Religion in Wales
History 1859 Welsh revival 1904–1905 Welsh revival 1915–1916 Church of England border polls Brynmawr Experiment Bible translations into Welsh Synod of Brefi Dissolution of the monasteries Mary Jones and her Bible Nonconformity in Wales Synod of Victory Welsh Church Act 1914 Welsh Methodist revival
Structures Churches Anglican cathedrals former cathedrals Commissioners' Friends of Friendless Anglesey Conwy Denbighshire Flintshire Gwynedd Powys Wrexham Monastic houses Places of worship in Cardiff
Topics Archbishop of Wales Priest hole List of Welsh saints Plygain
Christianity Britain Yearly Meeting Baptist Union of Wales Catholic Church in England and Wales Catholic Education Service Church in Wales archdeacons armorial governing body representative body Church of England border Latter-day Saints Coptic Orthodox Church Covenanted Churches Evangelical Presbyterian Church Evangelical Movement History of Christianity in Britain Presbyterian Church of Wales Union of Welsh Independents Bala-Bangor Theological Seminary
Ecumenism Cytûn Local ecumenical partnership
Non-Christian faiths Baháʼí Faith Buddhism Hinduism Irreligion Islam History of the Jews Sikhism
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Representing 43.6% of the Welsh population in 2021,Christianity is the largestreligion in Wales.Wales has a strong tradition ofnonconformism, particularlyMethodism.From 1534 until 1920 theestablished church was theChurch of England, but this wasdisestablished in Wales in 1920, becoming the stillAnglican but self-governingChurch in Wales.

Most adherents to organisedreligion in Wales follow theAnglican Church in Wales,Presbyterian Church of Wales,Baptist Union of Wales,Union of Welsh Independents,Methodist,Catholic andEastern Orthodox churches.

Nearly 200 years beforeConstantine,Saint Lucius, a legendary 2nd-century King of the Britons (orSilures^[1]) is traditionally credited with introducing Christianity into Britain in the tenure ofPope Eleutherius (c. 180), although this is disputed. Christianity certainly arrived inWales sometime in theRoman occupation, but it was initially suppressed. The first Christianmartyrs in Wales,Julius and Aaron, were killed atIsca Augusta (Caerleon) in south Wales in about AD 304. The earliest Christian object found in Wales is a vessel with aChi-Rho symbol found at the nearby town ofVenta Silurum (Caerwent). By the end of the 4th century, Christianity became the sole official religion of the Roman Empire.^[2] Wales was the birthplace ofPelagius, noted theologian and contemporary of Augustine of Hippo.^[3]

As theRoman legions garrisoned inWales withdrew in the early 5th century, Britain was invaded by tribes including theAngles andSaxons who later became theAnglo-Saxons. They were unable to make inroads into Wales except possibly along theSevern Valley as far asLlanidloes, but they gradually conquered eastern and southern Britain, which would eventually become known asEngland. The writerGildas drew sharp contrasts between the Christian Welsh at this time and the pagan Anglo-Saxon invaders, although at the same time lamenting the shortcomings of Welsh Christians.^[3]

TheAge of the Saints in the 6th and 7th centuries was marked by the establishment of monastic settlements throughout the country, by religious leaders such asDavid,Illtud,Padarn, andTeilo. This was the period when theWelsh developed a shared national identity, arising from theirlanguage and religious beliefs.^[4][2] Welsh bishops refused to co-operate withAugustine'smission to the Anglo-Saxons. However, a combination ofCeltic Christianity's reconciliation with Rome andconquest of Wales by Edward I meant that from theMiddle Ages until 1920, the Welsh dioceses were part of theProvince of Canterbury – in communion with Rome until theReformation.

This participation in theProvince of Canterbury continued afterwards as part of the Church of England. During the reign ofHenry VIII, Wales had been legally incorporated into the realm of theKingdom of England and theEstablished Church in Wales was the Church of England. Some books of theBible and of theApocrypha had been translated in the Middle Ages, but theLaws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 passed under Henry VIII effectively banned theWelsh language from official use. However, underElizabeth I,Parliament passedAn Act for the Translating of the Bible and the Divine Service into the Welsh Tongue 1563. In 1567,William Salesbury,Richard Davies andThomas Huet completed the first modern translation of theNew Testament and the first translation of theBook of Common Prayer (Welsh:Y Llyfr Gweddi Gyffredin). Then in 1588William Morgan completed a translation of the whole Bible. These translations were important to the survival of the Welsh language through the effect of conferring status on Welsh as aliturgical language and vehicle for worship. This had a significant role in its continued use as a means of everyday communication and as a literary language down to the present day despite the increasing use of English.

Bishop Richard Davies and dissident Protestant clericJohn Penry introducedCalvinist theology to Wales. They used the model of theSynod of Dort of 1618-1619. Calvinism developed through the Puritan period, following the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, and within Wales' Methodist movement. However few copies of Calvin's works were available before the mid-19th century.^[5] A major point of contention among Welsh Christians were that English bishops were routinely grantedbenefices in Welsh-speaking areas despite being unable to speak Welsh.^[6] This contravened Article XXIV of theArticles of Religion of the Church of England:

It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people.^[7]

In 1766, thechurchwardens of theparish of St Beuno, Trefdraeth onAnglesey, supported by theCymmrodorion, began atest case against the English clergymanThomas Bowles, who could not conduct services in Welsh and whose attempt to do so had ended in ridicule.^[6] In its verdict in 1773 theCourt of Arches refused to deprive Dr Bowles of hisliving, but did lay down the principle that clergy should be examined and found proficient in Welsh in order to be considered for Welsh-speaking parishes.^[6]

Nonconformity was a significant influence in Wales from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. TheWelsh Methodist revival of the 18th century was one of the most significant religious and social movements in the history of Wales. The revival began within theChurch of England in Wales and at the beginning remained as a group within it, but the Welsh revival differed from the Methodist revival in England in that its theology wasCalvinist rather thanArminian. Welsh Methodists gradually built up their own networks, structures, and even meeting houses (or chapels), which led eventually to the secession of 1811 and the formal establishment of theCalvinistic Methodist Church in 1823 (later renamed thePresbyterian Church of Wales in 1923).^[8]

The Welsh Methodist revival also had an influence on the oldernonconformist churches, ordissenters – theBaptists and theCongregationalists – who in turn also experienced growth and renewal. As a result, by the middle of the nineteenth century, Wales was predominantly anonconformist country.

The1904–1905 Welsh Revival was the largest full scale Christianrevival in Wales in the 20th century. It is believed that at least 100,000 people became Christians during the 1904–1905 revival, but despite this it did not put a stop to the gradual decline of Christianity in Wales, only holding it back slightly.

TheWelsh Church Act 1914 provided for the separation of the four dioceses of theChurch of England located in Wales (known collectively as theChurch in Wales) from the rest of the Church, and for the simultaneousdisestablishment of the Church. The Act came into operation in 1920. Since then there has been noestablished church in Wales. In 2008, the Church in Wales narrowly rejected a proposal to allow women to become bishops.^[9] In 2018, research conducted byYouGov found that 56% of Christians in Wales identify as members of the Church in Wales.^[10]

Catholics are served by the Ecclesiastical Province of Cardiff, which exists out of theArchdiocese of Cardiff, theDiocese of Menevia and theDiocese of Wrexham. The bishops of these dioceses are part of theCatholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. In total, the three dioceses counted 209,451 Catholics on a population of 3,112,451 inhabitants, equalling to a percentage of 6.7% Catholics. The three dioceses have 172 priests and 34 permanent deacons, 75 male religious and 267 female religious, and a total of 154 parishes as of 2016 (2017 for the diocese of Wrexham).^[11] However, the province is not completely equal to Wales, as the Archdiocese of Cardiff also coversHerefordshire, inEngland. In 2018, YouGov found that 17% of Christians in Wales identified as Catholic.^[10]

TheSabbatariantemperance movement was strong among the Welsh in the Victorian period and the early twentieth century, the sale of alcohol being prohibited on Sundays in Wales by theSunday Closing (Wales) Act 1881 – the first legislation specifically issued for Wales since the Middle Ages. From the early 1960s, local council areas were permitted to holdreferendums every seven years to determine whether they should bewet ordry on Sundays: most of the industrialised areas in the east and south wentwet immediately, and by the 1980s the last district, Dwyfor in the northwest, went wet; since then there have been no more Sunday-closing referendums.^{[citation needed]}

Saint David is thepatron saint of Wales.

Wales is particularly noted fornaming places after either local or well-knownsaints – many or perhaps most places beginning inllan "church", e.g. Llanbedr –St Peter (Pedr); Llanfair –St Mary (Mair^[12]); Llanfihangel –St Michael (Mihangel); Llanarmon –St. Garmon. Because of the relatively small number of saints' names used, places names are often suffixed by their locality e.g. Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr,Llanfihangel y Creuddyn, Llanfihangel-y-Pennant.

• Christianity in Cornwall

• Christianity in Wales
• Celtic Christianity

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