St David Bishop & Patron of Wales
- Jul 24
- 8 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
St. David (in Welsh: "Dewi Sant"), Archbishop of Menevia (in Welsh: "Myniw"), one of Wales' finest and revered saints, was most likely born around 500 (several legends provide dates ranging from the late 5th century to approximately 520). The surviving entire narrative of his life, written around 1090, is regarded as one of the outstanding mediaeval literary treasures illustrating the life and organization of Celtic monasteries during the early age of Christianity. Since the early Christian church times, St. David, was known for his many accomplishments, miracles and charity for the glory of God, and has been regarded as Wales' patron saint.
Early Life
Saint David, said to have been the son of a Welsh chieftain, lived in the latter half of the sixth century.
His mother was Saint Nonna (March 3), a descendant of Wales' royal family of Dyfed. She later became a nun and died in Brittany. Today, a number of churches are dedicated to St. Nonna, including a very ancient chapel and a holy spring near her son's cathedral in the city of St. David's, and St. Nonna's Church in the town of Altarnun in Cornwall, England, which most likely houses her relics.
"It was reported that St. David had already performed miracles in his mother's womb. When she was pregnant, St. Nonna went to church to hear a sermon. However, the priest temporarily lost his ability to speak. This was interpreted as a sign from the Lord that the infant in Nonna's womb would exceed all religious teachers in Wales and become the spiritual father of the Welsh people. "
The tradition tells us that he was born at Henfynyw (Vetus-Menevia) in Ceredigion.
From childhood, the future St. David was known for his piety and love of the church. He became a monk and a priest at a young age and received monastic training in various Welsh monasteries. Although a relatively developed Church and monastic life existed in Wales at that time, he established over ten monasteries and founded one major spiritual centre during his tenure as an archbishop. As a result, the holy hierarch instilled in Wales a sense of holiness and asceticism, endowing the country with significant spiritual potential and power for generations.
Ordained to the priesthood, he studied under the tutorship of a disciple of Saint Germanus, who later became Bishop of the Isle of Man, and engaged in missionary work and the building of churches in many places. Eventually, he settled in the southwest corner of Wales, at Menevia. There he founded a monastery known for its extreme austerity, in imitation of the desert fathers. Eventually he was consecrated Bishop of the primatial See of Wales, Menevia, afterwards known as Saint David’s in his honor. He reposed in the Lord about the year 601 AD and, through the years, has been venerated as one of the greatest and most beloved saints of the British Isles.
In the year 447, Bishop Germanus of Auxerre returned to Britain from Gaul to combat the Pelagianism heresy, which was sweeping throughout Europe at the time. Not only did St. Germanus complete his mission, but he also left disciples in Britain, specifically in Wales, the most notable of whom was St. Iltut, founder of the famous monastic monastery at Llantwit Major. St. Iltut is regarded as the first organiser of monastic life in Wales. This saint, in turn, had numerous disciples who continued and completed his mission. Among them were famous Church fathers "of the second generation" like Cadoc, Dyfrig, Paternus, Gildas the Wise, and, finally, David. Many monastery fathers taught St. David and provided him with monastic experience. Thus, he went to Whitland to see St. Paulinus (who he had healed later of blindness) and to the monastery school in Llantwit Major. St. David, being well-prepared for monastic life and heavenly understanding, set out to establish monasteries and churches across the land, following in the footsteps of Celtic ascetics. In the south of Wales, he also treated a blind local lord.
He became renowned as a teacher and preacher, founding monastic settlements and churches in Wales, Dumnonia, and Brittany. St David's Cathedral stands on the site of the monastery he founded in the Glyn Rhosyn valley of Pembrokeshire. Around 550, he attended the Synod of Brefi, where his eloquence in opposing Pelagianism caused his fellow monks to elect him primate of the region. As such he presided over the synod of Caerleon (the "Synod of Victory") around 569.
Many of the traditional tales about David are found in the Buchedd Dewi ("Life of David"), a hagiography written by Rhygyfarch around 1090.
His best-known miracle is said to have taken place when he was preaching in the middle of a large crowd at the Synod of Brefi: the village of Llanddewi Brefi stands on the spot where the ground on which he stood is reputed to have risen up to form a small hill. A white dove, which became his emblem, was seen settling on his shoulder.
St. David and his companions (including St. Teilio and St. Aidan of Ferns) erected his most prominent monastery in Mynyw (the latinized form is Menevia), which is today known as St David's after him. St. David became the abbot. The brethren in Menevia had a very disciplined lifestyle. The author of St. David's life emphasises that the monks and novices of St. David read the synaxaria/stories of Egypt's desert fathers and attempted to emulate them in their austere practices and daily monastic life as much as possible. The Menevia Monastery, where manual labour and education were always encouraged and flourished, grew into a true saint-producing institution. For many years, this monastery maintained its discipline under the abbot's guidance.
Ascetic Discipline
"The Monastic Rule of David prescribed that monks had to pull the plough themselves without draught animals, and must eat only bread with salt and herbs and drink only water getting them the name "watermen". The monks spent their evenings in prayer, reading and writing. No personal possessions were allowed: even to say "my book" was considered an offence. "
The abbot lived a humble life and worked just as hard as his monks. All community members wore plain clothes and shared what they owned. The monastery's fundamental principles included voluntary poverty and the denial of all things.
"Every day, the brethren attended extremely long church services. St. David, like many other Celtic saints, used to retreat to the river and read the entire Psalter while standing in freezing river water even in the winter."
Except for the most pressing matters, no talks were permitted. Ascetic preparation of the mind and heart in interior prayer was popular among the Celtic foundations of Wales throughout that time. The community had a tradition of providing food to people in need, including widows, the sick, the disabled, guests, and pilgrims.
His herald symbol, also the symbol of Wales, is the leek (this inspires a reference in William Shakespeare's Henry V, Act IV scene 7):
"Fluellen: "If your Majesty is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps, which your Majesty knows, to this hour is an honourable badge of the service, and I do believe, your Majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day". King Henry: "I wear it for a memorable honour; for I am Welsh, you know, good countryman"."
Connections to Glastonbury
Rhigyfarch counted Glastonbury Abbey among the churches David founded. Around forty years later William of Malmesbury, believing the Abbey older, said that David visited Glastonbury only to rededicate the Abbey and to donate a travelling altar including a great sapphire.
"He had had a vision of Jesus who said that "the church had been dedicated long ago by Himself in honour of His Mother, and it was not seemly that it should be re-dedicated by human hands"."
So David instead commissioned an extension to be built to the abbey, east of the Old Church. (The dimensions of this extension given by William were verified archaeologically in 1921.) One manuscript indicates that a sapphire altar was among the items which Henry VIII confiscated from the abbey during the Dissolution of the Monasteries a thousand years later.
The Saint's Repose
Though the exact date of his death is not certain, tradition holds that it was on 1 March, which is the date now marked as Saint David's Day. The two most common years given for his death are 601 and 589. The monastery is said to have been "filled with angels as Christ received his soul". His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday. The Welsh Life of St David gives these as,
"Arglwyddi, brodyr, a chwiorydd, Byddwch lawen a chadwch eich ffyd a'ch credd, a gwnewch y petheu bychain a glywsoch ac y welsoch gennyf i. A mwynhau a gerdaf y fford yd aeth an tadeu idi", which translates as, "Lords, brothers and sisters, Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. And as for me, I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us."
"Do ye the little things in life" ("Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd") is today a very well known phrase in Welsh. The same passage states that he died on a Tuesday, from which attempts have been made to calculate the year of his death.
David was buried at St David's Cathedral at St Davids, Pembrokeshire, where his shrine was a popular place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages. During the 10th and 11th centuries the cathedral was regularly raided by Vikings, who removed the shrine from the church and stripped off the precious metal adornments. In 1275 a new shrine was constructed, the ruined base of which remains to this day, which was originally surmounted by an ornamental wooden canopy with murals of David, Patrick and Denis. The relics of David and Justinian of Ramsey Island were kept in a portable casket on the stone base of the shrine. It was at this shrine that Edward I came to pray in 1284. During the reformation Bishop Barlow (1536–48), a staunch Protestant, stripped the shrine of its jewels and confiscated the relics of David and Justinian.
Veneration
David was officially recognised by Pope Callixtus II in 1120, thanks to the work of Bernard, Bishop of St David's. Music for his Liturgy of the Hours has been edited by O. T. Edwards in Matins, Lauds and Vespers for St David's Day: the Medieval Office of the Welsh Patron Saint in National Library of Wales MS 20541 E (Cambridge, 1990). David was also canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church at an unknown date.
Over 50 churches in South Wales were dedicated to him in pre-Reformation days. There is currently a St. David's Church in Baltimore, Maryland, and in Wayne Pennsylvania.
In the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology, David is listed under 1 March with the Latin name Dávus. He is recognised as bishop of Menevia in Wales who governed his monastery following the example of the Eastern Fathers. Through his leadership, many monks went forth to evangelise Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and Armorica (Brittany and surrounding provinces).
The restored Shrine of Saint David was unveiled and rededicated by the Right Reverend Wyn Evans, Bishop of St David's, at a Choral Eucharist on Saint David's Day, 2012.
A broadside ballad published around 1630 claimed that the Welsh wore a leek in their hats to commemorate a battle fought on St David's Day. So as to recognise friend from foe, the Welsh had pulled up leeks from a garden and put them in their hats, before going on to win the battle.
Saint David is usually represented standing on a hill with a dove on his shoulder.
St David is commemorated on 1 March.
Troparion — Tone 4
"In truth you were revealed to your flock as a rule of faith, / an image of humility and a teacher of abstinence; / your humility exalted you; / your poverty enriched you. / Hierarch Father David, / entreat Christ our God / that our souls may be saved."
Sources: OCA , Wikipedia , orthochristian.com
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