Our Venerable Mother Endellion, Recluse of Cornwall
Life
Endellion (also rendered Endelienta or Endelient, and Cenheidlon in Welsh) was a holy woman of the early British church, traditionally counted among the many children of the Welsh king Brychan of Brycheiniog. Born in South Wales around 470, she is remembered as one of the family of Brychan who crossed the Bristol Channel into North Cornwall to share in the conversion of its people to Christianity.
Settling at Trentinney, she lived the remainder of her life as a hermit and is venerated as a local saint of Cornwall. Her name endures in the village and collegiate church of St Endellion, built on the hill where tradition places her grave, and her shrine there was a place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages.
Timeline 4 moments
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c. 470Birth in South WalesBorn in South Wales, by tradition a daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog.
5th-6th centuryJourney into North CornwallCrossed the Bristol Channel to join her siblings in the evangelization of North Cornwall. Tradition holds that she first landed on Lundy Island, where she founded a small chapel, and stayed with her brother Saint Nectan at Hartland before settling at Trentinney.
6th centuryHermit life at TrentinneyLived as a hermit at Trentinney, south-west of the present village of St Endellion, where her sister Dilic also settled nearby.
29 April, 6th centuryReposeThought to have died on 29 April some time in the 6th century, by one account at the hands of Saxon pirates. She was buried on a hilltop, and a church was later built over her grave.
Contributions & Legacy
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Traditional Accounts
The traditions surrounding Endellion are drawn from later Cornish legend rather than contemporary record. The best-known relates that she subsisted at Trentinney solely on the milk of a single cow and the water of two nearby wells. When the cow strayed onto the land of the local lord and was killed by him, the nobleman was in turn slain by Endellion's reputed godfather, said in the legend to be King Arthur; Endellion is then said to have restored the lord to life, unwilling that a killing should be done on her account.
A further tradition concerns her burial: according to her own instructions her body was laid on a cart yoked to two young untended bullocks, which were allowed to draw the bier unguided until they halted on a hilltop, marking the place of her grave. The church of St Endellion was afterward raised on that spot.
Relics & Shrines
The collegiate church of St Endellion in North Cornwall stands on the hill identified by tradition as the site of the saint's grave and bears her name, an anglicized form of Endelienta. Her shrine within the church drew pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages; the shrine was destroyed at the Reformation, though its base is reported to survive.
