Cadoc (? - 570)

St. Cadoc one of the great Welsh saints, Cadoc was born around 497 in Gelligaer he began life under a cloud of violence. His father, Gwynllyw the Bearded, was a robber chieftain and one of the lesser kings of Wales.

Cadoc's father stoled a cow belonging to the Irish monk, St. Tathyw. When the monk came fearlessly to reclaim the animal, Gwynllyw asked him to baptise his son and surrender him to the monks care. Cadoc was raised at Caerwent in Monmouthshire by Tathyw, who later became a hermit.

In adulthood, Cadoc refused to take charge of his father's army and instead founded a hermitage at Llancarfan that grew into a Monastery. The monastic community near Cardiff became a famous centre of learning in Wales.

He proselytized over a large area of his own country and went as a missionary to Brittany coast in France.

Cadoc went on pilgrimages to both Jerusalem and Rome and was distressed that the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi was held during one of these absences.

Returning to Britain he was martyred near Weedon, England by the occupying Saxons.

Cadoc's story appears in a Vita Cadoci written shortly before 1086 by Lifris of Llancarfan. He came into conflict with king Arthur, who is mentioned twice in the vita, as great and bold but willful. The reference is important as one of seven sources mentioning Arthur independently of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and adds credance to the historicity of Arthur.


living water reprint from 2008