My father was born above his parent’s hat shop in south Wales and his father was known as ‘Davies the hat’ to distinguish him from all of the other Davies. If he were still alive, he would be proudly wearing a daffodil on Tuesday to celebrate St David’s Day.
Dewi Sant died around 601 and was remembered as a holy priest and Bishop who set up a dozen monasteries. The most famous of these was the one at Menevia where St David’s Cathedral now stands. The monastery was so austere that it was said to rival the saints who lived in the deserts of Egypt. Little is known of his life although he did attend an important meeting of the Synod of Brefi where, according to tradition, he spoke so well that he was made Primate of the Cambrian Church.
His fame may also have something to do with the desire of the Welsh church to assert their independence from Canterbury; a tradition that continues today with the campaign to make St David’s day a public holiday in Wales.
Along with Columba, Ninian and Patrick, David is one of our early Celtic saints whose faith was intimately connected with the world around them. They saw the presence and power of God in creation and in appreciating this, they also had a sense of their own fragility. One Celtic prayer that sums this up well and can be used by anyone feeling overwhelmed by the world around them is that of a Breton fisherman who prayed:
Dear God, be good to me;
the sea is so large,
and my boat is so small.
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