This country fascinates me, and I am typically drawn to learn as much as I can about the saints who peopled it, especially saints who lived in the areas where my ancestors lived. Paternus founded St. Padarn's Church in Ceredigion, for instance. The story of his life is one of a small handful of those that mention King Arthur (More about that later.)
It is entirely possible that Paternus, also called "Padarn" was mixed up, over the years, with another similarly named saint of Brittany. Scholars believe that Paternus was Welsh and not born in Brittany. Although the biographies of Paternus claim he was born in Brittany to particularly devout parents, Patran and Gwen, it would be well to keep in mind that there may be an admixture of bogus information, but it should be easy to see where the story line could be adulterated, and just keep that in mind while you read.
The father was especially religious, apparently, and took leave of the family to go to Ireland and live as a hermit. What I have read about him indicates that he obstained permission from his wife, Gwen, but I wonder what would make a woman agree to let her husband abandon the family in THOSE days. You would have to be of an extremely zealous temperament with perhaps a mystical bent and very trusting in order to live as a woman alone with a young son on that rough land.
Years later, Paternus decided to follow in his father's footsteps and himself become a hermit, but he was destined for other things. When it comes to religious vocation, The Lord has particular plans for us. Whether we live as a hermit in the wild, an anchoress attached to a church, an urban hermit as I do, or a prayerful member of the laity such as St. Rose of Lima, whose prayers and labors at home supported herself and her parents - our dear Lord knows what He wants from us and he gives us the temperament, leanings, limitations and circumstances to lead us to it. We could say "no," of course. God wants us to give our love freely.
Many decades ago, when I first began contemplating religious life, it never occurred to me that I would be a hermit. In fact, when I left the Hindu convent (before getting baptized and becoming Catholic) the Swami expressed dismay at the news that I would be leaving. He said to me, "but who will smile at the devotees?" Up to that point, I had been devoted to a life of service. But my love of the contemplative life, combined with multiple debilitating physical conditions and a growing blindness have all conspired to bring me to the vocation of an urban hermit, which I have lived for 20 years now.
Perusing those years in my mind, and comparing to my current lived experience, I can not imagine doing anything else, and whatever desires I have left are nothing more than to dive deeper into this experience, grow closer to God, and to "become perfect, as (my) Father in Heaven is perfect." Obviously, the purification of a soul can really only be accomplished by the Lord. We just have to acquiesce to it and give up our self will so that the Lord's will can be wrought within us.
God would not tell us to do something that is impossible, so it is implied in his words that He would be doing what is necessary on His part in order to purify the soul. We just have to say, "Yes!" What a gorgeous idea, isn't it? All we have to do is say "yes" to His will, surrender to it, and do everything we can in order to become as virtuous as we can be. He will do the rest. I don't know how you feel about this, but the whole idea is an incredibly encouraging inspiration for me. For the longest time, I despaired of EVER experiencing that miraculous union. I knew it was impossible for me to do it, on my own. There are too many defects. But Christ will help us. He himself will purify our willing hearts.
Paternus initially planned to meet up with his father, who had gone to Ireland to live out his hermit vocation. But first, his cousin St. Cadvan, conscripted him into a group of military monks to be a secondary commander. Apparently, Paternus came from aristocratic stock, and you know what often happens with these folk. Leadership is assumed to be in their genes and they are often given the job to rule others, with little or no recommendation except perhaps temperament and the aforementioned genes. This is what appears to have happened to Paternus.
I am just stuck on the idea that there would be military monks. I find that most odd, don't you?
Sometime after or concurrent with the stint with the military monks, he undertook to be a student under Illtud Farchog the Knight who had started a divinity school, Bangor Illtyd, at Llanilltud Fawr in Glamorgan, Wales.
AFterward, Paternus founded a monastery at Llanbadarn Fawr near Aberystwyth, where some of my other ancestors lived. This became the seat of a new diocese, and he was its first bishop, which was quite a bit different that becoming a hermit, as he had set out to do!
Leaving his monastery in the hands of a temporary in-charge, Paternus went to Ireland to calm a squabble between two warring tribal kings. He returned to find that Maelgwn Gwynedd was trying to cheat him out of property belonging to the monastery. There is a complicated story about what happened there, but it ends up with Maelgwn Gwynedd being cured of his sickness and blindness and then he goes on bended knee, asking forgiveness and vowing the gift of certain lands to the community.
For a man who had originally wanted to become a hermit, Paternus sure got around! After the conflict with Maelgwn Gwynedd, he went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with Saint David (to whom I believe I am related) and Saint Teilo so that all three would be ordained bishops by the patriarch. I find that confusing because I thought he was already a bishop, but perhaps not. The three saints divided Britannia into three bishoprics between them.
There is a mythical-sounding story about King Arthur trying to steal Paternus's tunic, of all things, and then subsequently becoming Christian, but I do not believe it in the slightest and won't get further into it. It just demonstrates the zeal that many had for this saint and his reputation and shows the great love they had for him.
FEAST DAY: Some sources say it is the 16th. Others say the 15th. It is probably one of those feast days that was changed at one point. At any rate, the day is either Saturday or Sunday of this weekend.
Sunday is also "Divine Mercy Sunday" which is one of my favorite holy days. For some reason, I find it particularly special, falling just one week after Easter. I read a news article today that showed how the FIRST depiction of Jesus in the "Divine Mercy" posture actually fits the imprint of the Shroud of Turin. I will be meditating on this as a subject one day soon.
Friday, April 14, a friend is taking me to one of my favorite local churches. They're having a special 3:00 p.m. prayer gathering, in order to pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy together. I happen to have a tiny little traveling Divine Mercy rosary box with an itty bitty enameled metal rosary that I will take with me.
I rarely leave the house for any gathering, especially while Covid is still killing the vulnerable seniors like me, and I have asthma, which is one of the medical conditions which require caution. But the church is big, the gathering will be small, and I will sit far enough from the others so that I stay safe. Of course we will all be wearing masks.
I pray that you all have a wonderful weekend and that you also may find some way to observe the feast on Sunday in such a way as to give you much beauty of your interior landscape and some spiritual uplift.
God bless us all!
Silver Rose
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