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CEREDIGION CYLCHGRAWN CYMDEITHAS HYNAFIAETHWYR SIR ABERTEIFI JOURNAL OF THE CARDIGANSHIRE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY CYFROL (VOLUME) I I 1953 RHIFYN (NUMBER) 2 THE CULT OF DEWI SANT AT LLANDDEWIBREFI* THE object of this paper is to re-examine the cult of the Patron Saint in Wales as a background to a more detailed study of his important church at Llanddewibrefi. The literary sources for the life of St. David have been most carefully examined during the present century and it is difficult to add anything new to what is already known. This is, indeed, equally true of the whole corpus of the Lives of the Saints, so that further work must of necessity open up entirely new lines of approach. Topographical evidence of a saint's cult is to be found in the distribution of church dedications, for scholars are agreed that an early Celtic church or monastery was, as a rule, called by the name of its original founder, or by that of the founder's monastic patron. In this way, after carefully checking the dedications in each case so as to eliminate those of recent date, or those which might have been re- dedicated in the Middle Ages or later, one is able to map the ancient churches dedicated to a particular saint and thereby obtain some idea of his patria, or sphere of influence, during his lifetime. When this is done for some of the most distinguished saints of Wales some very interesting distribution patterns result. It can be seen, for example, that the cults of saints like Dubricius, Cadoc, and Illtud are confined for the most part to south-eastern Wales and the Herefordshire border- land, while those of David and Teilo are more western-based and reach round to the Herefordshire border through the northward fringes of the cults of Ss. Dubricius, Cadoc, and Illtud. Some saints like David and Teilo are confined to South Wales, whilst others like Beuno flourish in the North. The most important point at issue is whether by the *The substance of an address given to the Society at Llanddewibrefi, 4 July 1953.