St. David
Facts and Legends
Other churches named after him.
St. Davids United Church,
Calgary Canada.
"Gwnewch y pethau bychain..." Dewi Sant, d. 589 AD - "Do the little things..."

There is a story about a dove descending on St. David told at the site of St. David's United Church of Christ in Hanover, Pennsylvania. The background of this page is their design. Click on the dove to see the story.

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St. David - (Degui, Dewi)

The following is from the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright © 1913 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc.
Electronic version copyright © 1997 by New Advent, Inc. (Click left to visit the site)

Bishop and Confessor, patron of Wales. He is usually represented standing on a little hill, with a dove on his shoulder. From time immemorial the Welsh have worn a leek on St. David's day, in memory of a battle against the Saxons, at which it is said they wore leeks in their hats, by St. David's advice, to distinguish them from their enemies. He is commemorated on 1 March. The earliest mention of St. David is found in a tenth-century manuscript Of the "Annales Cambriae", which assigns his death to A.D. 601. Many other writers, from Geoffrey of Monmouth down to Father Richard Stanton, hold that he died about 544, but their opinion is based solely on data given in various late "lives" of St. David, and there seems no good reason for setting aside the definite statement of the "Annales Cambriae", which is now generally accepted. Little else that can claim to be historical is known about St. David. The tradition that he was born at Henvynyw (Vetus-Menevia) in Cardiganshire is not improbable. He was prominent at the Synod of Brevi (Llandewi Brefi in Cardiganshire), which has been identified with the important Roman military station, Loventium. Shortly afterwards, in 569, he presided over another synod held at a place called Lucus Victoriae. He was Bishop (probably not Archbishop) of Menevia, the Roman port Menapia in Pembrokeshire, later known as St. David's, then the chief point of departure for Ireland. St. David was canonized by Pope Callistus II in the year 1120.

This is all that is known to history about the patron of Wales. His legend, however, is much more elaborate, and entirely unreliable. The first biography that has come down to us was written near the end of the eleventh century, about 500 years after the saint's death, by Rhygyfarch (Ricemarchus), a son of the then bishop of St. David's, and is chiefly a tissue of inventions intended to support the claim of the Welsh episcopate to be independent of Canterbury. Giraldus Cambriensis, William of Malmesbury, Geoffrey of Monmouth, John de Tinmouth, and John Capgrave all simply copy and enlarge upon the work of Rhygyfarch, whilst the anonymous author of the late Welsh life printed in Rees, "Cambro-British Saints" (Cott. MS. Titus, D. XXII) adds nothing of value. According to these writers St. David was the son of Sant or Sandde ab Ceredig ab Cunnedda, Prince of Keretica (Cardiganshire) and said by some to be King Arthur's nephew, though Geoffrey of Monmouth calls St. David King Arthur's uncle. The saint's mother was Nonna, or Nonnita (sometimes called Melaria), a daughter of Gynyr of Caergawch. She was a nun who had been violated by Sant. St. David's birth had been foretold thirty years before by an angel to St. Patrick. It took place at "Old Menevia" somewhere about A.D. 454. Prodigies preceded and accompanied the event, and at his baptism at Porth Clais by St. Elvis of Munster, "whom Divine Providence brought over from Ireland at that conjuncture", a blind man was cured by the baptismal water. St. David's early education was received from St. Illtyd at Caerworgorn (Lanwit major) in Glamorganshire. Afterwards he spent ten years studying the Holy Scriptures at Witland in Carmarthenshire, under St. Paulinus, (Pawl Hen), whom he cured of blindness by the sign of the cross. At the end of this period St. Paulinus, warned by an agnel, sent out the young saint to evangelize the British. St. David journeyed throughout the West, founding or restoring twelve monasteries (among which occur the great names of Glastonbury, Bath, and Leominster), and finally settled in the Vale of Ross, where he and his monks lived a life of extreme austerity. Here occurred the temptations of his monks by the obscene antics of the maid-servants of the wife of Boia, a local chieftan. Here also his monks tried to poison him, but St. David, warned by St. Scuthyn, who crossed from Ireland in one night on the back of a sea-monster, blessed the poisoned bread and ate it without harm. From thence, with St. Teilo and St. Padarn, he set out for Jerusalem, where he was made bishop by the patriarch. Here too St. Dubric and St. Daniel found him, when they came to call him to the Synod of Brevi "against the Pelagians". St. David was with difficulty persuaded to accompany them; on his way he raised a widow's son to life, and at the synod preached so loudly, from the hill that miraculously rose under him, that all could hear him, and so eloquently that all the heretics were confounded. St. Dubric resigned the "Archbishopric of Caerleon", and St. David was appointed in his stead. One of his first acts was to hold, in the year 569, yet another synod called "Victory", against the Pelagians, of which the decrees were confirmed by the pope. With the permission of King Arthur he removed his see from Caerleon to Menevia, whence he governed the British Church for many years with great holiness and wisdom. He died a the great age of 147, on the day predicted by himself a week earlier. His body is said to have been translated to Glastonbury in the year 966.

It is impossible to discover in this story how much, if any, is true. Some of it has obviously been invented for controversial purposes. The twelve monasteries, the temptation by the women, the attempt on his life, all suggest an imitation of the life of St. Benedict. Wilder legends, such as the Journey on the Sea-Monster, are commonplaces of Celtic hagiography. Doubtless Rhygyfarch and his imitators collected many floating local traditions, but how much of these had any historical foundation and how much was sheer imagination is no longer possible to decide.

"Annales Cambriae", ed. AB ITHEL in "Rolls Series" (London, 1860), 3-6; "Acta SS., March 1, 38-47; "Buhez Santez Nonn" ed. SIONNET (Paris, 1837); CHALLONER, "Britannia Sancta" (London, 1745), I, 140-45; HOLE in "Dict. Christ. Biog." (London, 1877), I, 791-93; BRADLEY in "Dict. Nat. Biog.", s.v.: GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS, "Opera", ed. BREWER in "Rolls Series" (London, 1863), III, 375-404; HADDON AND STUBBS, "Councils and Ecclesiastical documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland" (Oxford, 1869), I, 121, 143, 148; "Lives of the Cambro-British Saints", ed. REES (Llandovery, Wales, 1853), 102-44, 412-48; MONTALEMBERT, "Les moines d'Occident" (Paris, 1866), III, 48-55; NEDELEC, "Cambria Sacra" (London, 1879), 446-479; REES, "Essay on the Welsh Saints" (London, 1836), 43, 162, 191, 193; STANTON, "Menology of England and Wales" (London, 1887), 92-93, 203; WHARTON, "Anglia Sacra" (London, 1691), II, 628-53.

LESLIE A. ST.L. TOKE
Transcribed by John Looby

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St. David's Heraldry

Flag flown on St. David's Day in Wales.
Folks are expected to wear leeks or daffodils that day.		 The heraldic emblem of Wales,
Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon.


St. David's Day -- Dydd Dewi Sant

The following is from the David Morgan company, a seller of celtic things. Their site is http://www.davidmorgan.com

St. David, Dewi Sant, is the patron saint of the Welsh, and March 1, his feast day, is celebrated as a patriotic and cultural festival by the Welsh in Wales and around the world.

Dewi Sant was a Celtic monk of the sixth century. His mother was Non. The ruins of a small chapel dedicated to her memory may be seen near St. David's Cathedral. Its ruins remain there now. His father was Sant, a son of Ceredig, King of Cardigan. Little is known for certain about Dewi Sant, but he founded several religious centers in Wales and western England, was consecrated archbishop during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and led an ascetic life. An account of his life was written towards the end of the 11th century by Rhygyfarch, a monk at Llanbadarn Fawr near Aberystwyth. Many prophesies were said to have preceded the birth of Dewi Sant, and many miracles were attributed to him. One miracle often recounted is that once when Dewi was preaching to a crowd at Llandewi Brefi those on the outer edges could not hear, so he spread a handkerchief on the ground, and stood on it to preach, whereupon the ground swelled up beneath him, and all could hear. A short account of Dewi Sant has been given by Nona Rees in St. David of Dewisland.

March 1, the date given by Rhygyfarch for the death of Dewi Sant, was celebrated as a religious festival up until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the 18th century it became a national festival among the Welsh, and continues as such to this day. The celebration usually entails singing and eating, which may mean a meal followed by singing, or much singing followed by a Te Bach, tea with teisen bach and bara brith. Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon, is flown as a flag or worn as a pin or pendant, and leeks are worn, and sometimes eaten. In schools in Wales the boys take leeks to school, status being given to those who bring the biggest leeks, and eat them earliest in the day.

The heraldic emblem of Wales is Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon. The emblem of Wales is the leek, arising from an occasion when a troop of Welsh were able to distinguish each other from a troop of English enemy dressed in similar fashion by wearing leeks. An alternative emblem developed in recent years is the daffodil, used and preferred over the leek by the English government as it lacks the overtones of patriotic defiance associated with the leek.

St. David's Day meetings are not boisterous celebrations of democracy and freedom in Wales, but rather the subdued remembrance allowed a captive nation under colonial rule.

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St. David's Episcopal Church of Radnor (Wayne), Pennsylvania

Toward the close of the seventeenth century a hardy group of Welsh colonists settled in an area which became known as Radnor, Pennsylvania. In 1704 a 100-signature petition for Welsh prayer books and a Bible, but more particularly for a Welsh-speaking missionary, was dispatched to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London. Ten years later, in return for this long-awaited recognition, the settlers "heartily engaged themselves to build a handsome stone church," to be named after the Patron Saint of Wales. The cornerstone was laid on May 9, 1715.

Years later Longfellow was moved by the tranquility of this place to write the following poem.

Old St. David's at Radnor
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
March 22, 1880

What an image of peace and rest
Is this little church amongst its graves!
All is so quiet; the troubled breast,
The wounded spirit, the heart oppressed,
Here may find the repose it craves.

See, how the ivy climbs and expands
Over this humble hermitage,
And seems to caress with its little hands
The rough, gray stones, as a child that stands
Caressing the wrinkled cheeks of age!

You cross the threshold; and dim and small
Is the space that serves for the Shepherd's Fold;
The narrow aisle, the bare, white wall,
The pews, and the pulpit quaint and tall
Whisper and say: "Alas! we are old."

Herbert's chapel at Bemerton
Hardly more spacious is than this;
But poet and pastor, blent in one,
Clothed with a splendor, as of the sun,
The walls of that lowly and holy edifice.

It is not the wall of stone without
That makes the building small or great,
But the soul's light shining round about,
And the faith that overcometh doubt,
And the love that stronger is than hate.

Were I a pilgrim in search of peace,
Were I a pastor of Holy Church,
More than a Bishop's diocese
Should I prize this place of rest and release
From further longing and further search.

Here would I stay, and let the world,
With its distant thunder roar and roll;
Storms do not rend the sail that is furled;
Nor like a dead leaf, tossed and whirled
In an eddy of wind, is the anchored soul.


Copyright © 1997, St. David's (Radnor) Church
Contact stdavids@stdavidschurch.org
For more on this church click on this website address: www.stdavidschurch.org It is an active Episcopal church today.

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St. David's Cathedral, Pembrokeshire, Wales

photo from http://www10.geocities.com/TheTropics/7503/stdavids.html
Copyright © 1996 Scott Carr

For a delightful history of the area and many more pictures of this magnificent church and its interior visit the Castles of Wales site and the travel page there by Jeff Thomas.

Some Other churches named "St. David's"

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Saint David and Saint David's Day

Adapted from a talk given at OICCU Meeting Point, in Regent's Park College, Monday, 28th February 1994

If you were lucky enough to be in Wales on March the first, you would find the country in a festive mood. Every self-respecting man, woman and child would be celebrating St. David's Day in one way or another. But who was St. David, and why is he so important to the Welsh? And just how is St. David's Day celebrated in Wales today?

Well, Saint David, or Dewi Sant, as he is known in the Welsh language, is the patron saint of Wales. He was a Celtic monk, abbot and bishop, who lived in the sixth century. During his life, he was the archbishop of Wales, and he was one of many early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of western Britain.

For details of the life of Dewi, we depend mainly on his biographer, Rhigyfarch. He wrote Buchedd Dewi (the life of David) in the 11th century. Gerallt Gymro (Giraldus Cambrensis), who wrote a book about his travels through Wales in the 12th century, also gives some information about Dewi's early life. Dewi died in the sixth century, so nearly five hundred years elapsed between his death and the first manuscripts recording his life. As a result, it isn't clear how much of the history of Dewi's life is legend rather than fact.

However, both sources say, so we can be relatively certain, that Dewi was a very gentle person who lived a frugal life. It is claimed that he ate mostly bread and herbs - probably watercress, which was widely used at the time. Despite this supposedly meagre diet, it is reported that he was tall and physically strong.

Dewi is said to have been of royal lineage. His father, Sant, was the son of Ceredig, who was prince of Ceredigion, a region in South-West Wales. His mother, Non, was the daughter of a local chieftain. Legend has it that Non was also a niece of King Arthur.

Dewi was born near Capel Non (Non's chapel) on the South-West Wales coast near the present city of Saint Dewi. We know a little about his early life - he was educated in a monastery called Hen Fynyw, his teacher being Paulinus, a blind monk. Dewi stayed there for some years before going forth with a party of followers on his missionary travels.

Dewi travelled far on his missionary journeys through Wales, where he established several churches. He also travelled to the south and west of England and Cornwall as well as Brittany. It is also possible that he visited Ireland. Two friends of his, Saints Padarn and Teilo, are said to have often accompanied him on his journeys, and they once went together on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to meet the Patriarch.

Dewi is sometimes known, in Welsh, as 'Dewi Ddyfrwr' (David the Water Drinker) and, indeed, water was an important part of his life - he is said to have drunk nothing else. Sometimes, as a self-imposed penance, he would stand up to his neck in a lake of cold water, reciting Scripture. Little wonder, then, that some authors have seen Dewi as an early Puritan!

He founded a monastery at Glyn Rhosyn (Rose Vale) on the banks of the small river Alun where the cathedral city of St. David stands today. The monastic brotherhood that Dewi founded was very strict, the brothers having to work very hard besides praying and celebrating masses. They had to get up very early in the morning for prayers and afterwards work very hard to help maintain life at the monastery, cultivating the land and even pulling the plough. Many crafts were followed - beekeeping, in particular, was very important. The monks had to keep themselves fed as well as the many pilgrims and travellers who needed lodgings. They also had to feed and clothe the poor and needy in their neighbourhood.

There are many stories regarding Dewi's life. It is said that he once rose a youth from death, and milestones during his life were marked by the appearance of springs of water. These events are arguably more apocryphal than factual, but are so well known to Welsh-speaking schoolchildren that it is worth mentioning them here.

Perhaps the most well-known story regarding Dewi's life is said to have taken place at the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi. They were to decide whether Dewi was to be Archbishop. A great crowd gathered at the synod, and when Dewi stood up to speak, one of the congregation shouted, 'We won't be able to see or hear him'. At that instant the ground rose till everyone could see and hear Dewi. Unsurprisingly, it was decided, very shortly afterwards, that Dewi would be the Archbishop...

It is claimed that Dewi lived for over 100 years, and it is generally accepted that he died in 589. His last words to his followers were in a sermon on the previous Sunday. Rhigyfarch transcribes these as 'Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed. Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. I will walk the path that our fathers have trod before us.' 'Do the little things' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain') is today a very well-known phrase in Welsh, and has proved an inspiration to many. On a Tuesday, the first of March, in the year 589, the monastery is said to have been 'filled with angels as Christ received his soul'.

Dewi's body was buried in the grounds of his own monastery, where the Cathedral of St. David now stands. After his death, his influence spread far and wide - first through Britain, along what was left of the Roman roads, and by sea to Cornwall and Brittany.

St David's Day, as celebrated today, dates back to 1120, when Dewi was canonised by Pope Callactus the Second, and March 1st was included in the Church calendar. After Dewi's canonisation, many pilgrimages were made to St. David's, and it was reported that two pilgrimages there equalled one to Rome, and three pilgrimages one to Jerusalem. March 1st was celebrated until the Reformation as a holy day. Many churches are dedicated to Dewi, and some to his mother Non.

It is not certain how much of the history of St. David is fact and how much is mere speculation. At the end of 1996, though, bones were found in St. David's Cathedral which, it is claimed, could be those of Dewi himself. These will soon be taken for radio-carbon dating to the same units that dated the Turin Shroud. So a whole new light could soon be cast on Dewi's life...

Regardless of this, St. David was, and is, a very important figure to the Welsh. Naturally, then, St. David's Day is a time of great celebration in Wales. Societies all over Wales celebrate with special meetings and events. In St. David's Hall, Cardiff, each March 1st, there will be a concert featuring a 1000-member male voice choir, specially formed for the occasion. Male voice choirs are flown to all corners of the globe on St. David's Day, to entertain Welsh communities. I have my own happy, vivid and very special memories of St. David's Day as a child, which are typical of how St. David's Day is celebrated in Welsh schools.

I should say that I was fortunate to be born into a Welsh-speaking family. My mother tongue is Welsh, and it is only when we have English-speaking visitors that any English is heard within my home. Naturally, I attended a Welsh-medium primary school, where all subjects except English are taught through the medium of Welsh.

St. David himself spoke an old form of Welsh fourteen centuries ago, and the Saint has become synonymous with keeping the language alive, and all that is good in the Welsh way of life. Welsh is the oldest living European language, and although it has been oppressed for centuries, it has refused to die and is alive and growing today. The Welsh medium schools, which have largely been set up during the past three decades, have played an important part in making the language an everyday language as opposed to just an academic one.

St. David's Day at the primary school began with a religious service in one of the chapels or churches in Carmarthen. We went to school dressed in our Welsh costumes. The girls looked charming in a pais a betgwn - a petticoat and overcoat, made of Welsh flannel, and a tall beaver hat, worn over a frilled white bonnet. The boys wore a white shirt with a jabbot and wrist frills, a Welsh flannel waistcoat, black breeches, long woollen socks and black shoes. To complete the outfit we wore a flat beaver hat. I wore my national costume with pride until I was seven years old, and after that I had to be bribed to do so... I later wore a Welsh flannel waistcoat in honour of the great day.

The pupils marched through the town, led by the Mayor and town dignitaries. People gathered to see us marching past, and to wave us on. Little did they realise that we, the sons and daughters of Welsh Wales, almost froze to death on these mornings. After all, a white shirt was little protection against the cold winds of a March morning, despite having a woollen jumper underneath. If it rained we were doubly miserable. To add to our discomfort the churches and chapels were colder and the services long. Dewi was a strict disciplinarian: he would have been proud of us.

But we went back to school for a bowl of cawl - or leek broth: the traditional St. David's Day meal. After lunch we danced Welsh dances, sang Welsh folk songs and recited Welsh poems. The highlight of the day was the judging of the longest leek competition, but I never envied the winner because he was cheered on to 'eat some of your leek'. Again, Dewi would have approved, because as you probably remember, he was also a vegetarian.

At my secondary school, which was also a Welsh medium school, it was no longer compulsory to wear the Welsh costume on St. David's Day. But we still celebrated: we held an Eisteddfod - a competitive singing, dancing and reciting festival. This lasted all day and ended with an inter-house choir competition. And needless to say, all competitions were in the Welsh language.

Well, I hope that you now have some idea of who St. David was, and why he is so important to the Welsh. Dewi's words still ring down through the ages. So perhaps, as we go about our lives, we would be wise to remember his very last words, and to do the little things.

(c) Rhys James Jones 1997

If you appreciated this paper, click below to see Mr. Jone's homepage, or send him an E-mail of appreciation.
Home Page of Rhys James Jones
R.J.Jones@swansea.ac.uk


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last update 26 August 2000