St Teilo (Dillon) was born near
Penally by Tenby, Pembrokeshire and died in 580 AD. There is plenty of
evidence, both documentary and from place names and dedications, that Saint
Teilo was widely venerated in southern Wales and Brittany. (His name may be
spelled Teilio, Teilus, Thelian, Teilan, Teilou, Teliou, Elidius, Eliud, Dillo,
or Dillon.) He was undoubtedly an influential churchman, whose principal
monastic foundation and centre of ministry was Llandeilo Fawr in
Carmarthenshire.
Some facts are fairly certain.
Teilo was educated under Saint Dyfrig (Dubricius) and a Paulinus, possibly Paul
Aurelian through whom he met Saint David (Dewi). In his school days, his
fellows had suggested that his name was derived from the Greek word for the sun
and there is no doubt that in his later life he was regarded as a shining
light, illuminating and warming the Church in Wales.
We are told among other things
that Teilo went with Saint David and Saint Paternus on David's pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, and with them shares the title of the Three Blessed Visitors to
Britain. It is also related that during the 'yellow plague,' so called because
it made everyone it attacked yellow and bloodless, he went to Brittany and
stayed with Saint Samson at Dol. There they planted a big orchard of
fruit-trees, three miles long, reaching from Dol to Cai, which is still called
after their names. After the time with his friend S. Samson at Dol, he was a
guest for a while with Budic, a chieftain of Brittany, who had married his
sister Anaumed. After seven years and seven months, he returned to Llandaff
taking his nephew Oudoceus with him, who was later to succeed him.
Much of the writing about Saint
Teilo was composed in the interests of the medieval see of Llandaff, which
claimed him as its second bishop. About 1130 AD, Geoffrey (Galfridus), a priest
of Llandaff, composed a "vita" of Teilo in the form of a sermon. A
longer version of this life, altered to add importance to the diocese of
Llandaff, can be found in the "Liber Landavensis." Teilo is
co-titular patron of the Llandaff cathedral with Saints Peter, Dubricius, and
Oudoceus (Euddogwy). The last-named was Teilo's nephew and successor at
Llandaff.
The Gospels of Saint Chad
(written in southwestern Mercia about 700 AD) became the property of a church
of Saint Teilo; marginal notes show that in the 9th century Teilo was venerated
in southern Wales as the founder of a monastery called the "Familia
Teliavi.". The book itself was regarded as belonging to Teilo; the curse
of God and the saint is invoked on those who break the agreements contained in
it.
Outside of Wales, Teilo's name is
especially venerated in Landeleau (diocese of Quimper), Brittany. His feast is
still observed in the archdiocese of Cardiff and on Caldey Island (Attwater,
Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth, Walsh). St Teilo is commemorated on the 9th
February.[1]
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