"To repent is not to look downward at my own shortcomings, but upward at God's love, it is not to look backward with self-reproach but forward with trustfulness, it is to see not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of Christ I might yet become." --St. John Climacus
Text from The History of Wales: "Today is the feast day of Saint Derfel.
Derfel, born in 566, was the son of Hoel, king of Brittany, who had been exiled in Dyfed. Derfel, according to legend, fought for King Arthur at the Battle of Camlan, being one of only seven warriors who survived the battle. After Camlan, the bloodshed he had seen made him turn to religion and he became a hermit, founding the church of Llandderfel in Gwynedd and later becoming Abbot of Ynys Enlli (Bardsey) where he died and is buried. An image of him at Llandderfel depicting him as a warrior was removed by order of Thomas Cromwell and used to burn John Forest, a Catholic priest, fulfilling a prophecy that the image would 'burn down a forest.'
According to legend, The Battle of Camlan was King Arthur's final battle in which he was mortally wounded.
Several locations in Britain have been suggested, including Stirling and Cornwall. Welsh folklore interprets Camlan as meaning a place near a crooked river, with the Camlan Valley near Dolgellau being claimed as the battle’s location."
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/derfelby.html
#SaintDerfel #Wales #CatholicChurch #TodayInHistory
[Portrait by joaoMachay on Deviant Art]
Derfel, born in 566, was the son of Hoel, king of Brittany, who had been exiled in Dyfed. Derfel, according to legend, fought for King Arthur at the Battle of Camlan, being one of only seven warriors who survived the battle. After Camlan, the bloodshed he had seen made him turn to religion and he became a hermit, founding the church of Llandderfel in Gwynedd and later becoming Abbot of Ynys Enlli (Bardsey) where he died and is buried. An image of him at Llandderfel depicting him as a warrior was removed by order of Thomas Cromwell and used to burn John Forest, a Catholic priest, fulfilling a prophecy that the image would 'burn down a forest.'
According to legend, The Battle of Camlan was King Arthur's final battle in which he was mortally wounded.
Several locations in Britain have been suggested, including Stirling and Cornwall. Welsh folklore interprets Camlan as meaning a place near a crooked river, with the Camlan Valley near Dolgellau being claimed as the battle’s location."
http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/derfelby.html
#SaintDerfel #Wales #CatholicChurch #TodayInHistory
[Portrait by joaoMachay on Deviant Art]