View source for Saint Twrog

{{Short description|6th-century Welsh saint}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
[[File:Sant Twrog Maentwrog llawn St Twrog from window at Maentwrog; detail.jpg|thumb|Portrait of St Twrog on the window at St twrog's Church, Maentwrog, Gwynedd, Wales]]
'''Saint Twrog''' - feast day 26 June - was a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded the church at [[Maentwrog]], having come to Wales early in the [[Age of the Saints]].
== Early life ==
It is believed that Twrog was the son of [[Ithel Hael]] o Lydaw of [[Brittany]]. He was also the brother of [[Saint Tanwg]] of [[Llandanwg]], [[Saint Tecwyn]] of [[Llandecwyn]], [[Saint Tegai]] of [[Llandegai]] and [[Saint Baglan]] of [[Llanfaglan]] and [[Baglan, Neath Port Talbot|Baglan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wMGAAAAQAAJ |title=Enwogion Cymru: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen, from the Earliest Times to the Present, and Including Every Name Connected with the Ancient History of Wales |date=1852 |publisher=W. Rees |language=en}}</ref>
He was a member of the college of [[Bardsey Island|Bardsey]] which was founded as a monastery in 516 AD.
[[File:Canol Pentref Llandwrog Village Centre - geograph.org.uk - 607666.jpg|thumb|Llandwrog village centre]]
== Dedications ==
There are three other dedications to Saint Twrog: Bodwrog in [[Anglesey]] ([[St Twrog's Church, Bodwrog]]), [[Llandwrog]] near [[Caernarfon]], and the ruin on Chapel Rock near [[Beachley]] by the Severn Road Bridge.
== Maen Twrog ==
When Twrog first arrived in the village now called Maentwrog, the valley was very marshy, which provided him with the [[wattle (construction)|wattle]] that he would have needed to build his cell. Outside the church near to the [[Bell tower|belfry]] door is a large stone known as the Maen Twrog (maen being the Welsh for stone). Twrog is reputed to have thrown the stone from the top of [[Moelwyn]] crushing a [[pagan]] [[altar]] in the valley below. It is said that his handprints can still be seen in the stone. The parish of Maentwrog gets its name from this stone<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baring-Gould |first=Sabine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0jLjYgygkB0C |title=The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales, Cornwall and Irish Saints |last2=Fisher |first2=John |date=2005-06-01 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |isbn=978-0-7661-8767-2 |language=en}}</ref>
In the book of Welsh mythology, the [[Mabinogion]], a hero [[Pryderi]] was killed at the [[River Glaslyn|Glaslyn river]] and is buried in Maentwrog.  The boulder supposedly hurled by the saint is the one said to mark Pryderi's grave.
==References==
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[[Category:Companions of Cadfan]]
[[Category:Medieval Welsh saints]]
[[Category:6th-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:People from Maentwrog]]