The Elvan Story
compiled by Rod Jenkins
Introduction
St Elvan’s Church is so called because the Reverend John Griffith had particular compassion for an old Celtic Saint called Elvan, (Elvanus, Elfan). There are many stories around the existence of Elvan and King Lucius of the Britons. Late nineteenth and early twentieth century historians however had dismissed King Lucius and therefore his emissary Elvanus as myth
In the light of more recent academic scholarship and archaeological investigation though, modern historians have now come to a position where these previous opinions that Lucius is a myth is being roundly challenged. No satisfactory conclusions on King Lucius can therefore completely be reached, other than he is unlikely - at this stage - to be more than legend
St Elvan’s Church is so called because the Reverend John Griffith had particular compassion for an old Celtic Saint called Elvan, (Elvanus, Elfan). There are many stories around the existence of Elvan and King Lucius of the Britons. Late nineteenth and early twentieth century historians however had dismissed King Lucius and therefore his emissary Elvanus as myth
In the light of more recent academic scholarship and archaeological investigation though, modern historians have now come to a position where these previous opinions that Lucius is a myth is being roundly challenged. No satisfactory conclusions on King Lucius can therefore completely be reached, other than he is unlikely - at this stage - to be more than legend
It is in the context of King Lucius that we now tell the story of St Elvan, and - although sparse - there is definitely reliable evidence of early Christianity in Roman Britain prior to AD 314, and it is believed that early Celtic saints such as Elvan (Elfan, Elvanus) preached Christianity in the 2nd century
King Lucius of Britain
The story of Lucius first appears in the ‘Liber Pontificalis’ (the Book of Popes) complied in AD 535. An entry in the 'Liber Pontificalis' reads that:
‘Eleutherius, who occupied the see for 15 years, received a letter from Lucius, King of the Britons, asking him to appoint a way by which Lucius might become a Christian’
The communication in the Liber Pontificalis relates between King Lucius and Pope Eleutherius can with reasonable confidence be within the timespan of AD177-192.
This story again crops up in Bede’s ‘Ecclesiastical History’ in the seventh century
The early twelfth century ‘Book of Llandaf’ although it contains some dubious documents, relating to land grants by ancient kings, it does however provide some valuable information by both Llandaff and St David’s on the existence of King Lucius
The ‘Book of Llandaff’ is the first extant source to mention the names of the native British ambassadors sent to Rome. Elvanus and Medwinus and become key figures carried forward through Welsh oral history
An entry in the Book of Llandaff reads:
“King Lucius sent Elvanus and Medwinus to Eleutherius (12th Pope) asserting that King Lucius might be made a Christian”.
The ambassadors were first baptised and then instructed in the Christian faith. Elvanus was made a Bishop and Medwinus a teacher. Being now qualified they returned to King Lucius and baptised the King in accordance with Pope Eleutherius instruction
The version of the Lucius story is that we now see in the “Elvan Window” in the north transept of the church albeit omitting any reference to Medwinus. In the 12th century Geoffrey of Monmouth embroiders the story and causes some confusion, claiming the Pope gave the ambassadors, as companions, blessed priests Faganus and Deruvianus
Through the preaching of these early Christian missionaries, it is claimed the chief men of all Britain received baptism, and “according to the command of the blessed Pope Eleutherius, established ecclesiastical order”
“King Lucius sent Elvanus and Medwinus to Eleutherius (12th Pope) asserting that King Lucius might be made a Christian”.
The ambassadors were first baptised and then instructed in the Christian faith. Elvanus was made a Bishop and Medwinus a teacher. Being now qualified they returned to King Lucius and baptised the King in accordance with Pope Eleutherius instruction
The version of the Lucius story is that we now see in the “Elvan Window” in the north transept of the church albeit omitting any reference to Medwinus. In the 12th century Geoffrey of Monmouth embroiders the story and causes some confusion, claiming the Pope gave the ambassadors, as companions, blessed priests Faganus and Deruvianus
Through the preaching of these early Christian missionaries, it is claimed the chief men of all Britain received baptism, and “according to the command of the blessed Pope Eleutherius, established ecclesiastical order”
St Elvan Preached The Christian Faith
It is thought that the foundations for the Welsh Church was laid in late Roman Britain and we may assume that Saint Elvan was one of the early apostles of the Christian movement that captivated Wales entirely
He and his fellow missionaries won over not only the people of their day but ensured that Wales would continue steadfast in the faith through the labourers of their Celtic successors in the ‘Age of Saints’ in the 5th century
Four churches in the Llandaff Diocese bore the names relating to this story Lleurwg (Lucius), Dyfan, Ffagan, and Medwy, which adds to the belief in the existence of these old Celtic Saints and indicates the scene of their labours
In the now lost ‘Book of British Bishops’ by the monk Jocelyn of Furness in 1187, Elvanus was recorded as the second Bishop of London and built a library at St Peter upon Cornhill church. It also records that Elvanus converted many of the Druids to the Christian faith
He and his fellow missionaries won over not only the people of their day but ensured that Wales would continue steadfast in the faith through the labourers of their Celtic successors in the ‘Age of Saints’ in the 5th century
Four churches in the Llandaff Diocese bore the names relating to this story Lleurwg (Lucius), Dyfan, Ffagan, and Medwy, which adds to the belief in the existence of these old Celtic Saints and indicates the scene of their labours
In the now lost ‘Book of British Bishops’ by the monk Jocelyn of Furness in 1187, Elvanus was recorded as the second Bishop of London and built a library at St Peter upon Cornhill church. It also records that Elvanus converted many of the Druids to the Christian faith
Elvan Death and Burial
Although his death is not known, it is thought that Elvan and Medwyn are reported to be buried at Glastonbury
“Why is the largest church in Aberdare dedicated to St. Elvan?”
In 1850 The Reverend John Griffith and his fellow clergy saw in the crisis that confronted them in Aberdare was a parallel situation with that which had faced these earliest Christian Saints of South Wales
For him it was a matter of maintaining civilised life and of Christianising anew his fellow human beings that had been thrown together into huge concentrations by industrialisation.
In 1850 The Reverend John Griffith and his fellow clergy saw in the crisis that confronted them in Aberdare was a parallel situation with that which had faced these earliest Christian Saints of South Wales
For him it was a matter of maintaining civilised life and of Christianising anew his fellow human beings that had been thrown together into huge concentrations by industrialisation.
In 1850 The Reverend John Griffith and his fellow clergy saw in the crisis that confronted them in Aberdare was a parallel situation with that which had faced these earliest Christian Saints of South Wales
Reverend John Griffith speaking at the opening of Fagan's Church
We can however gain some insight, although possibly embellished, from the Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian of a speech given by the Rev John Griffith himself at the opening of St Fagan’s church Trecynon in 1854, only two years after St. Elvan’s was opened.
He is reported to have said that:
“St. Elvan’s church is so called because he (the Vicar) really had compassion on a poor old Celtic Saint, Elvan, a good man in his day, for it is partly owing to him that they had the Gospel preached in Glamorgan, and who had no church called after his name.
Partly therefore, from compassion to the old saint, but principally from his connection with the neighbourhood, he determined on calling the first new church St. Elvan’s or as it sounds better in Welsh Llanelvan – a name already existing and given to a ruined church situated about half a mile away. It is in a field belonging to Mr Fothergill. The walls of the old church is still visible in 1854 and it is known by local parishioners as Llwynelvan, easily corrupted from Llanelvan.”
John Griffith deemed his explanation necessary as he never went into public without being called to question about the matter
He is reported to have said that:
“St. Elvan’s church is so called because he (the Vicar) really had compassion on a poor old Celtic Saint, Elvan, a good man in his day, for it is partly owing to him that they had the Gospel preached in Glamorgan, and who had no church called after his name.
Partly therefore, from compassion to the old saint, but principally from his connection with the neighbourhood, he determined on calling the first new church St. Elvan’s or as it sounds better in Welsh Llanelvan – a name already existing and given to a ruined church situated about half a mile away. It is in a field belonging to Mr Fothergill. The walls of the old church is still visible in 1854 and it is known by local parishioners as Llwynelvan, easily corrupted from Llanelvan.”
John Griffith deemed his explanation necessary as he never went into public without being called to question about the matter
It is not known however why an older “ruined church” was dedicated to St. Elvan (Llanelfan) in the first place and what was the connection to the neighbourhood”? But the fact remains that there are also dedications to other Celtic Saints; Lleurwg, Dyfan, Ffagan and Medwy in and around Llandaff and nowhere else
The church in the village of St Fagan’s near Cardiff provides the clearest example: Merthyr Dyfan, the church of Dyfan the Martyr at Barry, the original Llanlleurwg at St Mellons, whilst Michaelston-y-Fedw still carries in its name residual traces of the original dedication to St. Medwy
It will be seen then, that in 1852, when John Griffith’s new church at Aberdare was completed, out of the four of Elvan, Dyfan, Fagan, and Medwy, only Elvan at that time had no church standing in patronage. And that, John Griffith has told us was the first reason for his choice of dedication
The second reason, he said, was Elvan’s connection with the neighbourhood. This connection seems in John Griffith’s mind to have rested partly upon this association with Fagan, Dyfan, Medwy and Lleurwg, and the tradition of their having brought Christianity to this area; and partly upon the existence of a ruined church dedicated to Elvan in the grounds of the house for many years called Plasdraw
So far as the former is concerned, we shall never know whether John Griffith was persuaded of the truth of the ‘Lucian legend’ as it applied to this area
Perhaps, he still saw in the dedications in the neighbourhood of Llandaff an indication that the Lucius story developed in the Welsh form, by association with genuine Welsh Saints
So far as the ruins at Plasdraw are concerned, no trace of the walls that were there in 1852 are still visible, but in 1979 the foundations of a building on the site were still discernible. A strong local tradition makes the church at Plasdraw a kind of staging post for Cistercian monks travelling between their mother house at Llantarnam and Penrhys
The truth of all this is that John Griffith clearly had a deep and genuine respect for the ‘four’ Celtic Saints and Lleurwg (Lucius). Two years after completing St Elvan’s in 1852, St Fagan’s and then St Lleurwg at Hirwaun were built
The fact that there is no local church dedicated to Medwy is no doubt due to the Vicar’s departure from Aberdare for Merthyr in 1859. Perhaps too the disappearance of his preferred title of Llanelvan for St Elvan’s church is due to the same reason. After 1859 none of the other churches built in the then Parish of Aberdare was given any kind of Celtic dedication
For what John Griffith did in the way of church building in the upper Aberdare valley, we must be profoundly grateful. Without him we might never have had a church called St Elvan’s
The church in the village of St Fagan’s near Cardiff provides the clearest example: Merthyr Dyfan, the church of Dyfan the Martyr at Barry, the original Llanlleurwg at St Mellons, whilst Michaelston-y-Fedw still carries in its name residual traces of the original dedication to St. Medwy
It will be seen then, that in 1852, when John Griffith’s new church at Aberdare was completed, out of the four of Elvan, Dyfan, Fagan, and Medwy, only Elvan at that time had no church standing in patronage. And that, John Griffith has told us was the first reason for his choice of dedication
The second reason, he said, was Elvan’s connection with the neighbourhood. This connection seems in John Griffith’s mind to have rested partly upon this association with Fagan, Dyfan, Medwy and Lleurwg, and the tradition of their having brought Christianity to this area; and partly upon the existence of a ruined church dedicated to Elvan in the grounds of the house for many years called Plasdraw
So far as the former is concerned, we shall never know whether John Griffith was persuaded of the truth of the ‘Lucian legend’ as it applied to this area
Perhaps, he still saw in the dedications in the neighbourhood of Llandaff an indication that the Lucius story developed in the Welsh form, by association with genuine Welsh Saints
So far as the ruins at Plasdraw are concerned, no trace of the walls that were there in 1852 are still visible, but in 1979 the foundations of a building on the site were still discernible. A strong local tradition makes the church at Plasdraw a kind of staging post for Cistercian monks travelling between their mother house at Llantarnam and Penrhys
The truth of all this is that John Griffith clearly had a deep and genuine respect for the ‘four’ Celtic Saints and Lleurwg (Lucius). Two years after completing St Elvan’s in 1852, St Fagan’s and then St Lleurwg at Hirwaun were built
The fact that there is no local church dedicated to Medwy is no doubt due to the Vicar’s departure from Aberdare for Merthyr in 1859. Perhaps too the disappearance of his preferred title of Llanelvan for St Elvan’s church is due to the same reason. After 1859 none of the other churches built in the then Parish of Aberdare was given any kind of Celtic dedication
For what John Griffith did in the way of church building in the upper Aberdare valley, we must be profoundly grateful. Without him we might never have had a church called St Elvan’s
The Elvan Window
Located in the North Transept of the Church, the Elvan window depicts Saint Elvan standing proudly between the Celtic Saints of Illtyd, David and Gildas
This 18th century engraving by John Stuart from the National Portrait Gallery depicts Lucius, Elvanus and Medvinus, with St Alban also featured in the background