HE was born in the same province with St. Samson at Eccluis-Guenwa{},
near Monmouth. His sister Anaumed went over to Armorica in 490, and upon
her arrival was married to Budic, king of the Armorican Britons. Before
she left her own country she promised St. Theliau to consecrate her
first child in a particular manner to God. Our saint was educated under
the holy discipline of St. Dubritius, and soon after the year 500, made
a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his schoolfellows St. David and St.
Paternus. In their return St. David stopped at Dole, with Sampson the
elder, who had been bishop of York, but being expelled by the Saxons,
fled into Armorica and was made bishop of Dole. This prelate and St.
Theliau planted a great avenue, three miles long, from Dole to Cai,
which for several ages was known by their names. The people of Dole,
with the bishop and king Budic, pressed our saint to accept of that
bishopric; but in vain. After his return into the island, St. Dubritius
being removed from the see of Landaff to that of Caerleon, in 495,
Theliau was compelled to succeed him in Landaff, of which church he has
always been esteemed the principal patron. His great learning, piety,
and pastoral zeal, especially in the choice and instruction of his
clergy, have procured him a high reputation which no age can ever
obliterate, says Leland.[1] His authority alone decided whatever
controversies arose in his time. When the yellow plague depopulated
Wales, he exerted his courage and charity with an heroic intrepidity.
Providence preserved his life for the sake of others, and he died {390}
about the year 580, in a happy old age, in solitude, where he had for
some time prepared himself for his passage. The place where he departed
to our Lord was called from him Llan deilo-vaur, that is, the church of
the great Theliau: it was situated on the bank of the river Tovy in
Caermarthenshire. The Landaff register names among the most eminent of
his disciples his nephew St. Oudoceus, who succeeded him in the see of
Landaff, St. Ismael, whom he consecrated bishop, St. Tyfhei, martyr, who
reposeth in Pennalun, &c. See Capgrave, Harpsfield, Wharton,
Brown-Willis, D. Morice, Hist. de Bretagne, t. 1, p. 22, and the notes,
pp. 785 and 819. Bolland. Feb. t. 2, p. 303.
Footnotes:
1. De Script. Brit. c. 30.