St Melangell ~ the Life and Shrine of a 7th Century Welsh Saint in Early Christian Britain

This is a video for all who love our native British saints. St Melangell was an Irish princess who lived her life as a hermit in a remote valley in Wales called Cwm Pennant at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 7th century. She escaped from an arranged marriage and devoted the rest of her life to prayer, contemplation, and the service of Christ - founding a monastery for women under the patronage of the local king. After her death, her grave became the focus of pilgrimage, a devotion that continued until the English Deformation. This video relates the story of her life, the extraordinary archaeological and architectural evidence for her cult, shrine, and relics, and the remarkable revival of pilgrimage to her shrine in the 20th century.