The writer is a resident of
Llandudno (on the North Wales
Coast) where the beautiful
late 19th Century Gothic Revival church at the corner
of Lloyd Street and Saint Mary's Road is under the patronage of Our Lady Star of the
Sea.
Any list of Christian Saints must surely start with Saint Mary the
Mother of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Our God. She probably heads the
list in every country in the world with the greatest number of churches
and chapels under her patronage and this is certainly true in Wales
where so very many places bear the name 'Llanfair' in her honour.
Concerning Mary, countless volumes have already been written.
Interesting evidence of medieval Welsh devotion to Our Lady in
connection with Pilgrimage to Bardsey is given in a later page.
The RC Diocese of Wrexham comprises the whole of North
Wales, which was anciently split between Bangor and Saint Asaph, two of
the six dioceses of the Anglican Church in Wales. In North Wales almost
a third of the Churches and Mass Centres of the Diocese of
Wrexham (23 out of 72) are dedicated to Saint Mary under one title or
another. The remainder comprise a wide spread of dedications from Saint
Winefride to The Holy Family and Saint Therese.
Of the 445 churches currently used for worship in the Church in Wales
sees of Bangor and St Asaph, over 60 are dedicated to Saint Mary
compared with 36 to Our Lord and 24 to the Archangel Michael. Other
popular dedications for Anglican churches in North Wales are David
(18), John Baptist (14), All Saints (12), Peter (12), Paul (9) and John
Evangelist (7). With the exception of Saint David, all these are
Biblical saints. Only a few non-biblical saints from the wider church
are to be found in Welsh Church dedications; but of these Saint Brigid
heads the list and she is mentioned later. Among the churches dedicated
to Saint Mary is the church at Caerhun in the Conwy Valley. See picture
at: Caerhun.
Another church dedicated to St Mary
is the church at Bryn Croes, the final station on the route to
Aberdaron for the short but treacherous sea crossing to Bardsey.
Ancient Saints of North Wales
The subjects
of this website (which is continually being developed) are principally
some of the more notable local patron saints of ancient North Wales
Parishes.
