When you find out your second cousin had magic powers ....

July 05, 2021

Saint Winefride, my 2nd cousin, was a Welsh virgin martyr of the 7th century. Her cult was celebrated as early as the 8th century, but became popular in England in the 12th, when her biography was first written down. To this day people make religious pilgrimages to her healing well, including Prince Charles today July 5th 2021. (see story here)

A healing spring at the traditional site of her decapitation and restoration is now a shrine and pilgrimage site called St Winefride's Well in Holywell, Flintshire, Wales and known as "the Lourdes of Wales".

"Saint Winifred's Story

Winifred (the Anglicised version of the name Winefride), was a 7th-century Welsh woman, the daughter of a local chief and niece of St Bueno. Her family connections mean she is sometimes called a princess.

Winefride was pursued by a suitor named Caradoc, but when she told him she had decided to become a nun rather than give in to his advances, Caradoc flew into a rage. He cut off Winefride's head with his sword.

Versions of the story differ, but one popular version is that her head rolled down the hill, and where it came to rest a spring gushed forth from the ground. This spring and the well that later developed around it, have been thought to have healing powers ever since.

Winefride's uncle, Bueno, was passing, and miraculously managed to reattach the head to its body. He then called down the wrath of Heaven on Caradoc, who was struck dead on the spot, and the ground opened up to swallow his body whole.

Bueno then sat upon a stone and vowed that if anyone should stand or sit on that spot and three times ask God for help in Winefride's name, that help would be granted. The stone upon which he made this vow is called Bueno's Stone, and lies in the outer pool of the holy well.

As for Winefride, she carried out her vow and became a nun at Gwytherin (Denbighshire) and rose to be abbess. She died around 660 AD and was buried at her abbey.

In 1138 her bones were carried with great ceremony to Shrewsbury Abbey, where they became an extremely popular destination for pilgrims throughout the medieval period. The story of the relics being taken to Shrewsbury forms the basis of Ellis Peter's novel, 'A Morbid Taste for Bones', the first in her series of Brother Cadfael mysteries.

From the time of her death Winefride/Winifred was venerated, and the holy well became a place of pilgrimage. It is no exaggeration to say that St Winefride's Well has been a destination for pilgrims for over 1300 years, a span unmatched by any other British site. This long history as a place of pilgrimage has led Holywell to become known as the Lourdes of Wales." SOURCE

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St. Winifred is my second cousin 42 times removed.

You → Carl Jossy
your father → Inez Isadora Imus
his mother → Jiles Herbert Imus
her father → Hiram M. Imus
his father → Charles Lemuel Imus
his father → Lucy Imus
his mother → Ann Buck
her mother → Abigail Gould
her mother → Thomas Disbrow
her father → Margaret Walton
his mother → Robert Cromwell of Huntingdon
her father → Sir Henry Williams, alias Cromwell, MP
his father → Richard Williams, alias Cromwell
his father → Morgan Williams
his father → William ab Ieuan, of Whitchurch
his father → Yevan ap Morgan
his father → Morgan ap Hywel
his father → Gwenllian verch Llewelyn
his mother → Llewelyn ab Ieuan
her father → Ieuan ap Llewelyn
his father → Llewelyn ap Cynwrig
his father → Cynwrig ap Hywel, Lord of Radyr
his father → Hywel ap Madog
his father → Madog ab Iestyn, Lord of Rhuthin
his father → Dyddgu "1" ferch Iorwerth
his mother → Iorwerth ap Cadwgan
her father → Cadwgon ab Elystan
his father → Elystan Glodrydd ap Cuhelyn
his father → Gwen verch Gronwy
his mother → Tangwystl verch Dyfnwal
her mother → Dyfnwal ap Owain, King of Strathclyde
her father → Owain ap Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde
his father → Dyfnwal, King of Strathclyde
his father → Owain ap Dyfnwal
his father → Dyfnwal ap Rhydderch
his father → Rhydderch ab Owain, of Strathclyde
his father → Owain ap Tewdwr
his father → Tewdwr ap Beli
his father → Beli ab Elfin
his father → Elfin ap Neithon
his father → Neithon ap Cathen
his father → Cathen ap Cawrdaf
his father → Cawrdaf ap Serwan
his father → Serwan ap Llawdden Llyddog
his father → Peren verch Lleuddun
his sister → Gwenlo ferch St. Bugi
her daughter → St. Winifred
her daughter