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F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!
What we’ve been waiting for! A man of “perfect age and moderate maturity”.
We had given up hope of ever finding one to find this bill until we discovered St Oudoceus.
Could he be too good to be true?
#thread
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What we’ve been waiting for! A man of “perfect age and moderate maturity”.
We had given up hope of ever finding one to find this bill until we discovered St Oudoceus.
Could he be too good to be true?
#thread
(1/X)
On the surface, it’s quite simple: Oudoceus was a 7th-century, miracle-performing Bishop of Llandaff. His life is recorded in the 12th century Book of Llandaff (Liber Landavensis) - one of Wales’s earliest ecclesiastical manuscripts.
Liber Landavensis, @NLWales
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Liber Landavensis, @NLWales (2/X)
The manuscript tells us that he was the son of King Budic of Brittany. Oudoceus’s mother Annauued was said to be the sister of St Teilo, one of Wales's celebrity saints. Budic swore that his son would train for a life in the church.
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So far so good. But research in the 1940s concluded us that Vita Beati Oudocei (Life of St Oudoceus) is a creation of the author of Book of Llandaff, made from different legends of other – real – saints woven together.
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Miracles attributed to Oudoceus include: one day Oudoceus was returning to Llandaff after a long journey. Feeling thirsty, he stopped at the holy well which still exists on the slope above the cathedral and met women washing butter.
He asked the women to lend him a cup.
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He asked the women to lend him a cup.
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They replied that they had none – only butter. Oudoceus took the butter, shaped it into a bell and drank.
At once it changed to a metal bell.
A gilt bell survived @LlandaffCath in the Middle Ages, that could cure the sick with a touch.
...But this is St Teilo's miracle.
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At once it changed to a metal bell.
A gilt bell survived @LlandaffCath in the Middle Ages, that could cure the sick with a touch.
...But this is St Teilo's miracle.
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Next, the author tacks on some local legends about a saint who lived alone on the banks of the river Wye and is honoured at Llandogo.
In this tale, the King of Gleuissic is hunting in the woodland. He’s chasing a stag… but is puzzled by the course the animal is taking.
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In this tale, the King of Gleuissic is hunting in the woodland. He’s chasing a stag… but is puzzled by the course the animal is taking.
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Hounds, huntsmen and king in hot pursuit, the stag is guided to a cloak spread over the earth. When they reach him, the huntsmen dared not approach. The hounds were stupefied.
The cloak belonged to blessed Oudoceus, “a man of perfect age and moderate maturity”.
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The cloak belonged to blessed Oudoceus, “a man of perfect age and moderate maturity”.
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Oudoceus never had any cult in early times. His life is an appropriation of many other saints’... and he only came to be regarded as a saint because the author of the Book of Llandaff.
So, yep. Too good to be true.
http://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/llandawke/
#legend #folklorethursday
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So, yep. Too good to be true.
http://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/llandawke/ #legend #folklorethursday
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