The 9th of February marks St Teilo's Day. (also Teilio, Theleau, Eliud; ) The waters of his well - now dried up - are near Maenchlochog, in West Wales, Pembrokeshire's rural heartland, where a church dedicated to him dating back to the 12th Century can be found. It was said to cure whooping cough. Pilgrims came from far and wide to drink it's spring water, which was said to cure paralysis and other ailments.
There was only one drawback; they had to be slurped from Teilo's skull. This strange practice continued into the 20th century using one of the saints three skulls!
Teilo was born at Penally in Dyfed , around AD 500 and was cousin of David the patron Saint of Wales. His original name was apparently Eliuid . He went on to become Bishop at Llandaf Cathedral in Cardiff, and died back in Dyfed at Llandeilo Fawr.
The three churches, that were former centers of the Teilo cult, are still standing. He was a very popular saint,- and by medieval times, there were over thirty churches and villages dedicated to him across Wales and Brittany, including the church at Plogonnec, Finistere, and the chapel of Our lady in Kerdevot. In Brittany he is known as the Saint of horses, and of fruit trees, whilst in France, Teilo, St Samson and his followers are said to have planted three miles of fruit trees and even today the fruit groves they planted are known as the groves of Teilo and Samson.
During his time in Brittany , he is said to have saved people from a winged dragon which he tamed and which he kept tied to a rock in the sea. In another a local Lord offered him all the land he could encircle between sunset and sunrise , Teilo chose to ride a stag to cover as much ground in the time available.
Teilo performed numerous miracles in his lifetime (he raised one man from the dead, healed another one from the palsy and so on) which continued after his repose from his relics and holy wells associated with him. In the Middle Ages Teilo was loved and venerated as one of the greatest saints and Church figures in the country’s history. His veneration from Wales extended to Cornwall, Devon, Brittany and neighboring regions.
In around 554 Teilo and his followers returned from Brittany to Llandeilo Fawr. After the death of St. David, Teilo became revered as one of the most holy men in Wales. He was joined at Llandeilo by many disciples including Cynfwr, Teulyddog and Llywel. He died at the abbey of Llandeilo Fawr on February 9th, probably around the year 560.
A considerable number of churches dedicated to St. Teilo in Wales most can be found in the counties of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Glamorgan. Churches and toponyms that bear his name are also scattered in Cornwall, Devon and Brittany. The modern Anglican Diocese of St. Davids alone has 12 churches dedicated to St. Teilo, and the Diocese of Llandaff has at least six churches which have him as their patron. No fewer than six churches in Devon and Cornwall are connected with him. Quite a few schools are named after him as well.
Today Llandeilo is a little town in Carmarthenshire. Here
Teilo founded his main monastery, served as abbot and
bishop, lived as a hermit. The town church is dedicated to
its founder to this day. It is early medieval by origin
but was entirely rebuilt in 1850. After repose of Teilo
the Llandeilo Fawr Abbey continued to develop and with
time became the major church of all the neighboring
districts. It is known that around the ninth century a
beautiful and ornate Gospel, called “St.
Teilo’s Gospel”, was kept in Llandeilo. It had
been created a century before, most probably in Mercia in
England. It was considered that this Gospel “had
belonged to St. Teilo himself”. Afterwards it was
transferred to the English town of Lichfield where it is
displayed to this day as a great relic. From 1290 on, on
the orders of King Edward I of England (1239-1307), an
annual fair in honor of St. Teilo was held near the church
in Llandeilo. This fair stopped only in the twentieth
century. Fragments of two Celtic crosses (date to c.900)
were also discovered and now are kept in Llandeilo church.
There is a holy well of St. Teilo near the eastern end of
the church.
The saint is depicted on stained glass
windows of a number of churches of Wales, for example, at
the Holy Trinity Church in Abergavenny. A
thirteenth-century church in the village of
Llantilio-Crossenny in Monmouthshire, not far from
Abergavenny, is dedicated to St. Teilo. The church has a
very high spire and due to its large size it is often
nicknamed a “baby cathedral”. The church is in
the early English and Decorated Gothic styles. It is
cruciform and its interior has many interesting features.
In this spot a battle between a king of Gwent and pagan
Saxons may have taken place in the sixth century.
According to legend, St. Teilo took a cross, stood on the
hillock on which the church was to be built and began to
pray. And under the effect of his prayer the Saxons
scattered. The church in the village of Llandeloy in
Pembrokeshire is dedicated to our saint. This fine
twelfth-century church was rebuilt early in the twentieth
century but now is redundant. There is a holy well hidden
among the vegetation near this church. A
thirteenth-century church with three chantry chapels in
the small hamlet of Llantilio Pertholey in Monmouthshire
again has a dedication to St. Teilo who is depicted there
in stained glass. Another twelfth-century St.
Teilo’s Church in the spot known as Llandeilo
Tal-y-Bont near Swansea was closed in the 1970s, then
dismantled and has now been rebuilt at St. Fagans National
History Open-Air Museum in the city of Cardiff (located in
the grounds of the castle, this museum comprises over
forty reconstructed historic buildings). Remarkably,
during its dismantlement well-preserved ancient murals
were discovered on the church walls under the
wall-plaster. The village of Bishopston, called in Welsh
Llandeilo Ferwallt, situated in the Gower Peninsula, has a
church dedicated to St. Teilo. The parish church in the
village of Merthyr Mawr near the town of Bridgend is
dedicated to St. Teilo. It was built in 1850s on the site
of a very ancient church. A modern Roman Catholic church
in the town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire is dedicated to the
Holy Cross and St. Teilo.
St. Teilo is most famous today for what is supposed to have happened
after his death. According to an account in the early 12th century by
Geoffrey of Llandaff, there was a dispute over the body of St Teilo.
There were three claimants to the remains: the church at Penally (where
he was born), Llandeilo (where he founded his church and died), and
Llandaff (who claimed him as their bishop). During the night, the body
is said to have multiplied into three, one for each church, thus
settling the argument. A miracle, or perhaps just a dodgy excuse for a triple set of
relics.In the early Middle Ages, it was financially advantageous to have
relics or shrine in a catherdral. in order to attract pilgrims.The ancient shrine of St. Teilo, along with his skull, survive at Llandaff Cathedral to this day and attract pilgrims, including Orthodox. His tomb with the main relics stands to the right of the high altar and his head relic is kept in the chapel which bears his name and is housed in a specially constructed reliquary. The skull is mounted on a silver base. For many centuries it was a custom to take an oath on the saint’s shrine. It was recorded that the shrine of St. Teilo at the cathedral was opened in 1850 and also earlier in 1736 by an architect. When the latter opened his shrine, it turned out that the saint’s remains (wrapped in leather) along with his episcopal crozier, cross, chalice and other items were practically intact. A statue of this saint today can be found in the west front of the cathedral. Some parts of Llandaff Cathedral are from the twelfth century; though this church was heavily damaged during the Second World War, it was subsequently restored in all its glory. St. Teilo together with Sts. Peter and Paul, Dyfrig (whose shrine still rests within the cathedral) and Euddogwy is a joint patron-saint of this Anglican cathedral. He is also a patron-saint of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff, which is very close to Llandaff and has a Catholic parish church of St. Teilo and Our Lady of Lourdes.
Down the centuries the saint's multiple relics went missing piece by piece, and what is claimed to be one of Teilo's skulls recently reappeared in Hong Kong of all places. After protracted negotiations on February 8th 1994 there was a special service at Llandaff, at which the skull was installed in its own niche in the cathedral's St Teilo chapel. The reinstated relic is now considered far too precious to be used as a cup. The most succinct and restrained expression of the head cult survival theory in relation to the well and skull of St Teilo is that of Janet and Colin Bord. 'A most important aspect of Celtic religion was the head cult. There is strong evidence showing a close association of this cult with sacred springs and pools, some of it having survived even to the present day, albeit in fragmentary form and lacking the power of the original Celtic stimulus. The Celts were head-hunters… To the Celts the head was the most important part of the body, symbolizing the divine power, and they venerated the head as the source of all the attributes they most admired… The Celtic traditions became so deep-seated that many of them were perpetuated down the centuries, surviving almost to the present day, and this is certainly true of the head cult and its water associations. The Roman historian Livy (59 B.C. – 17 A.D.) described how Celtic warriors decorated skulls with gold and used them as cups for offerings to the gods, a custom continued in the use of skulls to drink the water at certain holy wells until recent times. The most famous of these was St. Teilo’s Well at Llandyfan, wwhich beecame a place of pigrimage, where the water was renowned for its ability to cure whooping cough and other ills, but only if drunk out of the remains of St. Teilo’s skull. Penlog Teilo is the longest surviving skull used for healing purposes, though there were others. Water was drunk from a human skull at Ffynnon Llandyfan . Gruffydd ap Dafydd killed at Dolgellu was used in the same way, to cure whooping cough and other ailments. Francis Jones, suggests that water was drunk from human skulls in order to acquire the desirable qualities of the skulls original owner.Drinking from skulls at holy wells seems to have been widespread in Wales.
Incidentally there are other ways of preventing whooping cough without getting out of your skull. Pass the patient under a donkey nine times, or else persuade them to take a ride on the nearest bear. This particular brand of preventative medicine often kept a bear-keeper in sticky buns and honey. Or whatever bears eat.
Further Reading :- Bord, Janet & Colin, Sacred Waters. Paladim, 1986.
