Canna
St Canna's Church, Llangan
Died6th century
Wales
Feast25 October

Canna was a sixth-century mother of saints and later a nun in south Wales, to whom two Welsh churches are dedicated.

Life

According to the writings of the unreliable Iolo Morganwg, Canna was a daughter of King Tewdwr Mawr of Armorica (modern-day Brittany) and Cornwall. She was the mother of Crallo and Elian.[1]

Canna was reputedly the sister-in-law and cousin of Illtud, and possibly established the church at Llangan, near Llantwit, due to its proximity to him. She married Sadwrn, her first cousin or uncle; together they accompanied Saint Cadfan to Britain and founded two churches, one in Carmarthenshire and another in Anglesey.[2]

Veneration

St Canna's Church, Carmarthenshire

At St Canna's Church in Carmarthenshire, there was a holy well below the old church called Ffynnon Ganna, whose water was believed to have curative properties and was a site of pilgrimage for many centuries. The holy well is no longer extant. There was also a stone known as Canna's Chair, with an undated inscription possibly reading CANNA, in a field near the churchyard.[2]

Her name also appears as part of two Cardiff districts: Canton (English translation of the Welsh Treganna, Saint Canna's Town); and Pontcanna (Welsh for Canna's Bridge).[3]

Canna's feast day is celebrated on 25 October.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Price, Thomas (1848). Iolo Manuscripts: A Selection of Ancient Welsh Manuscripts, in Prose and Verse, from the Collection Made by the Late Edward Williams, Iolo Morganwg, for the Purpose of Forming a Continuation of the Myfyrian Archaiology; and Subsequently Proposed as Materials for a New History of Wales. W. Rees; sold by Longman and Company, London. pp. 534, 536.
  2. 1 2 Archaeologia Cambrensis: a record of the antiquities of Wales and its Marches and the journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. Vol. 3 (4th ed.). Cambrian Archaeological Association. January 1872. pp. 235–239.
  3. ↑ "The Placenames of the Cardiff District". Reports and Transactions. Vol. 32–33. Cardiff Naturalists' Society. 1901. p. 39.
  4. ↑ Jones, David Daven (1910). The Cymry and their church. Carmarthen: W. Spurrell. pp. 114–115.
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