ST THELIAU, BISHOP OF LLANDAFF, AND CONFESSOR - 9 FEBRUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN FEBRUARY

Saints celebrated on the 9th of February

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST THELIAU, BISHOP OF LLANDAFF, AND CONFESSOR 

[Saint Teilo.] St Theliau was born in the same province with St Sampson at Eccluis-Guenwau, near Monmouth. His sister Anaumed went over to Armorica, in 409, and upon her arrival was married to Budic king of the Armorican Britons. Before she left her own country she promised St Theliau to consecrate her first child in a particular manner to God. 

THE PILGRIMAGE TO JERUSALEM

Our saint was educated under the holy discipline of St Dubritius, and soon after the year 500, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his schoolfellows St David and St Paternus. 

In their return St David stopped at Dole, with Sampson the elder, who had been bishop of York, but being expelled by the Saxons, fled into Armorica and was made bishop of Dole. 

THE GREAT AVENUE

This prelate and St Theliau planted a great avenue, three miles long, from Dole to Cai, which for several ages was known by their names. The people of Dole, with the bishop and King Budic, pressed our saint to accept of that bishopric; but in vain. 

After his return into the island, St Dubritius being removed from the see of Llandaff to that of Caerleon, in 495, Theliau was compelled to succeed him at Llandaff, of which church he has always been esteemed the principal patron. 

HIS GREAT LEARNING AND PIETY

His great learning, piety, and pastoral zeal, especially in the choice and instruction of his clergy, have procured him a high reputation which no age can ever obliterate, says Leland. His authority alone decided whatever controversies arose in his time. 

COURAGE AND CHARITY

When the yellow plague depopulated Wales, he exerted his courage and charity with an heroic intrepidity. Providence preserved his life for the sake of others, and he died about the year 580, in a happy old age, in solitude, where he had for some time prepared himself for his passage. 

LLAN DEILO-VAUR

The place where he departed to our Lord was called from him Llan deilo-vaur, that is, the church of the great Theliau: it was situated on the bank of the river Tovy in Caermarthenshire. 

The Llandaff register names amongst the most eminent of his disciples his nephew St Oudoceus, who succeeded him in the see of Llandaff, St Ismael, whom he consecrated bishop, St Tyfhei, martyr, who reposeth in Pennalun, etc.

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints - 🎨 1. Saint Teilo, 2. Llandaff Cathedral)