Today is the feast day of Saint Tanwg

c.520 Saint Tanwg was the son of Prince Ithel Hael from Brittany, who left with St Cadfan to join the monastery on Bardsey Island, he is associated with the church of Llandanwg situated among the sand dunes, near Harlech. It is thought that this church may have formed part of a Christian communication network in post-Roman Britain between Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland and Brittany when Roman influence was disintegrating, but Christianity was holding firm in these areas, as opposed to England, where paganism had taken root. It was connected by road to the monastery at Bangor Iscoed near Wrexham.

Today is the feast day of Saint Iestyn

c.550  Saint Iestyn   He is said to have been the son of Geraint ab Erbin, a ruler of Dumnonia (South West England). Iestyn was a hermit and a follower of the Anglesey-based Saint Cybi, there are two churches of the same name named after him, Llaniestyn in Gwynedd and Llaniestyn on Anglesey, where there is a late 14th-century carved effigy stone of him.

The film, "House of America", was released on 10th October 1997, featuring Sian Phillips and Matthew Rhys in starring roles.  Its director, Marc Evans won the 'Best Directorial Debut' award at the Stockholm International Film Festival. 

The setting is a depressed mining town and deals with issues such as Welsh identity and the nation's perceived inferiority complex. The film also won four BAFTA Cymru awards.

Born on this day 1985 in Abergavenny and brought up in the nearby village of Pandy.

Marina Lambrini Diamandis - singer-songwriter, otherwise known as Marina and The Diamonds. Despite the name, she is a solo act, the "Diamonds" being a reference to her fans.  Marina rose to fame after finishing second on the BBC Sound of 2010 poll.  

Born on this day 1864, from Newport

Arthur Joseph "Monkey" Gould - Wales rugby international, who won 27 caps, 18 as captain.  Gould, called "Monkey" because of childhood passion of climbing trees, led Wales to their very first Home Nations Championship and Triple Crown titles in 1893.

Gould is considered the first superstar of Welsh rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union thought so much of him that they bought him a house.  This caused a famous controversy as it contradicted the amateur status of players at the time and Wales was ostracised by the other home countries, for 14 months until 'Monkey' spared them further isolation by retiring.  In June 2007, he was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.

Age of the Saints

It is thought that the foundations of the Welsh church had already been laid in late Roman Britain and "The Age of the Saints" refers to the 5th and 6th century "Celtic Saints" who journeyed along the western seaways between Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, spreading the Word. 

The Age of Saints began in Wales with Dyfrig (Saint Dubricus), a bishop at Ariconium in the kingdom of Ergyng in the middle of the 5th century, who kept Christianity alive in Wales at a time when Roman introduced Christianity was waning in England and paganism was revived. Dyrfig was followed by Illtud, an abbot, who established a school in Llanilltud Fawr (Llantwit Major), which drew scholars from across the Celtic world.  Gildas, the author of "De Excidio Britanniae", one of the few historical records we have of  Britain at this time, was a scholar at Llanilltud Fawr.

In the early sixth century, many of the Welsh Saints  retreated from society and settled in isolated areas to lead lives of prayer and communion with God and  unlike the Irish missionaries, made very little attempt to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons.  Christianity only reached the English with the coming of St Augustine to Canterbury in 597, on a mission to bring Christianity to Britain  As a papal-appointed archbishop, Augustine expected obedience from the bishops of Wales, but they rejected his claims and also refused to conform to Roman practices on matters such as the system for calculating the date of Easter.  Wales was the only substantial territory still refusing to conform. and when the English historian Bede was writing his Ecclesiastical History of the English People in 731, he claimed that the Welsh had possessed no desire to Christianize the pagan English and, for the most part, have a natural hatred for the English and uphold their own bad customs against the true Easter of the Catholic Church.  

The Celtic saints of Wales were often men or women of noble rank, including kings, princes, and chieftains, who chose to renounce privilege and live the monastic life, they appear as individuals of conscience in a violently unpredictable age, polar opposites of aggressive kingdom expansionism and they offered a peaceful non-violent place of sanctuary.

In Wales sanctity was locally conferred and none of the medieval Welsh saints appears to have been canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.  Of the thousand or so parishes of Wales, the names of up to a half begin with Llan. It means an enclosure and was originally applied to a consecrated Christian burial ground rather than to a building,  some of the llannau are dedicated to the Celtic saints hence we have Landdewi, Llandeilo, Llangadog, Llanbadarn, Llanfeuno and Llandysilio, while others are dedicated to figures of Christianity such as Mary, Peter and Michael (Llanfair, Llanbedr, Llanfihangel).  Over 400 inscribed tombstones and crosses have been found from all parts of Wales, with dates ranging from the 5th century.  The earliest examples are quite plain and generally served as tombstones or grave markers.  Later monuments include the "Samson Cross" at Llantwit, and the fine pillar crosses at Carew and  Nevern.