For the Welsh town of this name, see St Asaph

St Asaph

St Asaph is a town and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 3,491.The town of St Asaph is surrounded by countryside and views of the Vale of Clwyd. It is situated close to a number of busy coastal towns such as Rhyl, Prestatyn, Abergele,...

; for the diocese of this name see, Diocese of Saint Asaph

Diocese of Saint Asaph

The Diocese of Saint Asaph is a diocese in north-east Wales, named after Saint Asaph, its second bishop.-Geography:The Anglican Diocese of St Asaph in the north-east corner of Wales stretches from the borders of Chester in the east, to the Conwy valley in the west, to Bala in the south-west, and...

Saint Asaph (or Asaf, Asa) was, in the second half of the 6th century, the first or second Bishop of St Asaph

Bishop of St Asaph

The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of St Asaph in the town of...

, i.e. bishop of the diocese of Saint Asaph

Diocese of Saint Asaph

The Diocese of Saint Asaph is a diocese in north-east Wales, named after Saint Asaph, its second bishop.-Geography:The Anglican Diocese of St Asaph in the north-east corner of Wales stretches from the borders of Chester in the east, to the Conwy valley in the west, to Bala in the south-west, and...

, the Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 See now of that name.

Biography

No Welsh

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 Life of him is extant, but local tradition points out the site of his ash tree, his church, his well, and his valley, Onnen Asa, Ffynnon Asa, Llanasa, Pantasa. All these sites are near Holywell

Holywell

Holywell is the fifth largest town in Flintshire, North Wales, lying to the west of the estuary of the River Dee.-History:The market town of Holywell takes its name from the St Winefride's Well, a holy well surrounded by a chapel...

 in Tegeingl (Flintshire

Flintshire

Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...

), indicating probably that the saint once had a hermitage in that neighbourhood. The Bonedd y Saint tells us that he was a son of King Sawyl Penuchel

Sawyl Penuchel

Sawyl Penuchel or Ben Uchel , also known as Samuil Penisel , was a British king of the sub-Roman period, who appears in old Welsh genealogies and the Welsh Triads....

 from the Old North or Yr Hen Ogledd.

The want of a Welsh Life, however, is in part compensated for by Jocelyn of Furness

Jocelyn of Furness

Jocelyn of Furness was a Cistercian hagiographer, known for his Lives of Saint Waltheof, Saint Patrick, Saint Kentigern and Saint Helena....

's Life of St. Kentigern, which tells the story of Cyndeyrn (Kentigern) alias Saint Mungo

Saint Mungo

Saint Mungo is the commonly used name for Saint Kentigern . He was the late 6th century apostle of the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in modern Scotland, and patron saint and founder of the city of Glasgow.-Name:In Wales and England, this saint is known by his birth and baptismal name Kentigern...

, the founder of the Diocese of Glasgow. This saint during his exile (c. 545) betook himself to Wales and there founded the Celtic Monastery

Celtic Christianity

Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages...

 of Llanelwy (the church on the River Elwy

River Elwy

The River Elwy is a river in North Wales and is a tributary of the River Clwyd. The source of the river is sometimes said to be on the northern flank of Moel Seisiog, south-east of Llanrwst, at Ordnance Survey grid reference SH853593...

), as the Welsh still call the town of St Asaph

St Asaph

St Asaph is a town and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 3,491.The town of St Asaph is surrounded by countryside and views of the Vale of Clwyd. It is situated close to a number of busy coastal towns such as Rhyl, Prestatyn, Abergele,...

. Of the building and government of few Celtic monasteries do we know so much as about Llanelwy. The church was built "of smoothed wood, after the fashion of the Britons, seeing that they could not yet build of stone". The 965 disciples, of whom Asa was one, were divided into three groups: 300 of the unlettered farmed the outlying lands, 300 worked in the offices around the monastery, and 365 (the number corresponds to the days of the year) attended to the divine services. Of these the oldest assisted Kentigern in the government of the diocese, and the rest were subdivided into three choirs. "As soon as one choir had terminated its service in church, immediately another entering commenced it: and that again being concluded another entered to celebrate." The founder, after the manner of other , used frequently to pray standing in the icy cold river, and once, having suffered very severely under this hardship, he sent the boy, Asaph, who was then attending him, to bring a fagot to burn and warm him. Asaph brought him live coals in his apron, and the miracle revealed to Kentigern the sanctity of his disciple. So when the old man was recalled to Strathclyde

Kingdom of Strathclyde

Strathclyde , originally Brythonic Ystrad Clud, was one of the early medieval kingdoms of the celtic people called the Britons in the Hen Ogledd, the Brythonic-speaking parts of what is now southern Scotland and northern England. The kingdom developed during the post-Roman period...

, after the Battle of Arfderydd

Battle of Arfderydd

The Battle of Arfderydd was fought, according to the Annales Cambriae, in 573. The opposing armies are variously given in a number of Old Welsh sources, perhaps suggesting a number of allied armies were involved...

, in 573 (the only definite date we have in the life), Asaph was consecrated bishop to succeed him, and became the first Welsh bishop of the see.

Veneration

The feast of his deposition is kept on 1 May, but we possess no further details of his life. Traditionally, he is said to have died in 601.

There is a street in Brockley

Brockley

Brockley is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross.It is covered by the London postcode districts SE4 and SE14.-History:...

, South East London

South East (London sub region)

The South East is a sub-region of the London Plan corresponding to the London Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark. The sub region was established in 2008. The south east has a population of 1,300,000 and is the location of 500,000 jobs...

, Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

Bala Cynwyd is a community in Lower Merion Township which is located on the Main Line in southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at US Route 1 . It was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but is commonly treated as a single community...

 and Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

 named in his honor.

Sources

• Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

Further reading