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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Wales</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15532a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Located in the western portion of Great Britain"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="15532a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/w.htm">W</a> > Wales</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Wales</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p>Wales is that western portion of Great Britain which lies between the <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Irish</a> Sea and the River Dee on the north, the counties (or portions of counties) of <a href="../cathen/03649a.htm">Chester</a>, Salop, <a href="../cathen/07255a.htm">Hereford</a>, and Gloucester on the east, the estuary of the Severn on the southeast, the Bristol Channel on the south, and St. George's Channel on the west.</p> <h2>Name</h2> <p>The name Wales has been given to this country not by its inhabitants but by the Teutonic occupiers of <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>, and means "the territory of the alien race". "Welsh" (German <em>Wälsch</em>) implies a people of either Latin or Celtic origin living in a land near or adjoining that of the Teutons; thus <em>Wälschland</em> is an obsolescent, poetical German term for <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>. After an invasion lasting 330 years, the <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglican</a>, <a href="../cathen/13497b.htm">Saxon</a>, and Jutish "comelings" having driven the earlier "homelings" into the hill-country of the west by steady encroachments and spasmodic conquests, the names Wales and Welsh were applied to the ancient people and the land they retained. Wales is in French, <em>Pays de Galles</em>, from Latin <em>Gallus</em>, Low Latin <em>Wallia</em>. In the <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">Middle Ages</a> the Welsh coined in their own tongue a name of similar origin for their country, when, in poetry only, they termed it <em>Gwalia</em>. The Welsh language, however, has no cognate word for the people themselves; they have, ever since the days of the <a href="../cathen/07241d.htm">Saxon Heptarchy</a>, styled themselves by no other title than <em>Cymry</em>. The etymology of this word has been a much debated question, but in the opinion of Sir John Rhys (a prime authority) it is compounded of the British <em>con bro</em> and means "compatriots"--the federated tribes of ancient Britain who together contested the soil of their native land with the Germanic invader. In Welsh <em>Cymru</em> means Wales, <em>Cymro</em> a Welshman, <em>Cymraes</em> a Welshwoman, and <em>Cymry</em> Welshmen.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>Ethnology</h2> <p>The early Welsh were an association of tribes united in a common cause against a common foe; and whilst they were designated by that foe "the aliens", they called themselves "the federated patriots". In the main the Welsh were Britons. The reason why they did not continue to style themselves Britons was that they were not wholly British, nor even wholly Celtic. Some of their tribes were Celts of the Brythonic, or British, stock, others belonged to the earlier Goidelic, or Gaelic, division of the Celtic race, whom the Britons, a later Celtic immigration, had subdued and partially absorbed. The Goidels, moreover, were in great part made up of yet older, non-Aryan, peoples whom they and their predecessors had successively conquered. The Welsh, therefore, racially represent an unknown series of the earliest settlers in Britain; they are not merely Ancient Britons, but the heirs of all the aborigines of the island, from the cave-men downwards. Though the Cymry <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knew</a> enough of their racial history to call themselves a federation, they cared nothing about the origins of their Teutonic foes. The invaders came from various countries of northern <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>, and it was the Angles or English who eventually gave their name to the new nation. It was, however, the West Saxons who formed the advanced guard of the Germanic invasion, and <em>Saeson</em> (Singular <em>Sais</em>) was the term applied by the Welsh to the unwelcome visitors.</p> <h2>Definition</h2> <p>When we come to define the precise bounds and limits of Wales, we at face a difficulty which has hardly yet been satisfactorily met by geographers. The most perplexing disagreement prevails among writers as to what exactly Wales is; and the question is variously answered, according to the views of each individual on points of nationality  views usually influenced by his racial and political prejudices. One opinion is that Wales consists of twelve particular counties, and that its eastern boundary is identical with that of the eastern-most of those twelve counties. This is the popular, English, school-manual view. According to another view, Wales has thirteen counties, Monmouthshire being the thirteenth, in addition to the above twelve. The English and anglicized inhabitants of the thirteenth county vehemently deny the correctness of its inclusion. They point to the fact that, although <a href="../cathen/07222a.htm">Henry VIII</a> had declared the thirteen counties to constitute the Principality of Wales, a statute of Charles II so far detached Monmouthshire from the others as to annex it to the Oxford Assize Circuit. To this the nationalists reply that a council sitting around a table in <a href="../cathen/09341a.htm">London</a> could no more unmake Wales than they could transform <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> into <a href="../cathen/13613a.htm">Scotland</a>, or Derbyshire into a part of <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Ireland</a>.</p> <p>Any declaration by a government as to what territory shall or shall not be considered as Wales is obviously a political arrangement and cannot affect the concrete facts of the case. Although no Act of Parliament applying to Wales affects Monmouthshire unless that county is expressly mentioned, Monmouthshire is as Welsh as Merionethshire. It has, indeed, historical associations which might entitle it to be considered the premier county of Wales. On the grounds of history, ethnology, and language, it is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> to include likewise certain western <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parishes</a> in Shropshire, Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire as forming part of the real Wales, that is to say, of Wales as we are about to define the term. It would seem, in fact, that the only <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> and comprehensive definition of Wales is as follows: Wales is that territory north of the Bristol Channel which, since the subjection of South Britain by the English, has continuously been peopled by the descendants of its original pre-Germanic inhabitants. This includes the thirteen whole counties, with certain <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parishes</a> in the shires of Salop, <a href="../cathen/07255a.htm">Hereford</a>, and Gloucester; and in some places the boundary passes east of Offa's Dyke, the limit made by the victorious <a href="../cathen/11215c.htm">King of the Mercians</a> in 779.</p> <h2>Counties</h2> <p>The following are the names of the historic counties of Wales, with their Welsh equivalents:</p> <p>North Wales (Y Gogledd):</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>Flintshire (Flint);</li><li>Denbigshire (Dinbych);</li><li>Carnarvonshire (Caernarfon);</li><li>Anglesea (Môn);</li><li>Merionethshire (Meirionydd);</li><li>Montgomeryshire (Trefaldwyn).</li></ul></div> <p>South Wales (Y Deheudir):</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>Cardiganshire (Aberteifi);</li><li>Radnorshire (Maesyfed);</li><li>Pembrokeshire (Penfro);</li><li>Carmarthenshire (Caerfyrddin);</li><li>Brecknockshire (Brycheiniog);</li><li>Glamorgan (Morganwg);</li><li>Monmouthshire (Mynwy).</li></ul></div> <p>The County of Glamorgan is not rightly styled a shire; "Glamorganshire", though the term is often used, is a misnomer. This rule has been authoritatively settled within the last few years and is observed in State documents. In Shropshire the hundreds of Oswestry and Clun, and in Herefordshire those of Ewyas Lacy, Webtree and Wormelow, are the portions adjoining English counties which must be included in a <a href="../cathen/09324a.htm">logical</a> and complete survey of Wales. Even in Gloucestershire, the westernmost <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parishes</a> north of the Severn and east of the Wye  notably Newland, Saint Briavel's, and Llancaut  are at least as much Welsh as English by their history. It will thus be seen that the eastern boundary of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> Wales is widely different from that traced by the hand of custom and convention.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>Physical features</h2> <p>That the Celts and pre-Aryans of South Britain were able to preserve themselves as a federation of non-Germanic peoples in the western parts of the island was doubtless due to the physical character of the country, which the Romans named "Britannis Secunda", and the English called Wales. "Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd" (Mountainous old Wales, <a href="../cathen/14519a.htm">paradise</a> of the bard); this is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> only in a rough and rather poetical sense. Such mountains as Snowden (Welsh <em>Eryri</em>) in North Wales, Plinlimmon (<em>Pumllyman</em>) in central Wales, and Sugarloaf (<em>Pen-y-fan</em>) in South Wales can justly claim the title of mountain; but for the most part, the altitudes in Wales are rather to be regarded as big hills than as little mountains, and are oftener round or hummock-shaped than peaked and precipitous. There are, moreover, many wide areas of plain and fen, especially long the Severn estuary and the southern coast. On the whole, the surface of the country is beautifully diversified, hills, valleys, rivers, and sea combining to produce scenery of worldwide renown. In North Wales the views are generally grander than in the south, where the coastline is tamer and the country more pastoral than wild and awe-inspiring. In both halves of the principality there is abundance of woods and heath, while pasture predominates over arable land, especially since the decline of agriculture which marked the close of the nineteenth century.</p> <h2>Agriculture</h2> <p>Farming is carried on in every county, though greatly restricted by the mines and factories of the coal and iron districts. Grain has never been largely produced in Wales, save in such purely agricultural localities as West Herefordshire and the Vale of Glamorgan. On the other hand, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, and butcher's meat have always been a staple product. The close grass of the hills produces the famous small "Welsh mutton" whose flavour is so peculiarly sweet. The ancient Welsh breed of cattle was small and black. It is now extinct or nearly so, but from it are descended the large black cattle of Carmarthenshire, which are themselves giving place to the fine brown-and-white "Herefordshires". The immemorial use of oxen for ploughing died out at the middle of the nineteenth century.</p> <h2>Mines</h2> <p>The mines and ironworks of Wales, though some are to be found in the north, are principally in Glamorgan and West Monmouthshire. The Romans worked seams of coal which lay near the surface, on the sides of some hills in South Wales, and this primitive mode of obtaining the mineral from levels or adits was continued down to modern times by the farmers, for obtaining domestic supplies of fuel. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, however, with the use of steam and machinery for pumping and winding, the practice of deep sinking, and other improved methods gradually produced the highly complex type of coal mine of today. Mining and the attendant industries, while augmenting the material prosperity of Wales, have ruined much of her loveliest scenery. It is commonly remarked that (owing to some natural <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> as yet undiscovered) it is always the most beautiful valleys which are found to contain coal in commercially requisite conditions and quantity. Limpid stream, bird-haunted grove, and flowery glade then give place to a labyrinth of mechanism, a black <a href="../cathen/04749a.htm">desert</a> of coaldust and mine refuse, and leagues of mean and depressing streets.</p> <h2>Population</h2> <p>The populations of the counties of Wales vary according to the industrialism of each. The inhabitants in the coal districts outnumber those of all the rest of the principality. Glamorgan is by far the most populous county. The original population has been to some extent replaced by immigrants from <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>, but only to a small degree in the country parts. Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, and the south of <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Ireland</a> are the districts which have most largely recruited the population of South Wales, chiefly by settlement in the big towns. Mid-Wales receives its foreign influx principally from the Midlands of <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>. North Wales is indebted to <a href="../cathen/09584b.htm">Manchester</a>, <a href="../cathen/09314a.htm">Liverpool</a>, and Chester for its fresh blood, but there is also some immigration from <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Ireland</a> to the most populous centres.</p> <p>The Welsh, though mainly a Celtic nation, are a composite folk made up of Celts and of many pre-Aryan peoples--a mélange of all the aborigines of the Isle of Britain. Remains of paleolithic man have been found in the limestone caves of the Wye Valley, along with bones of the cave-bear, hyena, etc. How far this early <a href="../cathen/12620b.htm">human race</a> has influenced the Welshman of the present age, it is impossible to say; but there is no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> that the racial type known as the "small dark Welsh", prevalent in certain districts (and, curiously, indigenous in the coal valleys of the south), is that of the latest pre-Aryan folk with whom the first Celtic immigrants came in contact. That race has been identified with the Basques of the Pyrenees and the Berbers of North Africa. Though there are no linguistic evidences to support either identification, there are reasons for <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">believing</a> that the "small dark" Welshmen are of the same race as the original Iberians of <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a> and <a href="../cathen/12297a.htm">Portugal</a>. It is, in any case, certain that they are the Silurians of the period of the Roman invasion under Claudius (A.D. 43). We are on equally sure ground in saying that the Celts of the first immigration, the Gael (akin to the <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Irish</a>, Highland Scots, and Manx), have preserved their racial identity more or less completely in certain parts of both North and South Wales. The largest section of the Welsh nation, however, are Celts of the British stock, a pure tribe of which stretches in a wide band across Central Wales. Many of the ogham and Latin inscriptions on rude stone monuments of the Romano-British period in Wales were evidently made not by British but by Gaelic Celts. It is, however, as yet uncertain what proportion (if any) of these stones commemorate invaders from <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Ireland</a>.</p> <h2>History and language</h2> <p>After an occupation lasting 360 years, the Romans left a Britain which was thoroughly permeated by the civilization of the Empire. In this Wales largely participated, though it is chiefly in South-east Wales that the traces of Imperial <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> must be sought. Recent excavation has exposed vast remains of the power and luxury of the conquering race, at Caerwent in Monmouthshire (once a seaport); and at Caerleon, in the same county, classical antiquity competes with Arthurian romance for the visitor's attention. Many Welsh pedigrees assign existing <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">families</a> a Roman ancestor in the <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> of some official who lived in the period between the departure of the legions and the Saxon conquest. It is, however, chiefly in the domains of language and religion that <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> has left an abiding imprint on Wales.</p> <p>Welsh, as a branch of the Celtic <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a> of languages, has close affinities with Latin; but, besides, has borrowed much from her Italic sister. An enormous proportion of Welsh words are direct importations from Latin, modified by generations of Welsh-speakers. Particularly is this the case with words expressive of religious, <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theological</a>, and <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a>. Very few of these are of other than Roman origin. This fact is, of course, owing to the circumstances which attended the introduction of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> into Britain. The first <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> in this island were <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> who had come in with the Roman army, and in due course these foreign <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> were sufficiently numerous to form congregations in the principal <em>coloniae</em> of Britain. There was a Roman <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> at Caerleon, where a large garrison was permanently quartered. Lucius, the "King of Britain" whom the <a href="../cathen/09224a.htm">"Liber Pontificalis"</a> represents as sending a letter to Pope <a href="../cathen/05379a.htm">Saint Eleutherius</a> asking to be made a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> "by his mandate", would seem to have been a native <em>regulus</em> of Gwent, the region in which Caerleon is situated. It was inevitable that the Britons, deriving all their <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> from <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> and the Romans, should adopt Latin words for their new <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> terminology. So it comes that the Welsh for such words (to cite a few typical instances) as <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holiness</a>, <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, charity, grace, <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">hell</a>, <a href="../cathen/12575a.htm">purgatory</a>, sacrament, mass, vespers, <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, church, <a href="../cathen/07480a.htm">hospital</a>, altar, <a href="../cathen/03639a.htm">chasuble</a>, cross, <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parish</a>, saint, <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a>, anchoret, cell, gospel, <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecration</a>, <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, <a href="../cathen/03724b.htm">Christmas</a>, the Epiphany, <a href="../cathen/09152a.htm">Lent</a>, <a href="../cathen/05224d.htm">Easter</a>, and a thousand others, is in each case the Latin word, modified by the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> of Welsh phonology. "Sacramentum" has become <em>sacrafen</em>; "episcopus", <em>esgob</em>; "ecclesia", <em>eglwys</em>; "altar", <em>allor</em>; "Caresima", <em>Carawys</em>; and so on.</p> <p>Welsh holds a position between Munster <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Irish</a> on the side of Gaelic, and Cornish on the side of the British division of Celtic  but much nearer the latter. It is not as soft as <a href="../cathen/08098b.htm">Irish</a> and Cornish, yet very musical. Its gutturals and aspirate lls sound rough to foreign ears, and an English writer has picturesquely described Welsh as "a language half blown away by the wind"; but there can be no question as to its richness in pure vowel-sounds or its masculine force. During the past century English has unceasingly encroached upon the ancient tongue, driving the linguistic boundary ever further west. Industries, railways, and public elementary <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">schools</a> have been the chief enemies of Welsh, and the extinction of this venerable speech must be looked for in the next generation or two. The language, nevertheless, shows marvelous vitality in the face of odds, and a widespread literary revival has brightened its declining years.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>After the departure of the Romans from Britain, the native inhabitants retained a semblance of Roman institutions. Considerable vestiges of these remained among the Welsh in the time of the <a href="../cathen/07241d.htm">Saxon Heptarchy</a>. The clan system and other Celtic customs, however, continued in force long after imperial forms were forgotten. Only for a brief period were the Welsh united under one sovereign, in the successive reigns of Rhydderch Mawr (Roderick the Great) and his son Howel Dda, or the Good, both of whom were strong rulers and wise legislators. The <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> of Howel Dda are yet extant. They commence with a declaration that the king had obtained their sanction by the Pope of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, and their tenor is one of reverence for the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian Faith</a> and <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. It was only by slow degrees that the native <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> and customs were ousted by Anglo-Norman usages and the machinery of <a href="../cathen/06058c.htm">feudalism</a>. The <a href="../cathen/06058c.htm">feudal</a> system, indeed, hardly penetrated beyond the borderland (called the Marches) where, in their castles and walled towns, dwelled the Palatine lords who held those lands by right of conquest. By <a href="../cathen/07222a.htm">Henry VIII</a> the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> of the principality, native and <a href="../cathen/06058c.htm">feudal</a>, were assimilated to those of <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>  though certain peculiar legal institutions, such as the courts of great session, remained till the reign of William IV. At the same time Wales was divided into counties or shires, some of which were based on and named after the ancient lordships. Though possessing many old boroughs, Wales had no capital town until a few years ago. In 1905 King Edward VII by royal charter conferred on the county of Cardiff the rank of a city, and gave to its chief magistrate the title of lord mayor. This action afforded great satisfaction to the Welsh people, inasmuch as Cardiff is superior to any other town in Wales both in commercial importance and in antiquity. Its history goes back to the Roman occupation, and the place is linked with Llandaff, the oldest <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">episcopal see</a>. These considerations have earned for Cardiff universal recognition as the capital of Wales.</p> <h2>Religion</h2> <p>The religion of the pre-Aryan inhabitants of Britain was a nature-worship which included certain animals among its divinities. The Celtic religious system was likewise a nature-cult, but resembled that of the Greeks, Latins, and other Aryans in deifying abstract <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> rather than material objects. Hence the gods of the Britons were equations of those of their Roman conquerors  Nudd or Nodens, being the Celtic equivalent of Neptune; Pwyll (Pen Annwn, "the head of Hades") the Welsh counterpart of Pluto, and so of the rest. The primitive <a href="../cathen/14789a.htm">totemism</a> of the earlier inhabitants, however, made a deep impression on the religious <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> of the Celts, and has even left permanent traces in Welsh nomenclature. Such names as Mael-sêr (servant of the stars), Gwr-ci and Gwr-con (man of a dog, or dogs), and Gwr-march (man of a horse) are examples.</p> <p>By the end of the Roman occupation, the Britons of Wales had for the most part become <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>, <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">paganism</a> lingering only in a few remote districts, and chiefly among the Gaelic tribes. At first the discipline of the Celtic Church followed closely that of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, whence (if we may trust Welsh and Roman traditions alike) the first missionaries had come to Britain. According to the "Annales Cambriae", the Britons complied with Rome's reforms of the <a href="../cathen/05224d.htm">Easter</a> cycle in the year 453. There was frequent communication between the British <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> and the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, and British <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> took part in the <a href="../cathen/01727b.htm">Council of Arles</a>, at which the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> representatives assisted. When <a href="../cathen/02081a.htm">St. Augustine</a> came to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons, his first step was to invite the cooperation of the Welsh <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>--a fact which <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proves</a> that these latter were in full communion with <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> and the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> at large. By that time, however, the British and Welsh <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> had already long been practically cut off from personal communication with the rest of <a href="../cathen/03699b.htm">Christendom</a> by the Germanic invasion, and thus had to some extent lost touch with the Roamn See. The result was becoming gradually apparent. Peculiar usages in ritual and discipline, known as "Celtic customs", had been evolved from principles <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a> enough, and in some cases actually Roman in origin, but which had petrified into abuses. <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> would gladly have abolished these, but the Welsh cherished them in her despite, as symbols of nationality. They condemned Saint Augustine as the apostle of their Saxon foe, and, deeming the latter more worthy of eternal reprobation than of the joys of <a href="../cathen/07170a.htm">heaven</a>, refused to have a hand in their conversion. This attitude of the native <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, no doubt, brought the <a href="../cathen/15582b.htm">Welsh Church</a> into a situation perilously near <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a>; but the period of tension was of relatively brief duration. In the ninth century Wales renounced all such national customs as were held unorthodox by <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, and even accepted (with a bad grace, perhaps) the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan</a> <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of <a href="../cathen/03299b.htm">Canterbury</a>. Thereafter it was the boast of Welshmen that their countrymen had never swerved from the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> profession of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> and Roman Faith.</p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a> came to Wales as a foreign importation, imposed upon the nation by the sheer weight of English officialdom. Of this there is abundant evidence from contemporary records. <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestantism</a> was against all the sentiment of Welsh nationality, all the traditions and associations dearest to the people. Barlow, the first <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Saint David's, proposed the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a> should be removed from Carmarthen, to avoid the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> memories and atmosphere which hung around the shrine of Cambria's <a href="../cathen/11562a.htm">patron saint</a>. The bards denounced the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a> with invective, satire, and pathos. Sion Brwynog, of Anglesey, who flourished in the reign of Edward VI, composed a poem entitled "Cywydd y Ddwy Ffydd" (Ode to the Two Faiths), portions of which may be baldly translated as follows:</p> <blockquote><p>...Some men are resolute in the new way, and some are firm in the old <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>. People are found quarrelling like dogs; there is a different opinion in each head...The Apostles are called pillars; poor were they while they lived (a thing not easy to the generation of today). Away from wives and children, to <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus</a> they turned. With us, on the contrary, a <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> (of all <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a>) leaves <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus</a> and His Father, and to his wife freely he goes. His malice and his choler is to be angry about his <a href="../cathen/14741b.htm">tithes</a>...At the table, with all the power of his lungs, he preaches a rigamarole...not a word about Mass on Sunday, nor confession, any more than a horse. Cold, in our time, as the grey ice are our churches. Was it not sad, in a day or two, to throw down the altars! In the church choir there will be no wax at all, nor salutary candle, for a moment. The church and her perfumes [<a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a>] graciously healed us. There was formerly a sign to be had, oil anointing the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>. Woe to us <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laymen</a> all, for that we are all without <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a>. There is no agreement in anything betwixt the son and his <a href="../cathen/11478c.htm">father</a>. The daughter is against the mother, unless she turn in mischance...Let us confess, let us approach the sign [of the cross, in <a href="../cathen/01061a.htm">absolution</a>]; <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> will hear and the Trinity...Let us go to his protection, <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">praying</a>; let us fast, let us do penance. ...The world, for some time past, does not trust the shepherds. It behooves a man to trust the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God of Heaven</a>. I believe the word of <a href="../cathen/14142b.htm">God the Son</a>.</p></blockquote> <p>In the Cardiff Free Library is a Welsh prose <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> of the age of Elizabeth, by an unknown author. It is a defence of the old religion against the doctrines of the <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a>, whom it terms "the New Men". The book has leaves missing at both ends, but was divided into twelve chapters, each dealing with a leading point of controversy, as the <a href="../cathen/05573a.htm">Real Presence</a>; <a href="../cathen/04175a.htm">communion in one kind</a>; <a href="../cathen/12575a.htm">purgatory</a>, and <a href="../cathen/04653a.htm">prayer for the dead</a>; <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> to, and the intercession of, the <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a>, and the veneration of <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relics</a>; <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrimages</a>, images, and the <a href="../cathen/13785a.htm">sign of the cross</a>. The composition is excellent, and the matter for those fierce times, moderate in tone. A good deal of national feeling is apparent. Referring to the recent translation of the <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a> into Welsh by the state <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Saint David's, and especially to the preface, he says that, it is only the misbelief of which the ancient <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a> boasted. In another chapter the author compares Naaman's Jewish maiden to a Welsh girl recommending her master to try the virtues of Saint Winifred's Well, in Flintshire; and he rebukes the "New Men" for mocking the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> when these go to Holywell on <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrimage</a> and bring home water, moss, or stones from it. The <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a> seek a natural reason for the virtues of that well, which cures all manner of sick folk. Great, he says, are the <a href="../cathen/10338a.htm">miracles</a> wrought at Saint Winifred's Well, even in these <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> days, since the <a href="../cathen/05781a.htm">false</a> new <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> came from <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>. Ignorance has increased in Wales, adds the writer, since the churches were cleared of pictures and images, which were books of instruction to the unlettered. The glory of Britain departed when the crucifix was broken down. The legend of the cross of Oswestry is referred to, as also the <a href="../cathen/10338a.htm">miraculous</a> appearance of the figure of the cross in a split tree-trunk (at Saint Donat's) in Glamorgan. This last event had occurred a very few years previously, and made so remarkable an impression on the people that the authorities prohibited any reference to the marvel.</p> <p>For a hundred years after the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a> <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> books containing Welsh poetry and prose of the most distinctly "Popish" character continued to be cherished in mansions and farmhouses, and passed from hand to hand until they were worn out. Many still survive, tattered and soiled, but eloquent witnesses of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a> which died so hard in Wales. The bards' favourite subjects were the Blessed Virgin, the national <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a>, the <a href="../cathen/13184b.htm">rosary</a>, the roods (calvaries) in the churches, the Mass, the <a href="../cathen/01010a.htm">abbeys</a>, and the shrines of the city of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>. From such a <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> as is described above, the following poem may be noticed, almost at random. It is entitled "Cywydd y paderau prennau" (Ode to the Wooden Beads) and commences thus:</p> <blockquote><p>There is one jewel for my poor <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, in a life which desires not <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a>; it is the beads, in four rows. A son of learning [a <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">cleric</a>] gave them to an old man. Holy Mary, for that he gave it from his keeping, grant thy grace to Master Richard. The Canon sent ten fine beads [decades], that may hang down to one's knee. I obtained ten of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> apples [the large beads], and I carry them at my side  ten were obtained from Yale with great difficulty. Those ten in memory of you. Ten words of religious law, ten beads follow after them...The man to the cleric of the glen gave beads on a string; Mary's ornament, in tiny fragments, placed upon silk...Wood is the good material  wood from <a href="../cathen/04589a.htm">Cyprus</a> in <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a>... Suitable are these for a gift  bits of the tree of Him Who redeemed us...</p></blockquote> <p>The bard was Gitto'r Glyn, who flourished about 1450; the transcript was made about the year 1600.</p> <p>Writing soon after the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a>, the bard Thomas ap Ivan ap Rhys begs his lord not to stay in <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>. He is sure to encounter treachery. The Mass is cut up as a furrier does his material; <a href="../cathen/10050a.htm">Matins</a> and <a href="../cathen/15381a.htm">Vespers</a> are a thing detested. Nobody attends to the seven petitions of the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">Pater Noster</a>. People eat meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays  even on Fridays, on which day it used to be thought poison. It is no wonder that streams, orchards, and ploughed fields no longer yield their increase. Every man of them is no better than a beast, for they never <a href="../cathen/02599b.htm">bless</a> themselves with <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> word  while others have their heads cut off as traitors and are punished more and more (Creawdwr Nef arno y crier).</p> <p>The "Carols" of <a href="../cathen/15612a.htm">Richard Gwyn <em>alias</em> White</a>, who was cruelly <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyred</a> in Elizabeth's reign, had (though never printed) a great popularity, and must have borne a large share in the work of the <a href="../cathen/04437a.htm">Counter-Reformation</a> in Wales. White was a schoolmaster at Wrexham, and a man of considerable attainments. His attachment to <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a> was that of the scholar and the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyr</a> combined, and the influence of his controversial rhymes was widespread and profound. In form and style he is evidently the model of Vicar Prichard's "Canwyll y Cymry" (Welshman's Candle), written in the reign of Charles I. This <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestant</a> work, though, unlike the verses of Richard White, it was not only printed but also circulated with the support of the state Church, is by no means the equal of its prototype either in the purity of its Welsh or in the force and picturesqueness of its diction. White describes the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> as "a priceless institution conspicuous as the sun, though smoke mounts from <a href="../cathen/07207a.htm">Satan's pit</a>, between the blind man and the sky". He gives nine reasons why men should refuse to attend <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a> worship: "Thou art of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">Faith</a>; from their church keep thyself wisely away lest thou walk into a pitfall. [This is his main argument.] The English Bible is topsy-turvy, full of crooked conceits. In the <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parish</a> church there is now, for preacher, a slip of a tailor demolishing the <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a>; or any pedlar, feeble of degree, who can attack the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>. Instead of altar, a sorry trestle; instead of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, mere bread. Instead of holy things, a miserable tinker making a boast of knavery. Instead of images, empty niches. They who conform to the new religion will lose the seven virtues of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church of God</a>, the communion of all <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a>, and the privilege of authority given by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> Himself to pardon <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a>." White's scornful description of the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a> <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a> is founded on the fact that the difficulty of finding <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">educated</a> men to fill the places of the ejected <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> had necessitated the appointment of handicraftsmen of various kinds, and even grooms, to act as teachers of the Reformed religion.</p> <p>The sacking of a secret <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Jesuit</a> <a href="../cathen/04107b.htm">college</a> in the Mennow Valley, South Wales, in 1680, led to the discovery of a store of "contraband <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a>" printed books and <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscripts</a>, some in English and some in Welsh. Many of these are now in the <a href="../cathen/09227b.htm">library</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03438a.htm">cathedral</a> of <a href="../cathen/07255a.htm">Hereford</a>. At that <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> there was living in Monmouthshire a learned <a href="../cathen/02443a.htm">Benedictine</a>, Dom William Pugh. He had led a chequered life. Born of an ancient <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a> in Carnarvonshire, he became a doctor of medicine. On the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the Royalist army as a captain, and was one of the garrison besieged by Fairfax in Raglan Castle. Afterwards he became a <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monk</a> and a <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a>, and wrote a large <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> collection of <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> and <a href="../cathen/07595a.htm">hymns</a> in Welsh, many of which are his own composition, others translations and transcripts. To him we are indebted for the preservation of White's "Carols". In 1648 Captain Pugh composed a Welsh poem in which loyalty to his temporal sovereign is combined with devotion to the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. He begins by saying that the political evils afflicting Britain are <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God's</a> punishment for the country's abandonment of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> religion. People were far happier, he proceeds, when the Old Faith prevailed. But a better time is coming. The English Roundheads will be made square by a crushing defeat, and the king will return "under a golden veil"; Mass shall be sung once more, and a <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> shall elevate the Host. Here we have evidently a mystical allusion to the King of Kings on His throne in the tabernacle, and this is the theme underlying the whole poem.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>It would be easy to quote similar examples from the Welsh literature of any period previous to the Civil Wars--after which time <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a> rapidly lost its hold on Wales. As a consequence of that political and social upheaval, an entrance into the country was effected by the <a href="../cathen/12581a.htm">Puritanism</a> which was destined, in the course of little more than a century and a half, to transform the Welsh people spiritually, morally, and mentally  and, as many people judge, not for the better in either respect. This loss of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church's</a> ground was, humanly considered, entirely owing to the failure in the supply of a native <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, brought about by racial jealousies between the Welsh and the English seminarists in the <a href="../cathen/05472b.htm">English College, Rome</a>, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Within a hundred years, this circumstance led to a dearth of Welsh <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> able to minister in the native tongue. After the Titus Oates <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> (1679-80) the Welsh-speaking <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> were either executed or exiled, and the chill mists of <a href="../cathen/03198a.htm">Calvinism</a> settled on Cambria's hills and vales. Thenceforward, Welsh <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> were a genus represented by a few rare specimens. Mostyn of Talacre, Jones of Llanarth, Vaughan of Courtfield are almost the only ancient <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">families</a> of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> gentry left to Wales at the present day; and the only Old Welsh missions still containing a proportion of native hereditary <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> are Holywell in the north, and Brecon and Monmouth in the south.</p> <p>The eighteenth century saw but a very small output of Welsh <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> literature, either printed or <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a>. Almost all there is to show for that period is a version of the <a href="../cathen/07674c.htm">"Imitation of Christ"</a>, and "Catechism Byrr o'r Athrawiaeth Ghristnogol" (London, 1764), a short <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">catechism</a> of <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">Christian doctrine</a>. It is in excellent Welsh by Dewi Nantbrân, a <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscan</a>. The number of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> books for Welshmen increased rapidly in the course of the nineteenth century. In 1825 appeared "Drych Crefyddol". Its full title translated is "A religious mirror, shewing the beginning of the Protestant religion, together with a history of the Reformation in England and Wales". Of this small work, by William Owen, only two copies are known to exist--one being in the possession of the present writer. Is is embellished with a few rude woodcuts, and comprises an account of the Welsh <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a>. A <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">catechism</a> in Welsh called "Grounds of the Catholic doctrine contained in the profession of faith published by Pope Pius IV" (Llanrwst, 1839) is now very rare. Since then many such publications have appeared.</p> <p>Wales possesses an extensive vernacular Press, whereof by far the largest portion is controlled by the <a href="../cathen/11095b.htm">Nonconformist</a> and Radical party. All the Dissenting <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">denominations</a> have their literary organs, and the Established Church is similarly represented. As a general rule, the Welsh Press deals with <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a> only in a hostile manner; but in quite recent years a more moderate tone has been adopted in a few of the less puritanical newspapers and magazines. The largest denomination in Wales is that of the <a href="../cathen/03198a.htm">Calvinistic</a> <a href="../cathen/10237b.htm">Methodists</a> (now often styled the <a href="../cathen/12392b.htm">Presbyterian</a> Church of Wales). The <a href="../cathen/02278a.htm">Baptists</a>, <a href="../cathen/04239a.htm">Congregationalists</a>, Wesleyan <a href="../cathen/10237b.htm">Methodists</a> and <a href="../cathen/15154b.htm">Unitarians</a> are also strong in the principality  the latter particularly in Cardiganshire. <a href="../cathen/10570c.htm">Mormonism</a> has made large numbers of recruits in the chief centres of population. <a href="../cathen/12581a.htm">Puritanism</a> is slowly but steadily ceding ground to <a href="../cathen/01215c.htm">Agnosticism</a> and <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglicanism</a>.</p> <p>The <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is strong only in the large towns of Wales, the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> of the rural districts having participated in the exodus consequent on the decay of the old country life. The <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">hierarchy</a> includes two <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, deriving their titles from <a href="../cathen/10187d.htm">Menevia</a> (Saint David's) and Newport. The former see comprises the greater part of Wales; the latter includes Glamorgan, Monmouthshire, and Herefordshire. The present <a href="../cathen/03438a.htm">cathedral</a> of the Menevian <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a> is at Wrexham in North Wales, that of Newport (a <a href="../cathen/02443a.htm">Benedictine</a> see) is the <a href="../cathen/12428b.htm">priory</a> church of Belmont, near <a href="../cathen/07255a.htm">Hereford</a>. The <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church's</a> progress among the Welsh people is incredibly difficult, and very slow; but it is perceptible. Advance would be easier and more rapid if greater use could be made of the Welsh language in the material.</p> <p>Out of a total population of 3 million (1995), the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> number about 150,000 (5 percent). Of religious, there are <a href="../cathen/02443a.htm">Benedictines</a> at <a href="../cathen/07255a.htm">Hereford</a>, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea, and Cardigan; <a href="../cathen/14081a.htm">Jesuits</a> at <a href="../cathen/01766a.htm">St. Asaph</a>, Rhyl, and Holywell; <a href="../cathen/03320b.htm">Capuchin</a> <a href="../cathen/06217a.htm">Franciscans</a> at Pantasaph and Penmaenmawr; <a href="../cathen/11521d.htm">Passionists</a> at Carmarthen; <a href="../cathen/11184b.htm">Oblates of Mary Immaculate</a> at Llanrwst, Pwllheli, Holyhead, and Colwyn Bay; Fathers of the Institute of Charity at Cardiff and Newport; and many <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a> of <a href="../cathen/11164a.htm">nuns</a> of various congregations, including some communities of Daughters of the Holy Ghost (<em>Soeurs Blanches</em>), exiled from Brittany.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Matthews, J.H.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Wales.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15532a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Matthews, John Hobson.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Wales."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 15.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15532a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Marie Jutras.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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