Teilo

Teilo (Elidius, Eliud), an important 6th-century Welsh monk, and bishop, whose work and cult were centred on Llandeilo Fawr (Dyfed). There are ancient church dedications in the former counties of Carmarthenshire, Glamorgan, and Pembrokeshire, where he was born, probably at Penally. The Gospels of St. Chad (written in SW. Mercia c.700) became the property of a church of St. Teilo; marginal entries show that in the 9th century Teilo was venerated in S. Wales as the founder of a monastery called the Familia Teliavi. The book itself was regarded as belonging to Teilo; the curse of God and the saint is invoked on those who break the agreements it contains.

No Life of Teilo was written until c.1130, when Geoffrey of Llandaff composed a biographical sermon. Its contents include that he was the pupil of Dyfrig and Paul Aurelian. During the plague he went to Brittany for seven years, staying with Samson at Dol. He then returned to Wales and died at Llandeilo Fawr. A dispute then arose between Llandeilo, Penally, and Llandaff about who should have his body. It was miraculously multiplied into three during the night so that each could have it! This was obviously an invention to explain the three different sets of relics. An omission of this author, duly supplied by the Liber Landavensis, was that he failed to make Teilo successor of Dyfrig in the ‘see of Llandaff ’. In the Liber Landavensis there are twenty-one places mentioned called Llan Teliav.

The tomb of Teilo, on which oaths were taken, is in Llandaff Cathedral. It was opened in 1850. Inside it was a record of another opening in 1736: ‘the parson buried appear'd to be a bishop by his Pastorall Staffe and Crotcher.’ The staff had dropped to pieces, but the ‘crotcher’ of pewter, still just held together. A large cup by his side had ‘almost perished’. Another silver shrine in the Lady Chapel had his statue on it. At Penally there was a shrine of an unknown saint, who was later identified with Teilo. When the monastic community there dispersed, all trace of the cult was lost. Feast: 9 February, in Wales and Brittany.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• G. H. Doble, Lives of the Welsh Saints (1971); J. G. Evans, The Book of Llan Dav (1893)

Sixth-century Welsh saint, contemporary of Dewi Sant, characterized by zeal and asceticism, active in south Wales and Brittany. Many wells, chapels, and churches bear his name, including the centre of his cult, Llandeilo Fawr, Carmarthenshire. Although his cult spread to Brittany, modern commentators reject Geoffrey of Monmouth's (12th cent.) suggestion that Teilo was appointed archbishop of Dol there. A 12th-century Life of Teilo survives in two versions.