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{{Short description|Early Celtic Christian monastery}}
The monastery of '''Rosnat''' was an important center of the early Celtic Christianity. Scholars differ as to its actual location. Two locations much discussed are [[Ninian]]'s [[Candida Casa]] at [[Whithorn]] in Scotland, and Ty Gwyn overlooking [[Whitesands Bay (Pembrokeshire)]].

==History==
According to [[Alban Butler]], in his youth, [[Tigernach of Clones]] "...was carried away by pirates into Britain, and fell into the hands of a British king, who being taken with his virtue, placed him in the monastery of Rosnat."<ref>[https://www.bartleby.com/210/4/053.html Butler, Alban. "St. Tigernach, Bishop and Confessor in Ireland", ''The Lives of the Saints''. Volume IV: April. 1866]{{PD-notice}}</ref> Butler does not indicate a location for Rosnat.

It appears that Rosnat was a [[double monastery]] with a separate house for women.<ref>McCavery, Trevor. ''Newtown: A History of Newtownards'', White Row Publications 2013, p. 21</ref><ref name=Dawson>{{cite journal |last=Dawson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77s1AAAAMAAJ |title=Notes on the Monastery of Rosnat, or Ty Gwyn, Pembrokeshire |journal=Archaeologia Cambrensis |volume=XV |issue=LVII |date=January 1898 }}{{PD-notice}}</ref>

==Possible locations==
Although the names "Whithorn", "Candida Casa", and "Rosnat" appear to be used interchangeably, there remain different views as to the applicability of the latter. 

An alternate name for the "great monastery" was ''Alba'', i.e. "white". This has been used to support claims for
* ''Candida Casa'', from the Latin ''casa'' (meaning hut) and ''candidus/candida'' (meaning shining or glittering white), ("Shining White House");
* ''Ty Gwyn'' - (Welsh for "White" or "Blessed House"); and
* ''Bangor'' - ''ban'' in Irish signifying "white", ''Ban-chor'' meaning "white choir".<ref name=Lanigan>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MxEHAAAAQAAJ&q=Clones Lanigan, John. "An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland", p. 437, 1829]</ref>

===Whithorn===
[[John Healy (bishop)|Bishop John Healy]] identifies the site with [[Ninian]]'s [[Candida Casa]], near [[Whithorn]] in [[Dumfries and Galloway|Galloway]]. "This monastery of Rosnat is by some writers placed in the valley of Rosina, in Wales, where a certain St. Manchen is said to have founded a religious house. We are inclined to agree with Skene that it was rather the celebrated monastery known as Candida Casa, or Whithern, founded by St. Ninian at the extremity of the peninsula of Galloway."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=yDVRDAAAQBAJ&q=Rosnat&pg=PT146  Healy, John. ''Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum'', Dublin. M.H. Gill & Son., 1912]</ref> (Skene is antiquary [[William Forbes Skene]].) 

Irish Church historian [[John Lanigan (historian)|John Lanigan]] identifies Rosnat with Candida Casa, established by [[Ninian]] some time before.<ref name=Lanigan/> However, British medievalist and Celtic scholar [[David Dumville]] does not find that credible and notes that St. Davids's in Dyfed has also been proposed.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHd_VlHlJ1MC&dq=Tigernach+of+Clones&pg=PA142 Dumville, David N., ''Saint Patrick'', Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1999] {{ISBN|9780851157337}}</ref>

P.A. Wilson says that the development of the cult of Ninian after publication of [[Bede]]'s ''Ecclesiastical History'' caused later editors of ''vita'' pertaining to Irish saints who trained in Britain, to identify the unknown Rosnat and its abbot Macannus with Candida Casa and Ninnian. He notes that whether or not Whithorn was Rosnat, it was held in high regard by the Irish, and a number of Irish ecclesiastics may have trained there.<ref>Wilson, P.A., "St. Ninian and Candida Casa: Literary Evidence from Ireland", ''Trans Dumfries and Galloway N.A.H.S.'', vol. xli, (1964)</ref>   

===Ty Gwyn===
Mrs. Dawson, writing in the ''Archaeologia Cambrensis'', argues for Ty Gwyn, in Pembrokeshire, pointing out that "Ty Gwyn" is Welsh for "White House".<ref name=Dawson/> According to [[John Francis Shearman]], the most celebrated abbot of Ty Gwyn was Pawl Hen, also known as Paulinus of Wales or Paulinus of the North (sometimes identified with [[Paul Aurelian]]), which he then identified with Ty Gwyn ar Daf in [[Carmarthenshire]]. Ty Gwyn ar Dar, which means "White House on the River Taf", is now known as [[Whitland]]. Dawson maintains that Shearman is correct in naming Pawl Hen as founder of the monastery, but incorrect in placing Pawl Hen in that Ty Gwyn.{{sfn|Dawson|1898|p=15}}

===Other locations===
Irish  hagiographer and historian [[John Colgan]] believed Rosnat or "Alba" was [[Bangor-on-Dee]], founded about AD 560 by [[Saint Dunod]] from the preface "ban", meaning "white".

"Dr Breeze, writing in the Welsh Journal of Religious History (Vol 7), is convinced that “Rosnat was surely in Cornwall, near Truro”. This is supported by an old Cornish play on St Kea, which came to light in 2007. It refers to the saint’s place of residence (now called Old Kea) as in Rosewa or Rosene."<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10881305/Not-a-saint-but-a-spelling-mistake.html Howse, Christopher. "Not a saint but a spelling mistake", ''The Telegraph'', June 6, 2014]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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[[Category:Celtic Christianity]]
[[Category:Former Christian monasteries in the United Kingdom]]