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Image 1 of 1: Saint Illtud in Holy Trinity Church, Abergavenny

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St. Illtud

or Illtyd, Abbot

St. Illtud is remembered as a saint whose exact biography is hard to recover, but whose importance is still real.

Sources

The life below remains the existing Butler-based reading, with its edition citation. The profile preserves the feast date and source title already listed in the library. Additional personal dates and historical details are shown only when separately documented.

Butler sourceButler's Lives of the Saints, Volume IV (October-November-December), November 6, St Illtud, or Illtyd, Abbot, Christian Classics 1990, pp. 274-275.

The reading

ⓘ Butler source

Butler's Lives of the Saints, Volume IV (October-November-December), November 6, St Illtud, or Illtyd, Abbot, Christian Classics 1990, pp. 274-275.

Illtud is one of the most celebrated Welsh saints, but this life gains strength from caution. The surviving Latin life is late and thick with legend, so the stronger approach is not to build everything on embroidered stories. Instead, the earlier references are held fast: Illtud stands behind the great monastic school at Llantwit and behind a major stream of Welsh monastic and intellectual formation.

That alone makes him a serious figure. The exact biography is hard to recover, but the saint's importance is still real, rooted more in teaching, formation, and monastic influence than in miracle-stories.

Historical note

This life is notably cautious about Illtud’s late Latin life and keeps the strongest footing in the earlier references to his role as abbot and teacher.

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