Saint Afan

Who is Saint Afan?

Saint Afan, or Afan Buallt, was a Welsh bishop and saint of the 6th century. According to tradition, Afan Buallt was the son of Cedig ap Ceredig, son of Cunedda Wledig, king of Gwynedd. One source gives his mother as Tegwedd, daughter of Tegid Foel of Penllyn, a legendary figure who is the mother of Taliesin in the tale of Ceridwen and who is associated with Llyn Tegid. Afan was the founder of Llanafan Trawsgoed in Ceredigion. He was buried in Llanafan Fawr, where his purported tomb is found, inscribed "Hic Iacet Sanctus Avans Episcopus." He may have been the third bishop of Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion. He was a bishop in the Cantref of Buallt later incorporated into Breconshire.

Through his father's line, he was a cousin of Saint David, patron saint of Wales. One account gives him as an ancestor of a 10th-century bishop, Ieuan, who was killed by Viking marauders. The church dedicated to him was once apparently a site of pilgrimages, and site of at least one miracle: the Anglo-Norman lord Philip de Braose was hunting nearby and decided that the church was a suitable place for him and his dogs to spend the night. When he woke at sunrise, his dogs had gone mad and he was blind; his sight was only restored when he resolved to fight in the Crusades.