Melangell of Powys | |
|---|---|
 Illustration of Melangell and the hare (1907) | |
| Abbess, Hermit | |
| Born | Ireland |
| Died | Kingdom of Powys, Wales |
| Venerated in | |
| Major shrine | Saint Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell |
| Feast | 27 May or 31 January |
| Patronage | Hares |
Melangell (Welsh: [məlɛŋɬ], Latin: Monacella, lit. 'little nun')[2] was a Welsh hermit and abbess. She possibly lived in the 7th or 8th century, although the precise dates are uncertain. According to her hagiography, she was originally an Irish princess who fled an arranged marriage and became a consecrated virgin in the wilderness of the Kingdom of Powys. She supernaturally protected a hare from a prince's hunting dogs, and was granted land to found a sanctuary and convent.
Melangell's cult has been closely centered around her 12th-century shrine at St Melangell's Church, Pennant Melangell, which was founded at her grave. The church contains the reconstructed Romanesque shrine to Melangell, which had been dismantled in the aftermath of the Reformation. Since the medieval period, she has been venerated as the patron saint of hares; for many centuries, her association with hares was so strong that locals would not kill a hare in the parish of Pennant Melangell.
- ^ Hutchinson-Hall, John (2014). Orthodox Saints of the British Isles Vol II: April-June (1st ed.). St Eadfrith Press. p. 141.
- ^ Pryce 1994, p. 29.