wight, and then in 1067 was given the status of an earl. He is generally considered Earl of Hereford, though his authority may have extended to some of the neighbouring shires as well. In any case, that part of England was not yet under Norman control; the understanding must have been that FitzOsbern was to take charge of their conquest when he was able.

FitzOsbern as Regent of England

Also for the central part of 1067 the king returned to Normandy, leaving FitzOsbern in charge of England. The king was back in England in 1068, and FitzOsbern accompanied him in conquering southwest England. He attended the king's Whitsun court in May, and then himself paid a visit to Normandy, where he fell ill for some months.

Adeliza de Tosny

In 1069 FitzOsbern and his followers pushed on into Wales, beginning the conquest of Gwent. FitzOsbern’s first wife was Adeliza de Tosny who had died prior to 1069 and was buried at his beloved Abbey in Cormeilles, where he also was later himself laid to rest.

As part of the assertion of Norman control over England (and Wales), FitzOsbern was one of the major Norman castle builders. Early castles attributed to him include Carisbrooke,Isle of Wight(also monks from Cormeilles) Chepstow (Striguil), , and Monmouth.

FitzOsbern dies and leaves his property to his son, Roger of Bretuil (Bristol)

Fitzosbern founded the Priory of Striguil and was persuaded to lend help to the Cistercian monks of Tintern Abbey to build their new Abbey. In 1070 trouble arose in Flanders, where king William's brother-in-law Baldwin VI of Flanders had died, leaving his county and his young sons in the hands of his widow Richilde, Countess of Mons and Hainaut.

Her control of Flanders was challenged by the brother of her late husband, Robert the Frisian. Looking for help, she offered herself in marriage to FitzOsbern. He could not resist the chance to become also count of the rich principality in the German Empire, close to Normandy. He married Richilde shortly before the Battle of Cassel He hurried there with his army, but nevertheless was defeated by the Count of Flanders: FitzOsbern lost his life in the Battle of Cassel on February 22, 1072. He was succeeded in Normandy by his eldest son, William of Breteuil, and in England and Wales by his younger son, Roger de Breteuil.

Robert de Bretuil begins to build the Priory at Striguil (Chepstow)

Building work started in 1072, under the supervision of Roger de Bretuil and confirmation of its status was confirmed in a Papal Bull of 1168 by Pope Alexander III. It is one of the few Norman buildings designed to be vaulted. The arcades consist of massive square pillars under whose arches you could once walk into the nave. In 1841, during a Victorian reconstruction) these square pillars were sadly removed. John P Harris in the guide book to the Priory church writes ‘Notice that the spaces in the upper wall above the arcade, called the ‘Triforium’are not the same on each side of the church which is called ‘the nave’ In many ways, the Normans left the lands of the church alone but they did bring a semblance of order to a Celtic church which had become somewhat disorganised,in its amalgamation with the Saxon Church, although thriving with numbers, excellent teaching and faith..

Taxation of Pope Nicholas

The Priories of Chepstow and Striguil are one and the same. There is no mention of Chepstow in the donations to Cormeilles . FitzOsbern, the founder of Tintern Abbey is called the Lord of Striguil alias Chepstow.

In 1291 in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas there were several entries for Striguil/Chepstow where we learn that two of their pigs had to be paid ! from Tidenham 1/- and from Stonehouse £1.6s 8p. The Abbey was seized as an ‘alien’ priory by the crown during the French wars, but restored by Henry IV. In the second year of his reign, Henry IV granted the Priory to the College called ‘God’s House’ at Cambridge but the grant seems not to have taken effect and the priory remained here as a Denizen house (A local house) until it was seized by Henry VIII and Cromwell, when it had only three monks left and was valued as at the clear annual income of £32.3s. Chepstow sent annual taxes to Cormeilles.

In the time of war, the reigning king would receive the revenues and appointed the vicar. In 1415, alien priories were transferred to the crown and Chepstow was attached to Bermondsey. It probably became independent in 1442.

How the monks used the Priory

The monks held their services in the chancel and the transepts , separated by a stone ‘pulpitum’ (screen) from the nave where it was used by the people for their parish church. It was here that the monks would come every day and pray the Liturgy of the Hours and the Mass. Essentially the Liturgy of the hours has not changed from then until today, except that it would have been in Latin, which all the monks understood.

During the vandalism of the ‘Reformation’ the transepts were ripped down and the monastic end taken away. The tower remained in the middle of the church.The Victorians during their renovations replaced the transepts and built some of the monastic end on again for a high altar. The tower became unstable in 1701 and the western tower was moved to the West end of the Priory Church.

The Present Church

The present Church consists of a shallow chancel, transepts, clerestoried nave of four bays, and battled western tower, erected in 1705-6, rising within the church, and in part built on the ancient front; it contains 8 bells and a clock with chimes; of the central tower, which fell down in 1701, there remains only the base of one of the massive piers once probably supporting it.

In 1841 the whole fabric, in order to provide an increased number of sittings, was extensively altered The late shallow chancel was erected and the transepts enlarged by destroying the eastern bay of the nave and incorporating it in new transepts; the aisles were also pulled down, and the arcades, consisting of plain round arches on massive square piers, built up; the north porch was removed, and its Norman arch placed under the tower, the western gallery was extended, and other galleries were erected in the new transepts.





Benedictine Religious Houses
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Earliest Benedictines at Striguil

Priors of Striguil

Dom John de Hemmyngsbourg
Resigned promoted to Goldcliff 26April 1349

Dom Ralph de Compton
(Vicar of Goldcliff)

16th June 1349
Dom William Guby Chaplain

18th August 1382
Dom John Heppern Chaplain

18 November 1394
Dom Charles de Wenlock
Clerk,|Appointed Farmer of the alien priory at Chepstow during the war with France

12 February 1393
Dom John Davy, Chaplain







______________________________________________________________________________________More About Chepstow Priory next!

St Tecla-Virgin and Martyr of Chepstow and her namesake in Laodocia!

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Above St Tecla's Rock at Beachley,
Umder the Severn Bridge at M48 is the site of the old Beachley to Aust Ferry, which could have been why it might have been Saxons coming over rom Gloucester or Bristol by boat. There are records at Llandaff or a raid by pirates from Bristol.
St Tecla of Chepstow
Coming to the last of our more publicised female saints, St Tecla is the only saint not to come from South Wales. She actually came from the Ruthin area of North Wales Llandegla and was given the name ‘Tecla’ after the great Eastern saint of that name,(Thekla) just as Tewdrig had been named after Theoderick,Emperor and Bishop). Tecla came down from somewhere in North Wales and had become a saint par excellance working with lepers. St Tecla’s well in North Wales is said to cure lepers and heal all manner of diseases.

St Tecla’s Well

I came across this account by a Mr Pennant who was speaking about the Village of Llandegla in North Wales .Tecla was known to have done great works of mercy there but Druidical practices may still have been part of the ritual. Ancient springs always were used for baptisms and healings.Mr Pennant says of St Tecla, Virgin and Martyr that not 200 yards from the church was the spring called Gwern Degla. The water , he says, was held to be under the protection of the saintand to this day, held to be very efficacious for the falling sickness (epilepsy-petit mal?) Now the patient had to wash his limbs in the well water , pay 4p (this Was Victorian times!) and then while walking around the well three times reciting the Lord’s Prayer (which he says is a Druid practice called ‘Deasuil’. This had to be done after sunset to inspire the votaries with awe! If a man was afflicted he offered a cockerel if a woman was afflicted it was a hen. In Caesar’s ‘De Bello Gallico’ he mentions the fixation the Celts had with fowl, hares and geese.They were not to be eaten and in connection with this ritual not killed. The sick person had to walk around the church three times then and recite the Lord’s Prayer again. The fowl is in a basket with a covering. The sick person then lay under the altar until daybreak with a Bible under his head and covered with a carpet or cloth (The altar replacing a cromlech) and then at break of day, if the fowl was dead, it was believed the sickness had passed to the anima;, of not the Saint had not wanted to heal the person and the chicken lived. Pennant called this ‘Christian heathenism’.Nevertheless very interesting to read. Oh yes and if healed, the person had to pay another sixpence to the saint! Another account also says the patient was given a drink from it!

St Tecla in Powys

St Tecla's church lies in the middle of Llandegley, a few miles to the east of Llandrindod Wells in Penybont, Powys. The small church has been largely rebuilt, though it retains a small part of its essential medieval features. Notable features include the late medieval screen and an ornate priest's door, thought to have been brought from Cwmhir Abbey. Its round churchyard has been extended during the present century, but its form together with the dedication implies an early medieval beginning, that is a possible early Welsh monastic settlement

St Paul and the Original St Thekla for whom she was named.

I ought to digress again to talk about the saint after whom she was undoubtedly named. The praise of virginity and chastity, was a running thread in Christianity, especially at this time, when women could almost be traded, or bought and sold, or used for treaties. The author of the tale wrote in the second century,and sets this story about St Thekla into the framework of the Book of Acts, but this text is different from the New Testament portrayal of Paul.Whilst it is not part of the inspired text of the Holy Scripture which the Catholic Church finalised in the third century, this not being written in Apostolic times, it is interesting in explaining the popularity of the cult of St Thekla throughout the church in the known world at the time.
St Paul gave his homilies or teachings in the house of Onesiphorus in Iconium Laodocia, in a series of Beatitudes, by which Thekla, a young noble virgin, listened to Paul's "discourse on chastity" from her window in an adjacent house. She listened, enraptured, without moving for days. Thekla's mother and fiancée, Thamyris, became concerned that Tecla would follow Paul's demand "that one must fear only one God and live in chastity", and he and her mother formed a mob to drag Paul to the governor, who imprisoned the apostle.
Thekla bribed a guard to gain entrance to the prison, and sat at Paul's feet all night listening to his teaching and kissing the ropes which bound him . When her family found her, both she and St Paul were again brought before the governor .At her mother's request, Paul was sentenced to scourging and expulsion, and Thekla to be killed by being burned at the stake,so that "all the women who have been taught by this man may be afraid." Tecla was humiliated by having her clothes pulled off and was put on the fire, but was saved as God sent a miraculous storm to put out the flames.
Reunited, Paul, his disciples and Thekla then travelled to Antioch, where a nobleman named Alexander saw her and offered Paul money for her. Paul refused. He then attempted to carry her off but Tecla fought him off, assaulting him in the process, to the amusement of the crowd in the marketplace. His pride having been stung, Alexander dragged her before the governor for assaulting a nobleman and, despite the protests of the city's women, Tecla was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts! To ensure that her virtue was intact at her death, Queen Tryphaena, took her into protective custody overnight in case Alexander attempted to take her by force- a problem for many Christian women at the time as our Gwladys of Newport found out
Thekla was tied to a fierce lioness, and paraded through the city. She was then stripped and thrown to beasts provided by Alexander. The women of the city again protested against the injustice. Thekla was protected from death again , first by the lioness who fought off the other beasts, and then by a series of miracles until finally the women of the city and Queen Tryphaena intervened. Thecla was returned to St Paul’s disciples unharmed.
One ending of the story describes Thekla living as a hermit-or small community member in a cave for many years, then travelling to Rome shortly before her death to be buried at st Paul outside the Walls Church, where Paul’s tomb has recently been discovered.
The entry in Wikipedia says that the story of Thekla reflects the influence of the faith and impact of Paul’s teachings , and the experience of persecution in early Christianity, although reflects an oral tradition prone exaggeration of details, however, a local martyr legend, of Tecla, may have inspired this episode, in which she was also connected to Paul of Tarsus. M.R. James, the editor of the Acts of Paul and Tecla in 1924). "It is otherwise difficult to account for the very great popularity of the cult of St. Thekla, which spread over East and West, and made her the most famous of virgin martyrs’

The Cult of Thekla as an inspiration to Christian women

What a tale! So it is easy to see why these great chieftains in Wales named their children for great saints of the time. She may have even chosen this name as an inspiration,a custom we continue in Confirmation to this day where a saints name is taken when the young person has become initiated into the church to inspire them in Christian life. Tewdrig the great King was named for the Bishop and Emperor St Theoderick (died in 526 and acclaimed a saint by the people)and Meurig was named after the Army leader St Maurice (died 582) This shows some considerable knowledge of the Eastern Saints in Celtic Britain at the time even if the stories were not written down for some time The cult of St Margaret of Antioch, who had a shrine at St Tathan’s Church at Caerwent shows a link with the Eastern saints in a Christian Church, still unified with the See of Peter in Rome, where the Welsh saints went on frequent pilgrimages. The frequent travel of Christian missionaries brought news from all over the Christian world to Celtic Britain.


Tecla comes south to Dyfed

Returning to our Tecla of Wales, obviously the cult of Tecla and female right to virginity had been known in Wales, possibly even spread by St Brynach who would have heard ot them.Our Tecla, decided like her namesake to be celibate, and not marry as a gift to God, as many nuns before and after her had done. It is interesting that it was Christianity which gave this dignity and right to women, who had just been goods and chattels to men before and appeared to have no rights at all.

Like Blessed Theresa of Calcutta Tecla would have had her band of followers helping her and doing the will of Christ, helping and working with the lepers, finding them food, in accordance with the scriptures- (whatever you do for the least of the brethren, you do for me.) She embodied the true spirit of self giving love. Like her contemporaries, Tudfal, Gwladys and Tegfedd she had her priest, possibly sent by a local chieftain or even her father and she and her nuns would sing the psalms and liturgy of the Church. All the Welsh saints learnt the ‘rules of the Church’ as they were called. We call now them Canon law. For some reason, however,it seems that after establishing herself as a healer, she she embarked on a White Martyrdom and simply set off on foot to see where God would take her.

Brecon

The fact that there was a religious foundation dedicated to St Tecla at Penybont at Llandegley in Powys (near Llandrindod) seems to suggest she may have called in at Talgarth to see Brychan and Brynach and spent some time there. Timing at this time is very difficult. She travelled to Gwent and arrived at Sedbury right on the South West corner, a beautiful spot right next to the first Severn Bridge . She set up her small foundation as it were on St Tecla’s rock which is below near the site of the first Severn Bridge in the mouth of the River Severn itself.

St Tecla in Chepstow (Ystragwyl)

There was seemingly a small monastery set up by St Cynfarch (Kynemark) north of Chepstow and priests might have been sent from here to sing Mass for the Nuns and administer Confessions and baptisms. Latin was the language of the Church at the time, and most things would have been learnt by rote.


Why did Tecla come to such a remote place?

At that time St Tecla’s Rock may have been a promontory or a much larger island than it is now with sapce for the small community. This place was very small and there is another possibility of course why se set up so far away from human habitation. She may, herself have succumbed to leprosy, but we have no direct evidence of this. She may also have set it up as another leper colony. It does seem strange that a princess would have travelled so far away from her people. It may also have been that she desired to be alone with God on this beautiful island.

My visit

I took a trip there yesterday, driving on the Gloucester side of the Severn Bridge through Sedbury and Beachley and ended up parking the car under the Severn Bridge! It was a warm day.The car parked belonged to the Ferry Inn which a local told me was the subject of a ‘Most Haunted’ episode on TV! Nevertheless I then left the car and bagan walking down the path towards the point. Much of the land there is owned by the MOD with ‘Don’t ye stray from ye path style notices in red everywhere. Any yet what I noticed was the smell of the wild flowers, just about to bloom in Our Lady’s month of May. Was told once, in Walsingham that when spread through the hedgerows in May, with its white blossom showing on the green leaves, it is called ‘Our Lady’s Lace’ which I thought was quite beautiful.

I walked on on my pilgrimage, praying the Joyful Mysteries wit the help of my Ipod, which contains all four mysteries which you can download from the Rosary Armies Podcasts via www.sqpn.com, though I don’t recommend you doing it while driving-much too relaxing! It was warm and the Severn on my right behind the vegetation a glittering light petrol blue. The birds in the woods on my right were singing and heard a cuckoo! At the end of this path was-an enormous pylon and an electricity sub station and arrived at a country ‘kissing’ gate which I passed through and on down to a grassy beach over mud flaps and then the whole expanse of the Severn opened before me.Amazing! To the right, the M4 motorway in the distance and crossing the confluence of the River Wye. To the front of me was the New Severn Bridge in the distance and to the left of me was St Teclas Rock just as it had been all that time ago. Perhaps the Rock and church tower was all that was left of a much larger promontory or the community lived higher on the bank and the church alone built on the rock. Sadly it was difficult to do a good job on the photograph. It was difficult to get close because of the mudflaps and being on my own it would have been dangerous to attempt but the zoom on my camera was not up to the challenge. I had my lunch sitting there, taking it all in, the sunlight on such an expanse of water almost dazzling me.Then again this was a revered place before the Christian faith came to these Isles. The Severn (Called 'Havren was named after a Druidic goddess Sabrina and I did wonder about the strange sculptures on the beach made from curious bits of twisted wood..... Difficult to know if it was the result of some army training excercise or perhaps something else...... I crossed myself just to be sure of protection...

People must have brought the community food and clothing, although they spent their days helping the poor and sick and the that healthy sea air must have done them good. . St Tecla’s rock had also been inhabited at another time by St Brioc, saint of St Braivals and of course saint Brieux in Brittany as it was an ideal place of prayer.The Liturgy of the Hours was said at various times of the day in accordance with Roman practice.


How did they pray?

Just as we do.The prayer would consist of the psalms from the Old Testament, generally learnt off by heart by the novice monks and nuns , of Canticles , or important verses from Scripture. Now these were verses such as the Nunc Dimittis rom the Song of Simeon when he saw the infant Jesus ‘Now Lord lettest though thy servant depart in Peace according to thy word’. This prayer formed part of the evening prayer known as Vespers or Compline. A prayer to Our Lady-usually the ‘Salve Regina’ or ‘Hail Holy Queen’; would have followed before bed.This is from the account in the book of Revelations where Mary is crowned with stars.
The Magnificat ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of God’ would be sung in the morning at Lauds. This is the song Mary sang to Elizabeth, where she proclaims ‘for behold from henceforth all generations shall call be blessed’.

The Mass at that time as now consisted of the Jewish service of the reading of Scripture followed by the Eucharistic sacrifice in which the whole liturgy is a vision of the Book of Revelation. The host (sacrifice from the Latin Hostias) is consecrated and becomes the body and blood of Christ which will remain until the end of time.There were no diversions among Peter’s church on this topics, but Just as disciples wandered off when Jesus announced it in John 6, his disciples and Peter apostles remained with him. ’Master you have the words of Eternal Life’.Tecla lived a life of great sanctity for many years.The Mass was a lot longer then and included a longer Gospel at the end of Mass, but was essentially the same as now, though usually offered weekly on Sundays-the day dedicated to the Lord's Resurrection.

Saxons or Vikings

Sadly one day, the community saw a ship rowing up the Severn on an exploratory mission. They sounded the alarm as the ship came in to land and many of the community scattered. They knew what would happen. The small church and house on the rock was quickly obtained. It was Tela's custom to grant hospitality and friendship to passing ships who might part with something they could sell or even donate something to the little community as they left.

These attackers may have even been Vikings or perhaps Saxons and Tecla,praying in her church and obviously by then not in the first flush of youth was dragged out and foully murdered by these men. Even I can’t fathom just why they were driven to destroy everything, although Tecla’s royal birth probably meant there was some gold around in the church to pay for necessities. The dismay felt when the ruins of church and the murdered community were discovered can only be imagined. Tecla, heroine of the lepers and the poor followed our Lord as a martyr.

These women were brave pioneers, driven to act out their vocation no matter what. They stood their ground and met death bravely. Their solitude and vulnerability as women left them open to attack. Queen Materiana of Gwent/Boscastle,Saint, Goleu, the Mother of St Beuno and Queen Gwladys of Gwent were superb mothers. They were devout Christian women who clearly saw to it that their children, Ceidio, Beuno, Cynydir were taught the sacrificial nature of Christ’s death, the teaching and rules of the church and well versed in Scripture and the Psalms and Latin. In some ways they very very modern.It is worth stating that Christianity was the first religion which offered women the freedom to choose their path in the world, although politically it would be a battle which lasted a long time.

And what does the Bible say about Martyrs and the End Times, the time of Judgement?

In Revelations six when the fifth seal is broken, St John Writes:

When the Lamb (that’s Jesus) broke the fifth seal I saw underneath the altar the Martyrs, all those who had been killed on account of the Word of God for witnessing to it.They shouted in a loud voice ‘Holy True Master how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on behalf of the inhabitants of the earth?’ Each of them was given a white robe and they were told to be patient a little longer until the roll was completed of their fellow martyrs and brothers who were still to be killed as they had been ‘. There follows in Chapter Seven the reward of the saints and martyrs,

Hail the blood of the Martyrs!.