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Venerable (Monastic)6th century

Saint Endellion Recluse of Cornwall

c. 470 - 6th century

Also known as Endelienta · Endellienta

A holy woman of Cornwall in the early British church who lived as a recluse and is venerated as a local saint.

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Commemorated as

Our Venerable Mother Endellion, Recluse of Cornwall

Life

Endellion (also rendered Endelienta or Endelient, and Cenheidlon in Welsh) was a holy woman of the early British church, traditionally counted among the many children of the Welsh king Brychan of Brycheiniog. Born in South Wales around 470, she is remembered as one of the family of Brychan who crossed the Bristol Channel into North Cornwall to share in the conversion of its people to Christianity.

Settling at Trentinney, she lived the remainder of her life as a hermit and is venerated as a local saint of Cornwall. Her name endures in the village and collegiate church of St Endellion, built on the hill where tradition places her grave, and her shrine there was a place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages.

Kontakion & Troparion2 hymnsReadHide
KontakionTone 2

(Podoben: “Having received the grace...“) Because of your love of God you forsook a bed for rest, O Mother Endellion,
you illumined your soul with fasting, thoroughly vanquishing your enemies;
but by your intercessions destroy the evil designs of our adversaries.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

TroparionTone 8

In you the image was preserved with exactness, O Mother,
for taking up your cross, you followed after Christ.
By so doing, you taught us to disregard the flesh, for it passes away,
but to care instead for the soul, since it is immortal.
Therefore, most venerable Mother Endellion your spirit rejoices with the Angels.

Text used with permission of the Orthodox Church in America (oca.org).

Timeline4 momentsReadHide
  1. c. 470Birth in South WalesBorn in South Wales, by tradition a daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog.
  2. 5th-6th centuryJourney into North CornwallCrossed the Bristol Channel to join her siblings in the evangelization of North Cornwall. Tradition holds that she first landed on Lundy Island, where she founded a small chapel, and stayed with her brother Saint Nectan at Hartland before settling at Trentinney.
  3. 6th centuryHermit life at TrentinneyLived as a hermit at Trentinney, south-west of the present village of St Endellion, where her sister Dilic also settled nearby.
  4. 29 April, 6th centuryReposeThought to have died on 29 April some time in the 6th century, by one account at the hands of Saxon pirates. She was buried on a hilltop, and a church was later built over her grave.

Contributions & Legacy

2 contributionsReadHide

Traditional Accounts

The traditions surrounding Endellion are drawn from later Cornish legend rather than contemporary record. The best-known relates that she subsisted at Trentinney solely on the milk of a single cow and the water of two nearby wells. When the cow strayed onto the land of the local lord and was killed by him, the nobleman was in turn slain by Endellion's reputed godfather, said in the legend to be King Arthur; Endellion is then said to have restored the lord to life, unwilling that a killing should be done on her account.

A further tradition concerns her burial: according to her own instructions her body was laid on a cart yoked to two young untended bullocks, which were allowed to draw the bier unguided until they halted on a hilltop, marking the place of her grave. The church of St Endellion was afterward raised on that spot.

Relics & Shrines

The collegiate church of St Endellion in North Cornwall stands on the hill identified by tradition as the site of the saint's grave and bears her name, an anglicized form of Endelienta. Her shrine within the church drew pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages; the shrine was destroyed at the Reformation, though its base is reported to survive.

Member ofReadHide
Synaxis of the Saints of Britain and Ireland
Synaxis
Family3 relativesShowHide
The Holy Family of Brychan
Her brother, with whom tradition says she stayed at Hartland before settling in Cornwall
Martyr Nectanof Hartland
Her father, the Welsh king whose many children became a celebrated holy family of Wales and Cornwall
Saint Brychanof Brycheiniog
Her sister, who by tradition settled near her at Trentinney
Dilic
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Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints