Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts - Rodney Castleden - Страница 171

Illtud was a Breton, a cousin of King Arthur, and converted to the monastic life by Cadoc of Lancarfan. He may, as claimed, have been baptized by St. Germanus. He was ordained by St. Dubricius in the time when Merchiaun the Wild was King of Glamorgan.

Not long after his death he was described as “an exceptional teacher of the British, in the tradition of St. Germanus.” He is still remembered chiefly for his remarkable school at Llantwit Fawr in Glamorgan, where he taught some remarkable boys: David, Leonorus, Gildas, Samson, Paul Aurelian, and Maelgwn—all became saints except the last, who became the infamous King Maelgwn of Gwynedd.

The boys started at the age of five, learning the alphabet. There were no set fees: Illtud relied on customary “donations.”

Illtud’s teaching method was gentle and lenient. He did not believe it was sensible for growing boys to go in for excessive fasting. He also tried to dissuade the 15-year-old Paul Aurelian from going off to a desert hermitage, but in the end left the decision to the boy.

The monastery was Illtud’s own property, which his nephews expected to inherit. He died some time after 525.