Cadoc

Cadoc (fl. c.497–570) of Llancarfan, one of the best known of the early Welsh saints and monastic founders, had many close links with Ireland. The sources for his life are late but contain some material of historical value. The earliest Lives are by Lifris, abbot of Llancarfan (written 1095 × 1104), and Caradoc (1120 × 1150). Accounts of Cadoc are also found in the Life of his father Gwynllyw, and especially in the Latin and Irish Lives of Finnian (qv) of Clonard, which descend from an original account of the ninth century and have several close parallels with Lifris's Life. The Lifris Life makes him a contemporary of David, Finnian, and Gildas (qv). The son of aristocratic parents, he was baptised and educated for twelve years by an Irish hermit, Meuthi or Tatheus, at a monastic school at Caerwent. Afterwards he retired to Llancarfan and built a monastery on land given him by his uncle Paul (Pol) of Penychen. At this point he came into close association with Finnian, who was asked to adjudicate between David and Cadoc (or Cathmail, as he is known in the Irish sources) at the synod of Llandewi Brefi (c.545–6), over a matter which is not revealed. Finnian finally gave the primacy of the Welsh church to David. Cadoc later went to Ireland to study for some years under Carthach (qv) (d. 637) of Lismore. This is an anachronism, but it is possible that Lifris was drawing on a tradition that linked Cadoc with the contemporary Ciarán (qv) of Saigir.

According to tradition, Cadoc was a great scholar and traveller. He completed his studies in the classics under a rhetorician named Bachan, and made a number of journeys to Rome and even to Jerusalem (c.547). Whatever the truth of this, he certainly paid a number of visits to Ireland and probably also to Cornwall or Brittany. His cult extended from south Wales, where there are about fifteen placename dedications, to Cornwall. He must not be confused with the Scottish saint of the same name or with the Breton saint Cadou or Catfodw from whom Île Cadou on the Armorican peninsula takes its name. It is probable that the bulk of what is known of Cadoc – apart from what Lifris invented – derives from Irish tradition, oral or written, which placed him in close association with Finnian, who apparently became his disciple. The community of Llancarfan continued to have close ties with the community of Clonard during the middle ages.