14th November
St Dyfrig’s Day
An icon of St Dyfrig (Dubricius). Source: Orthodox Christianity website
Today is St Dyfrig’s Day. Dyfrig (also known as Dubricius)’s fame rests on a highly unlikely tale that concerns his mother, Princess Eurddil, daughter of King Peibau of Gwent. When Peibau discovered his unmarried daughter was pregnant, he turned homicidal but found the princess was made of stern stuff. First he bundled Eurddil into into a sack and threw her into a river. Three times she was washed ashore undrowned, so her loving father threw the young woman onto a fire. The following morning she was found entirely unharmed and having given birth. Peibau’s heart melted and he went to kiss the newly born Dyfrig, who touched him on the cheek and instantly cured his epileptic habit of foaming at the mouth when angry that had earned him the epithet The Dribbler. The family reconciled, Dyfrig went on to become a bishop and saint, and founder of Welsh monasticism. He also allegedly crowned King Arthur, according the fantasist chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth. About the only certain thing about Dyfrig, therefore, is the date of his death, 550 AD.