Litany of Saints
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Beuno

Welsh abbot and saint

SaintResearchedWalesPre-congregation

Feast: 20 April (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)

Born
570
Died
640
Beatified
not needed: before formal processes
Canonised
By tradition
recognised before formal processes began

Who they were

Beuno, born in Powys and educated and ordained at Bangor, became an active missionary in North Wales. About 616 he founded the Abbey of Clynnog Fawr on land given in reparation for an injustice done to him.

He was the guardian of his niece, the virgin St Winefride. Relentless with hardened sinners but full of compassion for those in distress, he had a wondrous vision before his death. Eleven churches bear his name.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A Welsh missionary abbot, stern with sin and gentle with suffering.

Connected on this site

Sources

Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.

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