9 - The cult of St Non: rape, sanctity and motherhood in Welsh and Breton hagiography

Summary

St David's mother, Non, the daughter of Cynyr of Caer Gawch, is a somewhat unusual saint, since, unlike the vast majority of the Welsh female saints, her popularity was not confined to one particular locality. She was commemorated at several different locations in south Wales, and her cult was also transferred to Brittany, Ireland, Cornwall and Devon. In Wales her feast was celebrated on 3 March and it is listed in most medieval Welsh calendars. In Brittany Non's principal pardon is celebrated on the Sunday following the octave of Corpus Christi and a minor pardon is held in her honour at Dirinon on the second Sunday after easter.

Non is also unusual in the context of European hagiography in that she is a rare example of a raped female saint. The menaced virgin is a common topos in hagiography, and numerous female saints are threatened with rape or physical abuse. They frequently have to flee arranged marriages and are abducted, beaten, burned and tortured (occasionally having their breasts torn off) before eventually being decapitated. However, at no point during their torturous ordeals is their virginity violated, since virginity is almost a prerequisite for feminine sanctity, and the image of the female saint as the bride of Christ, a veiled consecrated nun, is inextricably linked with her physical purity. In the Middle Welsh Life of Gwenfrewy (St Winifred), for example, Gwenfrewy's tormentor rather ironically announces that: oni byddi di vn a mi oth vodd, y lleddir dy benn a'r cleddyf hwnn (‘if you will not become one with me [i.e. have intercourse with me] willingly I'll cut off your head with this sword’).