St Dyfrig's Parish Registers & Archives
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St Dyfrig’s Parish Registers & Archives Document 03 The Development of St Dyfrig’s (A compilation text assembled in 2011) Original Content: In 2011, as part of a project to digitise the parish archives, several old documents were examined (documents 04, 05 and 06 in this series). The text enclosed was brought together in this new compilation to tell the story of St Dyfrig’s from its beginnings to the 21st Century. Subsequently further information was added as other sources became available. Text not explicitly attributed to the various sources is the work of Rev Gareth Leyshon in 2011. This document was originated electronically and does not exist as an original hard copy. Copyright: Copyright of extracts from documents 04, 05 06 and 20 remains with the original authors. Four pictures of churches, with attributions, are included under a CC-BY-SA 2.0 license. Digitised: The colour photographs were taken by Revd Gareth Leyshon in 2007, 2010 and 2011 and, together with his original text, are hereby made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. The assistance of parishioners Teresa de Ste Croix, Margaret Priest, Maria Reed, and Agnes Hughes, in preparing this electronic document, is gratefully acknowledged. For Further Information St Dyfrig’s Parish Homepage: http://www.pontypriddrcdeanery.org.uk/churches/treforest.html To contact the parish: Telephone UK 01443 402 439 / International Dialling +44 1443 402 439 In writing: St Dyfrig’s Presbytery, Broadway, Treforest, PONTYPRIDD. CF37 1DB (Wales, UK) By email: Use the contact page at http://www.pontypriddrcdeanery.org.uk/churches/treforest/contact.html and please ensure you enter your email address correctly, or we will be unable to reply to you. Catholic Faith in Glamorgan (Revd Gareth Leyshon, November 2011) I. The Pre-Norman Period Christianity came to South Wales while Britain was still under Roman occupation. The 6th Century Christian historian, Gildas, mentions, in passing, that two Christians named Julius and Aaron were martyred at Caerleon at about the same time (304 AD) as St Alban was martyred in Verulamium – now the town of St Alban’s, Hertfordshire, which bears his name.1 It is known that Romans continued to occupy Wales until at least 383 AD, by which time the Roman Empire had embraced Christianity. Records are scarce from the period of Roman withdrawal, though it is know that the Briton, St Patrick, spread the Christian faith in Ireland during the 5th Century.2 In continental Europe, the church was organised under the leadership of bishops located in cities, each bishop with his own clearly defined diocese and a hierarchy of officials. The Celtic-speaking countries had virtually no urban centres; the abbot in his monastery was more revered than the bishop in his cathedral, with little of the Roman-type bureaucracy. But the differences between Celtic and Roman expressions of Christianity were more style than substance. All the central doctrines of the Celtic churches, above all the understanding of the Mass as the central act of Christian worship, were those of mainstream Christianity. If the Pope's power did not loom large, it was not because the Celtic-speaking peoples felt themselves separated from the universal Church. Rather was it the result of geographical distance and of the fact that papal claims to sovereignty were not yet fully developed.3 Because of its importance in Roman times, Caerleon (or possibly the nearby Caerwent) was recognised as the seat of the senior bishop in Wales. Other churchmen with the rank of bishop were not, at first, associated with particular fixed sees. Towards the end of the 5th Century, the abbot Dyfrig (Dubricius) became bishop over the territory of Llandaf. When he was later promoted to Archbishop of Caerleon, he retained the see of Llandaf and mostly resided there, although the two sees remained distinct after his episcopacy. 1 Gildas: De excidio et conquestu britanniae, book 3, chapter 10; the Historical Note published in the Catholic Yearbook for Wales favours 257-259 as the likely date of the martyrdom of Julius & Aaron. Statue is that in the church of St Julius and Aaron, Newport, Gwent – photograph by Rev Rex Mathias and used by permission. 2 Archaeological evidence indicates a late 3rd Century presence of Christians in Caerwent, Gwent, and records suggests that Christian worship, and perhaps a bishop, were still present there in the 5th Century: Miranda Aldhouse-Green and Ray Howell (eds.), Gwent In Prehistory and Early History: The Gwent County History Vol.1, 2004. 3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch5_early_christianity_wales.shtml Left: Icon of St Dyfrig, left, by Aidan Hart, used by permission. Right: Statue of St Dyfrig on display in the church of St Dyfrig, Treforest; photo by parishioner Bernard Francis. Later, Dyfrig resigned his see in favour of David, and retired to Bardsey Island, where he died, possibly on 4 November 522. The same Dyfrig was reputed as a founder of centres of learning, notably those at Llancarfan (near Cowbridge), Caerworgorn (now Llanilltud Fawr), and Caerleon.4 Dyfrig's successor as the leading figure among the Christians of Wales was Illtud, founder of the monastery at Llanilltud Fawr (Llantwit Major). Llantwit can be reached by sea, and its traditions suggest the influence of people travelling the western sea routes. The Llantwit monastery stressed learning as well as devotion, and was the hub of the Christianity of the Celtic-speaking countries.5 The name of Illtud is connected with several churches: he may be considered the founder of ... Newcastle, Glamorganshire and also of Llantrisant, in conjunction with St Tyfodwg and St Gwynno, from which circumstance the church derives its name, implying "the church of the three saints." Among the chapels are dedicated to him, is Llanilltud Faerdre, under Llantrisant. 6 The monks of the following century, AD 500 to 600, were less learned and more ascetic – the most prestigious among them being the teetotal and vegetarian David. While the Welsh of the 'Age of Saints' were in close contact with their fellow Celtic-speaking peoples, they, unlike the Irish missionaries, made very little attempt to convert the pagan English. Roman-style Christianity reached the English with the coming of St Augustine to Canterbury in 597. As a papally appointed archbishop, Augustine expected obedience from the bishops of Wales. They rejected his claims and also refused to conform to Roman practices on matters such as the system for calculating the date of Easter. 4 An Essay on the Welsh Saints, or the Primitive Christians usually considered to have been the founders of churches in Wales. Revd Rice Rees, Longman &c., 1836. 5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch5_early_christianity_wales.shtml 6 An Essay on the Welsh Saints, or the Primitive Christians usually considered to have been the founders of churches in Wales. Revd Rice Rees, Longman &c., 1836. When the English historian Bede was writing his Ecclesiastical History of the English People in 731, Wales was the only substantial territory still refusing to conform –the Roman reckoning of Easter was eventually adopted there in 768.7 Under Norman rule, after 1066, the four Welsh bishops became subject to the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury and their cathedrals were built in the latest European fashion. The country was divided into parishes, the Welsh dioceses were reorganised and their exact boundaries determined. Wales was thus obliged to accept the discipline of Roman Canon Law. Norman rulers also brought Benedictines and other European religious orders to Wales, to found monasteries.8 In pre-Norman Wales there was no such thing as a parochial system. After the Norman Conquest, however, internal developments within the Welsh Church supported by influences from England and abroad led to the grouping of churches into parish churches and chapelries, and the parochial system as we know it began to emerge in Wales. In the Diocese of Llandaff there were Mother Churches, and these had out-stations, which were served by chaplains. Thus Llanwynno was the chapelry of the Church of Llantrisant, which in its turn was in all probability an out-station of the Mother Church at Llantwit Major.9 In A.D. 1120, Urban, bishop of Llandaff, obtained the permission of David, bishop of Bangor, and Griffith, prince of North Wales, to recover the remains of St Dyfrig from Bardsey Island. They were accordingly translated to Llandaff, where they were interred with great pomp and solemnity in the cathedral, which had been rebuilt a short time before from its foundation. A liturgical feast of the translation of the relics was kept on 29 May.10 Right: The tomb of St Dyfrig in Llandaf Cathedral; photo 1999 by John Ball, used by permission. 7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch5_part2_early_christianity_wales.shtml 8 http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/themes/guide/ch6_part2_coming_of_the_normans.shtml 9 The Church of St Gwynno, Llanwynno, Mid Glamorgan – an essay by J. Gwyn Davies. 10 An Essay on the Welsh Saints, or the Primitive Christians usually considered to have been the founders of churches in Wales. Revd Rice Rees, Longman &c., 1836. II. Parish Structures from the Norman Conquest to the Reformation Buildings now in Anglican use dating from before the Reformation would, of course, have been Catholic churches at that time. The area we now call Pontypridd Town Centre was not significantly populated before the 18th Century. Nevertheless, following the creation of a parish system under the Norman rulers, every acre of land belonged to a defined parish, and the churches whose boundaries include parts of the modern catholic parish are as follows: Eglwysilan: East of the River Taf (Cilfynydd, Rhydfelin, Hawthorn, Upper Boat) The Parish of Eglwysilan was one of the parishes created in Llandaff Diocese sometime in the 12th Century.