Saint David of Wales

Saint David of Wales, in Welsh Dewi, was a monk and bishop who in the sixth century founded a monastery at Menevia, at the southwestern tip of Wales. He is the patron saint of Wales. The Church commemorates him on March 1.

Little is known for certain about his life. The oldest surviving Life was written only at the end of the eleventh century by the Welsh author Rhygyfarch, about five hundred years after the saint’s death, and much of it is legend. It is regarded as historical that David was bishop of Menevia, led a community of monks, and took part in the synods of the Welsh Church. The year of his birth is unknown. According to tradition he was the son of Sant, a prince of Ceredigion, and of Saint Non, and he studied under Saint Paulinus.

The monastery arose at the place called Mynyw in Welsh and Menevia in Latin. The Roman Martyrology states that David followed the examples and customs of the Fathers of the East. Tradition describes the austere life of the community: the brothers pulled the plow themselves, without the help of animals, worked in the fields, read and prayed, ate bread with herbs or vegetables, and drank only water.

From Menevia, as the Martyrology says, many monks set out who preached the Gospel in Wales, Ireland, Cornwall, and Armorica, that is, present-day Brittany. Tradition credits David himself with founding many other monasteries.

David spoke at the synod of Brefi, in the place now called Llanddewi Brefi, and later presided over another synod. Legend tells that when he was addressing a great crowd at Brefi, the ground rose beneath his feet so that everyone could hear him. That is why he is depicted on a small hill, with a dove on his shoulder.

He died at Menevia on March 1. The year of his death cannot be established with certainty: the oldest chronicles do not agree, and the year is given as 589 or 601. Tradition has preserved the last words he addressed to his monks: “Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things.”

He has been venerated as a saint in Wales since the early Middle Ages. According to tradition, Pope Callixtus II approved his cult around 1120. Pilgrims flocked to David’s tomb, and two pilgrimages there were held to equal one pilgrimage to Rome. The town that grew up around the monastery now bears his name: St Davids. The Welsh keep March 1 as their own feast day. In 2010 Pope Benedict XVI blessed a mosaic of the saint in Westminster Cathedral, called him one of the great saints of the sixth century, and recalled his last words.