Ward's Book of Days.
Pages of interesting anniversaries.
What happened on this day in history.
MARCH 1st
On this day in history in 600, died Saint David of Wales.
Saint David was the son of a king, who became a preacher and a bishop and later a national saint.
Unlike
Saints George, Andrew and Patrick, David has a substantial body of evidence to
back his existence, but sadly the evidence is confused and obscure. George,
the patron saint of England, if he existed at all, lived and died in a far off
land and never visited England. Andrew is a biblical figure, who is supposed
to have visited Scotland, but who almost certainly never did. Patrick, whose
name was not Patrick, came from what we now call Wales, and whose history is a
confused account of what was probably several people.
About
David, we know that he was born in or around the year 500, and that his father
was a king known as Sant. Whether he was a saintly person or that his name was
‘Sant’, we do not know, but it is recorded that David was conceived by
Sant raping David’s mother, Non, who might have been called Non, or might
have been a nun.
We
know that David was educated at Henfynyw, Cardigan, and that he was at the
synod of Llanddewi-Brefi, Cardigan, to suppress the heresy of Pelagius and
presided at the Synod of Victory held later at Caerleon-on-Usk, Monmouthshire,
which supposedly defeated the Pelagian heresy in Britain.
It appears that he took over the administration of the church in Wales, and founded numerous churches throughout South Wales, many of which exist today. St David's Cathedral now stands on the site of the monastery he founded in the valley of Glyn Rhosyn, Pembrokeshire. This monastery was a place of severe aestheticism. The monks were obliged to drink only water and to eat nothing but bread salt and vegetables. Consequently, his symbol, and the symbol of Wales became the leek.
It is claimed that David lived to be over 100 years old and died on March 1st (now St David's Day). He is buried in his monastery, now St David’s Cathedral, a location which became a place of pilgrimage for centuries. [St David’s Cathedral, St Davids, Pembrokeshire. SA62 6HR]
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