Today is the feast of David, the saint patron of Wales, and to mark it a three-day festival begins at the remote rural cathedral that bears his shrine. While the site was stripped and looted during the Reformation, it has now undergone a major revivalSt Davids, on the westernmost edge of Wales, has a good claim for being the cradle of Christianity in Britain, ever since St David, or Dewi Sant as he is known in Welsh, founded a monastic community in the sixth century at Glyn Rhosyn (the Valley of the Roses). The site is near to where the saint was born and brought up, the son of Sant, a local prince, and St Non, a local princess who became a nun after the death of her husband. It was also near the site of a monastic school established by St Patrick to train missionaries for the conversion
27 February 2014, The Tablet
Follow the signs of the leek and the dove
Wales’ protector saint
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