Everything about Saint Asaph totally explained
» For the Welsh town of this name, see St Asaph; for the diocese of this name see, Diocese of Saint Asaph
Saint Asaph (or
Asa) was, in the second half of the
6th century, the first or second
Bishop of St Asaph, for example bishop of the
diocese of Saint Asaph, the
Welsh See now of that name.
Biography
No
Welsh 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 in
Tegeingl (
Flintshire), indicating probably that the saint once had hermitage in that neighbourhood. The
Bonedd y Saint tells us that he was a son of King
Sawyl Penuchel from the
Old North or
Yr Hen Ogledd.
The want of a Welsh
Life, however, is in part compensated for by
Jocelyn of Furness's
Life of St. Kentigern, which tells the story of Cyndeyrn (Kentigern) alias
Saint Mungo, the founder of the
Diocese of Glasgow. This saint during his exile (c.
545) betook himself to Wales and there founded the
Celtic Monastery of
Llanelwy (the church on the
River Elwy), as the Welsh still call the town of
St Asaph. 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 couldn't 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, after the
Battle of Arfderydd, in
573 (the only definite date we've 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's said to have died in
601.
There are streets in
Brockley,
South East London, and in Old Town
Alexandria, Virginia,
United States, named in his honor.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Saint Asaph'.
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