1st March: Feast of St David of Wales…
According to tradition, St. David was the son of King Sant of South Wales and St. Non.
He was ordained a priest and later studied under St. Paulinus. Later, he was involved in missionary work and founded a number of monasteries. The monastery he founded at Menevia in Southwestern Wales was noted for extreme asceticism.
David and his monks drank neither wine nor beer – only water – while putting in a full day of heavy manual labor and intense study.
Around the year 550, David attended a synod at Brevi in Cardiganshire. His contributions at the synod are said to have been the major cause for his election as primate of the Cambrian Church.
He was reportedly consecrated archbishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem while on a visit to the Holy Land. He also is said to have invoked a council that ended the last vestiges of Pelagianism.
David died at his monastery in Menevia around the year 589, and his cult was approved in 1120 by Pope Callistus II. He is revered as the patron of Wales.
Undoubtedly, St. David was endowed with substantial qualities of spiritual leadership. What is more, many monasteries flourished as a result of his leadership and good example. His staunch adherence to monastic piety bespeaks a fine example for modern Christians seeking order and form in their prayer life.His feast day is March 1. Source – Catholic Online
Comment:
I’m ashamed to say that, while, over the years, we have marked the Feast days of St George of England, St Patrick of Ireland and St Andrew of Scotland, we’ve never discussed the patron saint of Wales, St David. I’m not sure if we have any online readers from Wales but, anyway, we ought to wish our brothers and sisters in Wales a very happy Feast of St David. Usual Feast day thread rules apply – post your favourite hymns, prayers, stories, and any good clean jokes that fit the occasion. Here’s one to kick start the celebration…
Comments (15)
Happy Feast of St David, everyone.
I don’t know much about this saint except that usually he is said to have been a bishop of the “Celtic Church” and I remember Cardinal Winning giving a statement once where he said there was no such thing as a “Celtic Church” – that the “Celtic” saints were Catholic saints, affiliated to Rome.
It would be interesting to know if the Church in Wales is any healthier than the Church in the rest of the UK – we don’t hear much about it, although since the Bishops Conference is made up of the Bishops of England and Wales, I don’t suppose there’s much difference, really.
I can’t think of any Welsh stories or jokes, so will settle for just saying “happy Feast” to everyone, especially anyone from Wales reading this.
Lily
I remember that occasion when Cardinal Winning – I think for the benefit of Prince Charles among others – made his comment about the so-called Celtic Church being one and the same as the Catholic Church – there was only ONE Church. I tried to find it via Google just now but nothing appeared.
I only know one man who lives in Wales but he’s a novus-ordo attending Catholic so I doubt if he would interpret things as we do. He never complains, or passes on any information about the Church in Wales so we will need to wait a while …
Actually, I’ve just remember that some years ago I had an unexpected telephone call from a priest in Wales, saying he was giving thought to ways in which he could “work” with us – unfortunately that was the one and only call I ever received from him, so if he’s reading this now, he’s welcome to get in touch anytime.
A very happy feast of St David to all CT bloggers – especially from Wales!
I didn’t know anything about this saint until I read this blog and so I Googled to see if I could find out if he was credited with any miracles – he was and they are very interesting. There’s a lot of information on the Wales Online site so I’ve copied the link for bloggers to check out. He is a very interesting saint. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/st-davids-day-facts-wales-6748875
Josephine,
That was very interesting to read about the origins of wearing the leek or the daffodil on St David’s day. I’d often wondered about that on the 1st March, but didn’t think to check it out.
Happy Feast of St David to one and all!
Josephine,
I learned a lot from that Wales Online link – St David is not a saint I’ve ever thought about, to tell the truth. He is a very interesting saint and the stories about him are very interesting, especially the section on St David’s Day Facts. Also, that he’s the only Welsh saint and that one of the popes said that one pilgrimage to his shrine is worth two to the Vatican.
Happy Feast!
Fidelis,
I found that interesting as well, about one pilgrimage to St David’s shrine being worth two to the Vatican – and that was BEFORE the current Vatican mess!
Josephine,
Very useful link – thank you for posting it. Yes, the miracles are interesting and, in fact, he’s a very likeable saint – no wonder so many mothers name their sons “David” – I have a nephew of that name myself!
A happy Feast of St David everyone.
I laughed at this joke, so I hope you will, as well.
A prominent Welsh minister travelling home one night was greatly annoyed when a young man much the worse for drink came and sat next to him on the bus.
“Young man,” he declared, “do you not realise you are on the road to perdition?”
“Oh, hell,” replied the drunkard. “I could have sworn this was the bus to Llanelli.”
LOL!
Nicky,
LOL! Very funny joke.
A happy St David’s day everyone!
Made me laugh. thanks. 🙂
Nicky,
Great joke! Made me smile!
Happy Feast of St David everyone.
I wondered if there any hymns sung in honour of Saint David, so far I have not found one as yet.
Theresa Rose
I took a quick look and, although there are a couple of videos of programmes aired for St David’s Day along the lines of Songs of Praise, the only hymn I could find in honour of St David himself, is a short composition written by someone called Nagu – I’ll post it for the record
Editor,
I thought the graphic underneath your introductory comment was just Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious…
I’d never heard of this saint either, and sorry to wander off topic, but I couldn’t help but think of the WWII naval battle between the Bismarck, the HMS Hood and the Prince of Wales. The Hood, of course, was blown out of the water with massive loss of life; the Prince of Wales was seriously damaged but managed to limp home.
I wonder if the crew of the Prince of Wales knew about this saint, and prayed for his intercession before the battle?
RCA Victor,
You are always a step ahead – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious…- brilliant: a brainwave!
You lost me at “WWII naval battle… ”
The war, like football, makes me nod off 😀
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this Feast Day thread. Hopefully, we’ll now have the intercession of St David to help us in our work of contributing to the restoration of the Faith in Scotland and across the wider UK – he may take personal control of our efforts in Wales!
I’ll close the thread now, with repeated gratitude to everyone who honoured St David here today.
Comments are closed.