“WEAR THE LEEK UPON ST DAVIDS’S DAY”

The 1st of March is St. David's Day.

I was asked to write about the saints in the Link for the next few months. It  seems good to start with a fellow Celt and Patron Saint of Wales. St David  stands among the British and Saxon saints of the early days of Christianity in the UK. Much of St David’s life is today a mix of mystery and legend, but  he lived in Wales in the 6th century, preached the Gospel to the Celtic tribes of western Britain, and founded several religious communities,  notably one at what is now St David’s. His rules for the monks were  austere, even by the standards of the time, and legend has it that, as happened to St Benedict, his strictness made him so unpopular at one  monastery that his monks tried to poison him – but, as with St Benedict, he  came to no harm. 

It is also said that St David travelled as far as Jerusalem and that he was consecrated Archbishop by the Patriarch there – a story that may have its  roots in later propaganda, as it would have indicated that the Welsh church  need not be expected to take instructions from Canterbury. Be that as it  may, he appears in many Welsh churches wearing headgear different from what we expect to see on an Archbishop, and about his neck is a priestly  breastplate of the kind we associate with Aaron. These features seem likely  to have a connection with the Jerusalem story. In Wales, St David is often  depicted with a white dove on his shoulder – for it is said that once, when he was preaching outdoors, the ground miraculously rose into a mound so  that he could be seen and heard more easily, and at the same time the  dove alighted upon him.

Particularly in Wales, St David is remembered for his last words to his monks: “Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do.” His countryman, and former Archbishop of  Canterbury Rowan Williams, comments that this farewell speech “reminds us that the primary things in life are the relationships around us, the need  to work at what’s under our hands, what’s within our reach”. 
“We can all strengthen our domestic, our family relationships, our national  life to some extent, if we do that with focus and concentration in the  presence of God." 

​Happy Saint David's Day to all with Welsh connections.