OK seem to be a bit better so will try and get going again on this. I have been ill much of November, which is annoying. Today's saint is rather special: Saint Cadoc, who I first encountered when reading for my A level history project on the Problem of Romano-British Survival, and then again soon after when playing Pendragon. When I was about to go to university I went with my parents to Newmarket racecourse, and saw a horse called Saint Cadoc, and so I stuck my twenty quid savings on him, and won enough to actually give me a very nice first term at uni. Ever since Saint Cadoc has been a personal favourite of mine 
More than that though, his story features King Arthur, of whom he was a contemporary, and he is just a really interesting saint!
[size=150]Day 17[/size]
[size=150]St. Cadoc [/size]
Patron Saint: Glamorgan ; Llanspyddid (Brecon) and Llancarfan in Wales; Kilmadock in Stirlingshire Scotland; invoked against food hoarders, bandits, famine and deafness, and those wronged by kings.
Divine Might 50
Feast: January 24th
Area of Veneration: Stonehenge Tribunal, Normandy Tribunal, Loch Leglean Tribunal, Hibernian Tribunal; Rome Tribunal; relics: Llancarfen, Wales; Church of St. Sophia, Benevento Italy ; churches in Brittany at Vannes, Locoal-Mendon, Belz and also Gouesnac'h in Finistere, throughout Wales, also Lismore Ireland, Kilmadock, Stirlingshire Scotland, St Ninan's Scotland, and Padstow Cornwall in England.
Personality Traits: Pious +6, Ruthless +3, Strong Willed +3.
Powers: Apparition, Blindness, Ignis Domini, Raise the Corpse, Swallowed Alive and Sent to Hell, The Incombustible Shroud, The Leap of the Faithful, Tomorrow's Bounty.
Cadoc's mother was a royal princess of one of the kingdoms of Wales, and one day the king of another Welsh kingdom sent word that he wished to marry her; but her father refused. So the second king armed his slaves, and gathered his warriors, and raided the palace, and took away the fair maiden. Her father was furious, and called on his guard, and chased after them.
The pursuers soon caught up, and the kings prepared to give battle. On a hill high above were three men, and one of them them was a king as well; he was King Arthur, of whom many tales are told, and with him on the hillside were Kay and Bedivere, two of his best knights. As he watched the armies taking up positions below he saw the fair maiden who was the cause of the battle, and overcome by lust decided to make off with her; but Kay and Bedivere managed to dissuade him from this evil plan. So instead the three brave knights charged down the hill, and entered the melee, and the pursuers were routed.
So the princess was married to the king, and they lived happily together. Soon she became pregnant, and her child was Cadoc. When he was born a voice from heaven announced that when he was seven he should enter a religious life, and his parents dutifully obeyed. And a holy man, Meuthi was awakened by an angel and told that the cow had been taken to the palace, and he must hurry there to have the thieves caught, and wile he was about it baptize the boy. And the King and Queen likewise were visited by an angel, who told them to expect Meuthi's arrival, to return him his cow, and to have him baptize their son. And all this came to pass; and when the boy was baptised, a miraculous spring appeared that was renowned for it's sweetness and water the colour of mead. It would be there to this day, but men fought over it, and over a hundred were slain, and as a punishment God made the waters like any other spring from that day forth.
When Cadoc was seven as instructed by the angel the king and queen gave Cadoc to the holy man Meuthi to raise. One day Cadoc was cooking when the fire went out, and Meuthi sent him off to get a fire from a neighboring farm. The farmer was in his barn winnowing corn, and told Cadoc he could only take coals if he carried them in his cloak, expecting them to burn the cloak and for the boy to go away empty handed. Cadoc gathered the red hot coal he wanted in his cloak, which was miraculously preserved, and as he left he cursed the man, and the barn and farmstead burned down, and the man was consumed to ashes, and to this day the spot is just a marsh. When he returned he told Meuthi what had happened, and Meuthi realized the fire Cadoc carried was holy, and hid it in in a cemetery and hid it in a secret spot. There it burned for many years, curing cattle that were brought to the spot, till one man who was angry as his cows still remained unwell destroyed it through bitterness.
Meuthi decided on this miracle that the time had come for Cadoc to go and found his own hermitage, so Cadoc sorrowfully departed his master. He traveled through the countryside until he came to a small valley filled with thorn bushes, where a swine herd tended his pigs, and there he sat under a tree. The pigs were scared by the stranger and ran off, and the swineherd, thinking Cadoc was a thief come to steal them , crept up on him and raised his spear to slay the saint. Then Cadoc cried out, and the man was paralyzed with his spear arm held high, and was blinded in both eyes.
The swineherd realized Cadoc was a man of God and called for mercy, so Cadoc directed him to walk to his uncles house, although blind and unable to use one arm, and there he should tell all that had occurred. This he did, as he told the noble his tale his sight was restored and his arm healed. So Cadoc's uncle Nant Poul set off with his soldiers to find Cadoc, and the meaning of this miracle. Nant Poul tried to persuade Cadoc to give up the religious life and become a noble lord, but Cadoc refused, so his uncle granted him the swampy valley for his monastery.
It was a particularly marshy and unsuitable place, and home to a fierce white boar that slept under a bush, but Cadoc had a vision that in the morning it would be leveled and drained and ready for building, and that the boar would take fright run three times, and where it stopped the first time he should build his monastery, the second leap would mark where the refectory would be, and the third place the vicious pig stopped would be the location for the dormitory. And in the morning all was as in the vision, and Cadoc built his monastery where the pig ran and stopped, in the three spots indicated by the vision.
And he raised a mound for his cell, that was called Kastell Cadoc, and built a cemetery with a ring earthwork around, and holy monks came from all over Britain to praise God and live in Cadoc's monastery. And after some years Cadoc sailed to Ireland, and there settled at Lismore where he studied and founded a monastery, and then after three years he returned home to Wales.
And about this time a famous scholar came from Rome to Wales, and Cadoc desired to study Artes Liberales under him. So he set out with his disciples to this man Bachan's house, but when he arrived the whole land was wasted with a famine. And Bachan said that he would be delighted to teach Cadoc, but feared there was not enough food to feed him, or his guests. That night as they talked a little mouse came and dropped a grain of wheat on the table in front of Cadoc, and Cadoc laughed. And seven times the mouse came and did the same, and then Cadoc caught the mouse, and borrowing a fine thread from a lady attached it to the mouses foot. And when the mouse ran off again they followed the yarn, and it led them to a secret store room built under a hill, in which much grain was hidden away by some wicked hoarder!
So Cadoc revealed to all the hidden grain, and it was distributed to the poor and starving, and the famine was lifted. And Cadoc studied under Bachan till he could lean no more, and then he returned to his monastery at Llancarfan. He found the monastery had fallen in to disrepair, and had it rebuilt, cursing those who would thwart his orders.
Then he set off to travel,and went to many lands, studying on an island in the Bay of Morbihan in Brittany, then traveling through the Rhineland across the Alps and down in to Greece, and from there to the Holy Land, performing many miracles on this pilgrimage.
On his return to Wales he came across a monastery where a gang of bandits came every night to eat their fill, steal what they wanted and get drunk. Cadoc told the monks to wait till they were unconscious, then shave off half their hair and their beards, and cut the ears and lips off their horses. In the morning the robbers left, and were jeered at by all; but they might have returned and taken vengeance on the monks, so Cadoc led the monks to where the bandits were, prayed loudly, and the earth opened up and swallowed the bandits straight to hell.
Likewise, while he was on pilgrimage a cousin of his slew another kinsman, and on his return Cadoc prayed and the earth swallowed the murderer whole. But then he found out that while he was away Saint David had organized another synod, and while at the first Cadoc had played an important role, this time David had proceeded without him. He went to bed furious, but that night an angel appeared, and told him that there should be peace between brothers in the faith, so Cadoc forgave David.
At Lent each year Cadoc retreated to an island, and there he doled out generous food to all who came to ask, feeding multitudes. One day a group of soldiers came and stole some of the food, and rode off with it, but no sooner had they sat down to eat than the earth opened and swallowed them up. Only one man, who had not participated in the theft, witnessed the miracle, and he came to Cadoc and begged to be accepted as a monk, and Cadoc agreed.
And when he was at Neath, at the town of Glynleiros, Cadoc had a church built. One of the masons was an Irishman, with a large family, who worked hard and dutifully, and was so good at his job that his companions were jealous. One night twelve of the masons gathered, and murdered the poor man, striking off his head, and tying a great rock to the corpse, flung it in to a pond. When the man did not return home from work, and was missing, his poor family lamented, and Cadoc resolved to get to the bottom of the matter. He prayed, and then the water stirred, and the body of the dead man rose from the pond slime, still tied to the rock, and the headless corpse lurched to Cadoc, and then revealing the fact it carried its head, spoke to the saint. And Cadoc on hearing of the murder asked if the body wished to be restored, or to go to heaven, and the murdered man asked to be released to go to his eternal reward, so Cadoc prayed and he fell dead. And the stone was placed by the church, and many men have been healed of diseases here to this day.
About this time a fellow countryman of Cadoc, a general called Llyngesseog, killed three of King Arthur's knights. He fled Arthur's vengeance, and for seven years found sanctuary with Cadoc, whoi was not afraid of Arthur. After seven years King Arthur found where Llyngesseog was, and called for a trial, so Cadoc summoned St. David, St Teilo and St. Cynidir, and on the banks of the River Usk the trial began, with the two parties facing each other across the river to prevent further violence. It was soon agreed that according to custom Llyngesseog must pay a fine in cattle for each of Arthur's knights that was slain; Cadoc's party offered three cows, Arthur demanded one hundred. One hundred each was finally agreed, as in keeping with the laws of the land and custom, but Arthur demanded they should be red and white cows (Note: traditionally faerie cows are of this coloration, so this may be what Arthur wanted) but there was no one who knew where such animals can be found. So Cadoc sent nine monks to collect the cattle, of any colours, and when he prayed they all became as Arthur demanded, and he had to accept the were gild. The cows were driven across the river, and Sir Kay and Sir Bedivere rode out to collect them, but as the cows reached Arthur's knights they were miraculously changed in to bundles of ferns. (Again this suggests they were faerie cows!). So King Arthur saw he was wrong, and forgave Llyngesseog. Furthermore King Arthur gave the monastery at Llancarfen the right of sanctuary for seven years and seven days, and that any felon who left at the expiry of that period, and tried to travel abroad, but was driven back by storms or shipwreck should be granted sanctuary there for the rest of their days.
Cadoc ruled over a large territory from his abbey, but the King of North Wales, Maelgwyn, claimed to rule all Wales as High King. One day King Maelgwyn sent a party of armed men, who abducted the beautiful daughter of Cadoc's steward. Cadoc sent his knights, for he had many, after the raiders, and they recaptured the girl, and many of Maelgwyn's men were killed. Then King Maelgwyn raised an army, and invaded Cadoc's lands. Cadoc went alone to the king's camp, and as he prayed it became as dark as night and a smoke came over the land, and then all the men of Maelgwyn's army were blinded. He spoke with Maelgwyn, and King Maelgwyn was moved to forgive Cadoc, and the day became bright again, and Maelgwyn and his army, their sight restored, returned home.
And sometime later Maelgwyn's son Prince Rhun invaded South Wales, and Maelgwyn made him promise not to molest anything that belonged to Cadoc. Some of Rhun's soldiers went to a barn and stole milk from the saint's dairy, and a thick smoke appeared, and drifted upon Rhun's army, and all were blinded. Cadoc came to them, and Rhun made inquiries, and had the thieves punished, and the sight of the men was then restored.
Soon after Cadoc who had performed three pilgrimages to Jerusalem and seven to Rome decided it was time to make pilgrimage to the church of St. Andrew in Scotland. On his way back he travelled deep in to the still heathen mountainous lands of Scotland, and there received a vision that he should build a monastery, so with his companions he spent seven years in that place, converting the pagans around. And while they were digging the foundations, Cadoc found a collar bone, from an immense man. So he prayed to god to tell him the story, and the next morning the bone had been revived, and a great giant stood there. The giant told how he had been a robber king named Caw, and in ancient times had robbed and slain many in this land, and how he now languished in hell for his crimes. The saint told him that God had granted the giant a second chance, so the giant took the vows of a monk and laboured long and hard to build the monastery from that day forth, humbly serving God.
So Cadoc returned to Llancarfen, and there one day St. Gildas arrived, bearing a beautiful bell. Cadoc wanted the bell for his monastery, but Gildas refused, saying he had vowed to give it to the Pope. The two men left on bad terms, but when he got to Rome Gildas found the bell would not make a sound, and the pope said the bell must be given to Cadoc, for that was God's will. So Gildas made peace with Cadoc, and gave him the bell.
One day Cadoc received news that his father was dying, and he hurried to take his confession. The river however was in flood, and so Cadoc prayed and the waters parted, and the monks were able to cross without getting their feet wet. And to this day that river never rises far, or floods, but remains shallow and easily forded, because of the miracle of Cadoc. And Cadoc took his fathers confession, and his father left him many lands and great states, and was buried in Cadoc's holy cemetery at Llancarfen, where all good Christians but exiles and women who died in child birth could be buried.
One day Cadoc sailed to Barry Island with Sanint Barruc (feast day 29th November) and his disciple Gwalch; both were monks of Cadoc. And a storm blew up, and when they returned in their coracle, Cadoc asked for his prayer book. Barruc and Gwalch admitted they had forgotten it and left it oin the island, so Cadoc sent them back to fetch it. And as they returned their coracle was overturned, and both men were drowned, but the book fell in to the sea and was eaten by a great salmon, and soon after the salmon was caught and served to Cadoc, who rejoiced to cut it open and find his prayer book unharmed within. And the two bodies of the monks were then washed up, and Barruc was buried on the island, since then called Barry Island.
Soon after Cadoc traveled to Brittany and there established a monastery near Vannes on an island in the Bay of Morbihan, and founded chapels at Belz and Locoal-Mendon, before returning to Wales.
And Cadoc ruled his monastery for many years, until an angel told him that the next day he must leave. So he rose the next day, walked up Kastell Cadoc, and preached to the crowd until a bright light shone down, and a cloud covered him, and he was miraculously transported to Benevento in Italy, where he lived out his last years, and was buried.
New Powers
Raise the Corpse, 3 points, Init +2, Corpus. This power causes a body that has not received a religious burial to immediately come back to life, and seek out the petitioner. The body will be restored to a ghastly semblance f life, and can communicate its fate, until Sunset to sunrise, when it goes to its eternal reward.