Editing Saint David

{{Short description|Patron saint of Wales (c. 500 – c. 589)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|David of Wales|David, Prince of Wales|Edward VIII}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix= Saint
| name            = David
| image           = Castell Coch stained glass panel 2.JPG
| caption         = Stained glass depiction of Saint David, designed by [[William Burges]], at [[Castell Coch]], [[Cardiff]]
| titles          = [[Abbot]] and [[catholic bishop|Bishop]]
| birth_date      = Unknown, estimated at {{c.|500}}
| birth_place     = Unknown, c. [[Caerfai Bay|Caerfai]], [[Kingdom of Dyfed|Dyfed]], or somewhere in [[Kingdom of Ceredigion|Ceredigion]]
| death_date      = 1 March 589
| death_place     = [[Mynyw]], Dyfed
| feast_day       = [[Saint David's Day|1 March]]
| beatified_date  =
| beatified_place =
| beatified_by    =
| major_shrine    = [[St David's Cathedral]], [[Pembrokeshire]], Wales, United Kingdom
| attributes      = Bishop with a [[dove]],<br>usually on his shoulder, sometimes standing<br>on a raised hillock
| patronage       = Wales; [[Pembrokeshire]]; [[Naas]]; [[vegetarian]]s; poets
| issues          = The earliest of the supposed bones of Saint David and [[Justinian of Ramsey Island|Saint Justinian]] housed in a casket in the [[Holy Trinity]] Chapel of [[St David's Cathedral]] have been [[Radiocarbon dating|carbon-dated]] to the 12th century.
| suppressed_date =
| venerated_in    = [[Catholic Church]]<br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Anglicanism|Anglican Communion]]
| canonized_date  = 1123
| canonized_place = [[Rome]], [[Papal States]],
| canonized_by    = [[Pope Callixtus II]]  (officially recognised)
}}

'''David''' ({{langx|cy|Dewi Sant}}; {{langx|la|Davidus}}; {{c.|500|589}}) was a Welsh Christian [[prelate]] who served as [[Bishop of Menevia|Bishop of Mynyw]] during the 6th century. He is the [[patron saint]] of [[Wales]].

David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail about his life. His birth date, however, is uncertain: suggestions range from 462 to 512.<ref name="Toke">{{CathEncy| last=Toke| first=Leslie| year=1908| wstitle= St. David}}</ref> He is traditionally believed to be the son of [[Saint Non|Non]] and the grandson of [[Ceredig|Ceredig ap Cunedda]], king of [[Kingdom of Ceredigion|Ceredigion]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The early life of David|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/st_david/pages/life.shtml|publisher=BBC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110235004/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/history/sites/st_david/pages/life.shtml |archive-date=10 January 2008}}</ref> The [[Annales Cambriae|Welsh annals]] placed his death 569 years after the birth of Christ,<ref>B text. Public Record Office, MS. E.164/1, [[s:la:Annales Cambiae B/VIII|p. 8]]. {{in lang|la}}</ref> but [[Egerton Phillimore|Phillimore]]'s dating revised this to 601.<ref>Phillimore, Egerton (ed.), 1888 "The Annales Cambriae and Old Welsh Genealogies from Harleian MS. 3859", Y Cymmrodor; 9 (1888) pp. 141–183.</ref>

==Hagiography==
[[File:Clonard RC Church St Finian 02 Detail 2007 08 26.jpg|thumb|left|150px|St. David as the teacher of [[Finnian of Clonard]] in a stained glass window restored to its 1181 appearance at [[Clonard, County Meath|Clonard]]]]
[[File:StDavidsCathedral.jpg|thumb|[[St David's Cathedral]], [[St Davids]], [[Pembrokeshire]]]]
Many of the traditional tales about David are found in the ''Buchedd Dewi'' ("Life of David"), a [[hagiography]] written by [[Rhygyfarch]] around 1090.{{sfn|Wooding|2017|p=667}} Rhygyfarch claimed it was based on documents found in the cathedral archives. Modern historians are sceptical of some of its claims: one of Rhygyfarch's aims was to establish some independence for the Welsh church, which had refused the [[Roman Rite|Roman rite]] until the 8th century and now sought a metropolitan status equal to that of Canterbury (this may apply to the supposed pilgrimage to [[Jerusalem]] where he is said to have been anointed as an archbishop by the [[Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem|patriarch]]).

The tradition that he was born at [[Henfynyw]] (Vetus-Menevia) in [[Ceredigion]] is not improbable.<ref name=Toke/> 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 [[Monastery of Saint David, Wales|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.<ref name=Foley/>

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. [[John Davies (historian)|John Davies]] notes that one can scarcely "conceive of any miracle more superfluous" in that part of Wales than the creation of a new hill.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Davies
 | first = John
 | author-link = John Davies (historian)
 | title = A History of Wales
 | publisher = Penguin
 |orig-year=1993|year=2007
 | location = London
 | page = 74}}</ref> David is said to have denounced [[Pelagianism]] during this incident and he was declared archbishop by popular acclaim according to Rhygyfarch,{{sfn|Wade-Evans|1923|loc= §48, §53|pp=107–}} bringing about the retirement of [[Dubricius]]. St David's [[Bishop of St David's#Claim of metropolitan status|metropolitan status]] as an archbishopric was later supported by [[Bernard, Bishop of St David's]], [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]], and [[Gerald of Wales]].

The [[Monastic rule|Monastic Rule]] of David prescribed that monks had to pull the [[plough]] themselves without draught animals,<ref name="Foley">{{Cite web|date=2016-03-01|title=Saint David of Wales|url=https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-david-of-wales/|website=Franciscan Media|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008085450/https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-david-of-wales/|archive-date=8 October 2020|access-date=2025-05-18|language=en}}</ref> and must eat only bread with salt and herbs and drink only water<ref>Roberts, Holly. (2004). ''Vegetarian Christian Saints''. Anjeli Press. p. 131. {{ISBN|0-9754844-0-0}} "David and his fellow members within this community believed hard manual labor was the duty of all, thus preferring not to use cattle to help them plow the fields. They resolved to maintain a diet of bread and vegetables, with just a sprinkling of salt, so as not to inflict unnecessary suffering upon any creature by taking its life for food."</ref> getting them the name "watermen".{{sfn|Wooding|2017|p=667}} The monks spent their evenings in prayer, reading and writing. No personal possessions were allowed: even to say "my book" was considered an offence. He lived a [[simple living|simple life]] and practised [[asceticism]], teaching his followers to [[vegetarianism|refrain from eating meat]] and drinking [[beer]]. His symbol, also the symbol of Wales, is the [[leek]] (this inspires a reference in [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s [[Henry V (play)|Henry V]], Act IV scene 7):
<blockquote>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 cap]]s, 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".</blockquote>

===Connections to Glastonbury===
[[Rhigyfarch]] counted [[Glastonbury Abbey]] among the churches David founded.{{sfn|Wade-Evans|1923|loc= §13|pp=80–}} 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 [[Henry VIII of England]] confiscated from the abbey during the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]] a thousand years later.

==Death==
[[File:Shrine of St David.jpg|thumb|The Shrine of Saint David prior to its reconstruction in the early twenty-first century.]]
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]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LN9DSKZfItcC&pg=PA1|title=St David of Wales: Cult, Church and Nation|page=1|first1=J. Wyn |last1=Evans|first2= Jonathan M. |last2=Wooding|publisher=Boydell Press|date= 2007|isbn=978-1843833222}}</ref> 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''",<ref name="Evans1988">{{cite book|editor-first=Daniel Simon |editor-last=Evans|title=The Welsh Life of St. David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JBF6QgAACAAJ|year=1988|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-0-7083-0995-7}}</ref> 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 (see photo), which was originally surmounted by an ornamental wooden canopy with murals of David, [[Saint Patrick|Patrick]] and [[Saint Denis of Paris|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==
[[File:Flag of Saint David.svg|thumb|The [[Flag of Saint David]]]]
{{main|Saint David's Day}}
David was officially recognised at the [[Holy See]] by [[Pope Callixtus II]] in 1120, thanks to the work of [[Bernard (bishop of St Davids)|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.<ref name=Foley/>

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 [[Church Fathers|Eastern Fathers]]. Through his leadership, many monks went forth to evangelise Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and [[Armorica]] (Brittany and surrounding provinces).<ref>''Martyrologium Romanum'', 2004, Vatican Press (Typis Vaticanis), p. 171.</ref>

The restored Shrine of Saint David was unveiled and rededicated by the [[Right Reverend]] [[Wyn Evans]], [[Bishop of St David's]], at a [[Eucharist|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.<ref>''[http://ebba.english.ucsb.edu/ballad/30222/image The Praise of Saint Davids day. / Shewing the Reason why the Welshmen honour the Leeke on that day. To the tune of When this Old Cap was new.]'' (?1630).</ref>

Saint David is usually represented standing on a hill with a dove on his shoulder.<ref name=Toke/>

David is [[Calendar of saints (Church of England)|remembered]] in the [[Church of England]] with a [[Lesser Festival (Anglicanism)|Lesser Festival]] and on the [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|Episcopal Church liturgical calendar]] on [[March 1|1 March]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Calendar|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar|access-date=2021-03-27|website=The Church of England|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3e7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |year=2019|publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-234-7 |language=en}}</ref>

==Reputation==
[[File:Bae non - Chapel of Our Lady and St Non S of Tyddewi (St David's), Sir Benfro, Wales 10.jpg|thumb|290px|A stained glass window at [[St Non's Chapel]], [[St David's]]]]
He was not explicitly named by contemporary sources although David may have been criticised without being named by [[Gildas]]{{sfn|Wooding|2017|p=666}} the first explicit reference is in the Irish [[Martyrology of Tallaght]] in the early ninth century.{{sfn|Wooding|2017|p=667}}

David's popularity in Wales is shown by the ''[[Armes Prydein]]'' of around 930, a poem which prophesied that in the future, when all might seem lost, the ''Cymry'' ([[Welsh people]]) would unite behind the standard of David{{sfn|Wooding|2017|p=667}} to defeat the English; "''A lluman glân Dewi a ddyrchafant''" ("And they will raise the pure banner of Dewi").

David is said to have played a role in spreading Christianity on the continent, inspiring numerous place names in Brittany including [[Saint-Divy]], [[Saint-Yvi]] and [[Landivy]].

David's life and teachings have inspired a choral work by Welsh composer [[Karl Jenkins]], ''Dewi Sant''. It is a seven-movement work best known for the classical crossover series [[Adiemus (albums)|Adiemus]], which intersperses movements reflecting the themes of David's last sermon with those drawing from three Psalms. An [[oratorio]] by another Welsh composer [[Arwel Hughes]], also entitled ''Dewi Sant'', was composed in 1950.

Saint David is also thought to be associated with [[corpse candles]], lights that would warn of the imminent death of a member of the community. The story goes that David prayed for his people to have some warning of their death, so that they could prepare themselves. In a vision, David's wish was granted and told that from then on, people who lived in the land of Dewi Sant (Saint David) "would be forewarned by the dim light of mysterious tapers when and where the death might be expected". The colour and size of the tapers indicated whether the person to die would be a woman, man, or child.<ref>{{cite book|title=Folk-Lore and Folk-Stories of Wales|first=Marie |last=Trevelyan|location=London|orig-year= 1909|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zmYHrsC6cYIC|page=178|isbn=978-0854099382|year=1973}}</ref>

He was also mentioned in Irish writings in connection with Irish saints.<ref>[http://www.omniumsanctorumhiberniae.com/2017/03/saint-david-in-irish-sources.html Jonathan M. Wooding, ‘The Figure of David’ in J. W. Evans and J.M. Wooding, eds., St David of Wales: cult, church and nation (Boydell, 2007), 11-12, Saint David in Irish Sources, Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Saint David's Day]] & [[Proposed St David's Day bank holiday]]
* [[St Davids]], Pembrokeshire & [[Saint David's Cathedral]]
* [[Saint David's Castle]] & [[St David's Church, Naas]]
* [[Saint Divy Parish close]], Brittany
* [[Portal:Catholic Church/Patron Archive/March 1|Saint David, patron saint archive]]
* [[Davy Jones' Locker#Proposed origins of the tale|Proposed origins of the tale of Davy Jones' Locker]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}
* ''[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2040695 Vitae Sanctorum Britanniae et Genealogiae]'' (Latin), ed. [[Arthur Wade-Evans|Arthur W. Wade-Evans]]. [[Cardiff]]: [[University of Wales Press]], 1944.
* {{cite book|last=Lewis|first=Lionel Smithett |title=St. Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury Or the Apostolic Church of Britain 1955|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XeVNjavhDpIC&pg=PA198|year=2003|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=978-0-7661-4013-4|chapter=St. David the Briton}}
* {{cite book|last1=Brand|first1=John|author1-link=John Brand (antiquarian) |last2=Ellis|first2=Henry |title=Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJ09AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA102|year=1849|publisher=Bohn|isbn=978-7-270-00726-7}}
* [https://archive.org/stream/observationsonpo01branuoft/observationsonpo01branuoft_djvu.txt St. David's Day] section of ''Observations on popular antiquities, chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar customs, ceremonies and superstitions : Arranged and rev., with additions'', Volume 1 (ASCII text) by [[John Brand (antiquarian)|John Brand]]
* {{cite book|title=Life of St. David|editor-first=Arthur Wade|editor-last= Wade-Evans|publisher=[[Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge]]|date=1923|url=https://archive.org/details/MN5136ucmf_5/page/n129/mode/2up}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXoqDwAAQBAJ&dq=tallaght+dewi&pg=PA666|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature in Britain, 4 Volume Set|first=Jonathan|last=Wooding|editor1-first=Sian|editor1-last=Echard|editor2-first=Robert |editor2-last=Rouse|year=2017|publisher=John Wiley & Sons ltd|title=Dewi Sant/St. David}}
{{refend}}

===Further reading===
{{refbegin}}
* Morgan, Gerald, ''In Pursuit of Saint David''. Y Lola Cyf., 2017. {{ISBN|978-1784613723}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.wales-calling.com/culture/st-david.htm St David – patron saint of Wales]
* [http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-david-of-wales/ Saints SQPN.com » Saint David of Wales]

{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= France |portal4= Saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Saint}}
[[Category:Saint David| ]]
[[Category:589 deaths]]