CYNGAR
,
saint
(
fl.
6th cent.
).
Two ‘
Vitae S. Cungari
’ are known to modern
biographers
. The oldest, recently discovered in fragmentary form at
Wells
,
Somerset
, was composed probably in the
12th cent.
; the second is a fuller but later version added to the
1516
printed edition of
John
of
Teignmouth
's ‘
Vitae SS.
’ They relate that, after founding
Congresbury in Som.
,
S.
Cungar
crossed to
Glamorgan
and landed on the banks of the river
Thaw
. In
Glamorgan
he
established two monasteries
at places not exactly located, and came into contact with a
king
Poulentus
and a
prince
named
Pebiau
. According to the ‘Life’ of
S.
Cybi
(q.v.)
, which states that that
saint
and
S.
Cungar
were kinsmen,
S.
Cungar
accompanied
S.
Cybi
first to
Ireland
and then to
Anglesey
. A
Cyngar
is the
patron saint
of
Llangefni
in
Anglesey
and of
Hope
in
Flints
. The second ‘
Vita S. Cungari
’ identifies the
saint
with
S.
Doccuinus
, but this statement is of doubtful authority.
Cyngar
is also honoured in
Somerset
,
Cornwall
, and
Brittany
. The festival of
Cyngar
is variously given as
7 and 27 Nov.
, perhaps as the result of confusion between more than one saint bearing the same name.
Bibliography:
-
The Lives of the British Saints
, ii, 248-53;
-
Horstman
(ed.),
Nova legenda Anglie as collected by John of
Tynemouth, John Capgrave, and others, and first printed,
with new lives, now re-edited with fresh material from MS
and printed sources by C. Horstman
, 1901
, i, 248-54;
-
Journal of Theological Studies
, 1900
ff
, xx, 97-108, xxiii, 15-22;
-
Analecta Bollandiana
, 1882 ff
, xlii, 100-20;
-
Antiquity
,
1945
, 32-43, 85-95.
Author:
Hywel David Emanuel, M.A., (1921-70), Aberystwyth
