St Mabyn, Cornwall

St Mabyn was one of King Brychan’s children who left south Wales in the early 500s AD to evangelise Cornwall. They established prayer cells all along the north coast of Cornwall. Many of the villages around Saint Mabyn, where she had her prayer cell, are named after her siblings. Villages such as St Teath, St Kew, St Tudy and St Endellion are all nearby and named after her family. It was quite common for these Celtic Christians to live within walking distance of each other so that they could regularly hear their confessions.  Not much is known about Mabyn but there are stained glass windows of her in Saint Neot's Church and Saint Mabyn’s in Cornwall. In both churches she is depicted holding a palm branch which is symbolic of martyrdom. She is mentioned in the Life of Saint Nectan (her brother) and was reportedly known for her good works.

We visited Saint Mabyn’s church in the village of St Mabyn and it is clearly on a ’lan’, that is a raised circular churchyard. This is indicative of an early Celtic Christian site. She probably established her prayer oratory here which later became a church.

It was an interesting visit to St Mabyn’s church.

It is a very large church and on entering, I needed to orient myself before feeling comfortable enough to settle in the prayer corner. This was set out to encourage private prayer with a small altar, prayer tree, prayer wall and simple guides to help pray.

The church is in the middle of the village so doesn’t have the same remote feel of more isolated places and it does seem to be a lovely hub for the community.

Yet it takes me a while to settle.

Be still and know that I am God.

It was only then I encountered that this truly is a ‘thin place’. What happened was private and not for sharing but God really met with me in this church and I met with him. I would encourage anybody to step aside and visit Saint Mabyn’s church to pray. I’m quite sure that those with an open heart God will also meet with them there.