Cenydd

Saint Cenydd (Modern Welsh: Cennydd; French: Kinède; fl. c. 6th century), sometimes Anglicized as Saint Kenneth, was a Christian hermit on the Gower Peninsula in Wales, where he is credited with the foundation of the church at Llangennith. In Brittany, he is chiefly associated with Languidic, but there is a chapel dedicated to him in Ploumelin.

Legend

Liturgical calendars and place-name evidence suggest the historical existence of Cenydd. His legend, however, is too late and too obviously derivative to be relied upon. According to Welsh sources collected in the 15th century by John Capgrave and published in the Nova Legenda Angliae, Cenydd was a Breton prince, the son of "King Dihoc" (presumably Deroch II of Domnonée), born of incest apparently at Loughor in Glamorgan while his father was attending King Arthur.

A cripple, Cenydd was placed in a cradle made of osiers and cast into the estuary of the River Loughor (a fate that befell several early British saints) and eventually landed on Worm's Head. Seagulls and angels with a miraculous breast-shaped bell ensured that he survived and was educated as a Christian.