Adwen

This article is about Saint Adwen. For the offshore wind services company, see Adwen (company).

Adwen or Adwenna is purported to have been a 5th-century Christian virgin and saint.^[1] According to historian Nicholas Orme, Adwen was identified in the original tradition as a brother of Nectan of Hartland, but subsequently misclassified by Charles Henderson in the 18th century as female.^[2]

Saint Adwen
Princess of Brycheiniog
Born	5th century Brycheiniog
Died	5th or 6th century Cornwall
Canonized	Pre-Congregation
Major shrine	Advent
Patronage	Advent

Adwen is therefore recorded as a daughter of Brychan, king of Brycheiniog in south Wales, in Doble's Life of Saint Nectan^[3] and in Robert Hunt's collection of Cornish legends.^[4] These sources associate her with the establishment of the parish of Advent in Cornwall.

The saint's feast day is unknown. In Cornwall Adwen was traditionally the patron saint of sweethearts.^[5]

See also

• Saint Dwynwen, the related Welsh saint
• St Adwen's Church, Advent

References

1. Baring-Gould, Sabine & al. The Lives of the British Saints: The Saints of Wales and Cornwall and Such Irish Saints as Have Dedications in Britain, Vol. II, pp. 107 ff. Chas. Clark (London), 1908. Hosted at Archive.org. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.
2. Orme, Nicholas. "The Saints of Cornwall", OUP, 2000, p. 59 ISBN 9780191542893
3. Doble, G. H. (translator). The Life of Saint Nectan. 1941, reprinted at Bideford, 1964.
4. Hunt, Robert. Popular Romances of the West of England: The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall, 3d ed.: "Saint Keyne". Chatto & Windus (London), 1903. Accessed 18 Nov 2014.
5. Ellis, P. B. (1992) The Cornish Saints. Penryn: Tor Mark Press, p. 5