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Saint David of Wales

Saint David (c. 500�589) (Dewi Sant in Welsh) is the patron saint of Wales.

Early life

Rhygyfarch, Saint David's biographer, wrote that David was the son of sanctus rex ceredigionis, where Sanctus has been interpreted as a proper name and its owner honoured by Welsh Christians as Sandde, King of Ceredigion. However, this Latin phrase can equally well mean simply "holy king of Ceredigion". The king of Ceredigion around the time of David's birth would have been Usai. According to Rhygyfarch, Sandde was his brother, so probably only a king of part of Ceredigion. They were sons of King Ceredig, founder of Ceredigion.

David was educated under Saint Paulinus of Wales, the disciple of Saint Germanus of Auxerre.

Monasticism

He became renowned as a teacher and preacher, engaging in missionary activities, and founding twelve monastic settlements and churches in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany in a period when neighbouring tribal regions (that were to be united as England three hundred years later) were still mostly pagan.

He rose to the episcopate, and presided over two synods, as well as going on pilgrimages to Jerusalem (where he was anointed as a bishop by the Patriarch) and Rome. St David's Cathedral now stands on the site of the monastery he founded in the remote and inhospitable valley of Glyn Rhosyn in Pembrokeshire.

David's monastery at Mynyw (Menevia) in southwestern Wales, was known for the extreme asceticism of its rule, which was based on that of the Egyptian monks. The rule prescribed that monks had to pull the plough themselves without draft animals ("every man his own ox"); to drink only water; to eat only bread with salt and herbs; and to spend the evenings in prayer, reading and writing. Nor did David exempt himself from the same rigorous discipline: he drank nothing but water and so came to be known as David the Waterman; and long after vespers, when the last of his monks had retired to bed, he prayed on alone through the night.

At Brevi, in Cardiganshire, a great synod was convened about 550, attended by a thousand members, but David, who kept aloof from temporal concerns, remained in his retreat at Menevia. The synod, however, insisted on sending for him. So great was the crowd and so intense the excitement that the voice of the aged and retiring archbishop Saint Dubricius could hardly be heard when he named David as his successor. David, who at first refused, came forward reluctantly, but when he spoke his voice was like a silver trumpet, and all could hear and were deeply moved; and in that hour of his succession a white dove was seen to settle upon his shoulders as if it were a sign of God's grace and blessing.

William of Malmesbury recorded that David visited Glastonbury intending to dedicate the Abbey, as well as to donate a traveling altar including a great sapphire. He had a vision of Jesus, who said that "the church had been dedicated long ago by Himself in honor 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 was among the items King Henry VIII confiscated from the abbey at its dissolution a thousand years later. There are unverified indications that the sapphire may now be among the Crown Jewels.

His Repose

David lived for over 100 years, and he died on a Tuesday, March 1 (now St David's Day), around 590. 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. Rhygyfarch 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."

David was buried at St David's Cathedral where his shrine was a popular place of pilgrimage throughout the Middle Ages.

Troparion (Tone 1)

Having worked miracles in thy youth, founded monasteries and converted the pagans who had sought to destroy thee, O Father David, Christ our God blessed thee to receive the episcopate at the place of His Resurrection. Intercede for us, that our lives may be blessed and our souls may be saved.

Kontakion (Tone 6)

The living waters of godly discipline encompassed thee and the saving waters of faith flowed through thy teaching, O Hierarch and Waterman David. Symbolizing the baptism of Wales in thy life, thou art worthy of all praise, wherefore we keep festival in thy honour, glorifying thine eternal memory.