Saint Winifred (650)

She was a niece of Saint Beuno, a bishop of Wales. She was murdered and her head cut off by Caradog of Hawarden who wanted to violate her purity. The spot where her head fell on the ground caused the rising of a holy well, called Saint Winifred’s Well. It still pours forth nine and one-half million gallons of water every day, and miracles still occur there. Saint Beuno wrapped Saint Winifred’s body and severed head in his cloak, and laid them at the foot of the altar where he was to say Mass. When the Mass was ended, Saint Winifred was restored to life again, with her head rejoined to her body. She is perhaps the greatest glory of Wales. She is certainly the clearest remembrance there of the truth Wales once had when it was a Catholic country.

St. Winefride’s Well, Holywell, Flintshire, UK. Stained glass window showing Saint Winefride. Photo by Copy94 (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons