St. Deiniol of Bangor

A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

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December 10 · Bishop

St. Deiniol of Bangor

St. Deiniol of Bangor

A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Traditional feast

December 10
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

September 11
Secondary source · Wikipedia

Represents

Bishop

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Keep their day. Remember them on December 10 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Audently commemorated in Wales. Alban Butler on Nov. 23.] Deiniol Wyn, the son of Dunawd Fyr by Dwywe, a daughter of Gwallog ab Llenog, assisted his father in the establishment of the monastery of Bangor Iscoed, in Flintshire. He is said also to have founded another monastery, called Bangor Deiniol, in Carnarvonshire. Soon after this latter was raised by Maelgwn Gwynedd to the rank of a bishop’s see, and Deiniol became its first bishop. It is said that he received consecration from S. Dubricius, an event which must have occurred, if true, before 522. But it is much more probable that he was consecrated by S. David. His father, called Denooth by Bede, was abbot of Bangor Iscoed at the time of the council of the Oak with Augustine (a.d. 600-3). The poems of Llywarch H6n, a contemporary, prove that Dunawd was engaged in battle with the sons of, Urien Rheged, who was living in 560. Dunawd was therefore not abbot till the end of the sixth century, and his son Deiniol was not bishop till the beginning of the seventh century. He is said to have been present at the synod of Llanddewi-Brefi, which is thought to have taken place before 569; but this synod rests on the authority of Rhyddmarch, and is very doubtful. Deiniol certainly was not bishop at that time. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that Deiniol died at the same time as S. David. He died no doubt about half a century later than S. David. Dec xo.] The Holy House of Loreto.

Feast days

Feast: September 11
Traditional: December 10

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Deiniol of Bangor's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on December 10
M

St. Melchiades

December 10 · Feast
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Deiniol Sant Cadeirlan Bangor Cathedral St Deiniol - geograph.org.uk - 593071.jpg · Alan Fryer · CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

Image: Alan Fryer, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.