Canonized Pre-Congregation Feast 23 August Name Tydfil Tydfil | Patronage Merthyr Tydfil | |
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Died c. 480Merthyr Tydfil, southeastern Wales | ||
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Saint Tydfil (standard Welsh Tudful; martyred ca. 480) is the legendary dedicatee of Merthyr Tydfil (Welsh: Merthyr Tudful, popularly, but erroneously, interpreted as "Martyr Tydfil"), a town in Glamorgan, south Wales.
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Although "merthyr" means "martyr" in the Welsh language - via British from the Latin word "martyr" - the place name is in fact from Latin "martyrium", initially a martyr's tomb, but later merely a church dedicated to a saint. It would seem that when taken into British from Latin "martyrium" did not necessarily imply martyrdom. By regular sound changes, both "martyr" and "martyrium" have given the same form in Welsh - "merthyr".
Tydfil was the daughter of King Brychan by his fourth wife. Most of Brychan's children were well educated, girls and boys, at a school in Gwenddwr on the Wye and went on to live deeply religious lives. Her martyrdom took place during a pitched battle between her family and a band of marauding Picts during the fifth century AD. Although much of what is known about her comes from monks writing long after she was supposed to have lived, evidence shows that she did exist and that she did meet with a violent end.
Local legends say that Tydfil (a dialectal variant of Tudful) was one of the many holy daughters of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, killed by pagans (probably Welsh, although they were later said to have been Saxons) at Merthyr Tydfil around 480.