SaintSaint DavidDavid Feast day ~1st March

Saint David Saint David was the Bishop of Menevia in Wales during the sixth century. His name, in Welsh, is ‘Dewi Sant’. He was born around the year 500, son of St Non, and a prince of Ceredigion. Non is said to have given birth to David on a cliff top, during a violent storm. David was an enthusiastic teacher and preacher. St David’s Cathedral stands on the site of the monastery founded by David in Pembrokeshire, Wales. David also founded monasteries and churches elsewhere in Wales, and in Brittany (France). David himself lived a simple life, and expected his monks to do the same. They had to pull the plough themselves, without using a horse; and ate a simple diet, with no meat or beer. The story is told of a miraculous happening, whilst David was preaching to a large crowd, at the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi, against a false belief held by some people at that time. When the people at the back complained they couldn’t hear David, the ground is said to have risen up, to form a small hill, so that everyone had a good view. A white dove settled on David’s shoulder, a sign of God’s grace and blessing. After this, David became an Archbishop. David is said to have lived to over the age of one hundred, and to have died around the year 590, on the 1st of March – which is now St David’s Day (but celebrated on the 2nd March if 1st March falls on a Sunday). The monastery is said to have been “filled with angels, as Christ received his soul”. David’s last words to his people were: “Be Joyful. Keep the Faith. Do the little things that you have heard and seen me do.” David was buried at St David’s Cathedral, and his shrine became a popular place of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages. In 1120, David was declared a saint by Pope Callixtus II, who stated that the shrine was so important that two pilgrimages to St David’s were equivalent to one to Rome, three were equivalent to one to Jerusalem. Sadly, the original shrine was destroyed during the Reformation, but pilgrims continue to visit the site and the restored shrine was re-dedicated in 2012. David is the Patron Saint of Wales, where his popularity endures. His symbol (and that of Wales) is the leek. St David’s, in Pembrokeshire – where the cathedral stands – is the smallest city in Britain.