Rhystyd

File:Sant Rhystud, St Rhystud's Church, Ceredigion, Cymru, Wales 18.jpg.]]

File:Llanrhystud church - geograph.org.uk - 6912504.jpg

Rhystyd was a late 6th-century British saint reputed to be a grandson of Hywel the Great (Hywel fab Emyr Llydaw) and brother to Saint Cristiolus and Saint Silin.{{Cite book |last1=Baring-Gould|first1= Sabine |title=The Lives of the British Saints Vol. IV |publisher=The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, London |year=1913 |pages=117}}{{Cite web |title=Genealogies of the Saints – Seintiau |url=https://saints.wales/genealogies-of-the-saints/ |access-date=2025-06-03 |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Baring-Gould |first=Sabine |title=The Lives of the Saints Vol. XIII |year=1898 |pages=195}} The village of Llanrhystud is named for the parish church which is dedicated to him.

Name

Rhystyd is thought to represent the Latin Restitutus, a common ecclesicatical name borne by the earliest known Bishop of London who attended the Council of Arles in 314. The name also appears as Rhystud. He is sometimes confused with a Saint Rhystyd Hên who was Bishop of Caerleon-on-Usk.

Veneration

His feast is said to have been celebrated on the "Thursday in the Ember Week before Christmas" in the form of a fair. The Ember Week before Christmas traditionally takes place in the 51st week of the year (the penultimate week in non-leap years).

An apocryphal poem by the celebrated 14th century Welsh bard Dafydd ap Gwilym associates Rhystyd with Saint Dwynwen:

{{Quote|text=Rhystud Sant, rhyw ystod serch,

A'i elinedd ar lanerch,

A'i ben ar Ddwynwen enyd,

Huno bu'n hwya'n y byd|author=Dafydd ap Gwilym|title=Yr Hun Felys|source=lines 51-54}}

A stained-glass window depicting Rhystyd dating to 1965 is located on the eastern wall of the south aisle of St Rhystyd's Church, in Llanrhystud.{{Cite web |title=St Rhystud detail from Virgin Mary and St Rhystud - image from Stained Glass in Wales |url=https://stainedglass.llgc.org.uk/image/5893 |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=stainedglass.llgc.org.uk}}

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhystyd, Saint}}

Category:British saints

Category:Welsh saints