ST. DAVIDS DAY

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21413, 4 March 1935, Page 12

ST. DAVIDS DAY

* COMMEMORATION IN CHRISTCHURCH CAMBRIAN SOCIETY'S ANNUAL BANQUET Welsh people throughout the world celebrated during the week-end the festival of St. David, the patron saint of Wales. In Christchurch 100 members of the Welsh community met with great enthusiasm at the annual banquet of the Cambrian Society, at Dixieland, and yesterday afternoon they attended a Welsh service in the Cathedral, at which hymns were sung and prayers were said in the Welsh tongue! The parts that Wales and the Welsh people have played in the past and may in the future in the life and history of the world were emphasised by leading members of the Welsh community at the banquet, and an address was given on St. David, who is known to the Welsh people as Dewi Sant. Mr C. E. Jones, president of the society, who presided, announced that the society was now incorporated as the Cambrian Society of Canterbury and Westland, and had thus, through the loyal and steadfast support of the Welsh people of Christchurch, reached an important moment: in its history.

Inspiration of St. David The Rev. E. Llywelyn Williams proposed the toast of St. David. He said he doubted whether, in his travels in other parts of the world, he had met any other Welsh society keeping up the traditions of Wales with such courage and such success. This was the night of St. David. The patron saint of Wales combined two missions in life—his religion and his practical service, and this was why he was still such an inspiration in the twentieth century. Not only was his great love an inspiration, but his service to his fellow people also was an example to all Welsh people. The gracious sympathy of St. David for his fellow men -made him open his heart to those in need. It was well that the Welsh community to-day should look about and find what it could do for its fellow men, and so carry on and perpetuate the spirit of St. David.

Mr Williams said he thought the world did not realise the debt it owed to the Welsh romances—just before the time of their origin the literature of Europe had been very sluggish, and this literature of Wales was a great contribution from the life and mind of Wales to the world. The typical genius of the Welsh mind was something like the lark—Welsh genius was not usually capable of sustaining itself for long, as Welsh literature demonstrated. For instance there were numbers of fine Welsh lyrics, but he could not think of a single Welsh epic of first class. But the genius of the Welsh people was swift, darting, and penetrating, and had made a great contribution to the mind of, a dark world. It was pleasant at this function, Mr Williams concluded, to find a breath of old Wales and to renew his faith in the Principality. Wales and Welsh Societies The president gave an address on "Wales in the Modern World." The toast of "Welsh Societies" was proposed by Mr J. G. Parry, who spoke of the celebration of St. David's Day in all parts of the world. He suggested that now the Cambrian Society of Canterbury and Westland had reached the status of an incorporated society it might associate itself with the Union of Welsh Societies, and there was no reason why it should not become one of the leaders of such bodies in the preservation of the traditions of Wales and the reverence of the memory of St. David. Items were given by Mrs E. R. Caygill and Mrs D. Jones (songs), Miss C. Gann (piano solo). Miss W. Smith (recitation), and Mr R. H. Williams (song). Mr J. G. Parry was accompanist. PATRON SAINT OF WALES

LIFE OF ST. DAVID WELSH SERVICE AT THE CATHEDRAL A large congregation of Welsh people attended the annual St. David's Day service at the Cathedral yesterday afternoon. Hymns were sung and prayers were said in Welsh, solos were played on the harp, and an address was given by the Rev. E. Llywelyn Williams on the life and inspiration of St. David (or Dewi Sant, as he is better known to Welsh people), the patron Saint of Wales. The service was opened with the singing of a hymn and the reading of the Lord's Prayer in Welsh. Before beginning his sermon, Mr Williams paid a tribute to the work of the Cambrian Society, which had organised this and another important function in celebration of St. David's Day each year for a number of years. "Once again, in the setting of this service, and the atmosphere of our beloved hymns, I come to the significance of our immortal St. David," said Mr Williams. "It is not very much we know of the exact detail of the life of St. David, but in this we are no more poorly situated than our friends in England and Scotland. There is little we know of St. Andrew or St. George but we do know of St. David that he was partly Welsh and partly Irish. "A 1 Good Man" "St. David was a good man, and a very good man at that; and goodness such as his is such a rare achievement in the tangled story of our human life that its remembrance after 1500 years stirs our minds and touches our hearts. The ancient chroniclers have, according to their custom, embellished the story of his life with many tales of the miraculous, but they seem to have missed the greatest miracle of all — the spiritual miracle of a man who loved God with all his mind and heart and his fellowmen as himself. And is not goodness the crowning achievement of life, whether it be in the sixth or in the twentieth century?"

"It does say something for the spiritual sense of the Welsh people that they chose such a figure as St. David as their patron saint. If the St. David ycu and I know be no more than an 'ideal than an historical person, yet it is something to hold before ourselves an ideal that is worthy of our deepest homage. Cultural Heritage "To go back to the age oC St. David is to be reminded of that glorious cultural heritage which is ours, and although we must beware of any false glorification of the past, it is an ennobling experience, to have a great past and to be aware of it. For us, St. David stands as the symbol of the best and highest in our race. He was an ardent apostle of nationalism, but it was not the strident nationalism which so often masquerades under this name—it was the healthy nationalism, which asked of the people that consecration to the service and of God that would make them more efficient servants of the Kingdom of God. "That ardent Welsh nationalist stood valiantly for three things that ennoble human life in every age. He was known among his contemporaries as a good man, l good preacher, and a good teacher. He symbolises for us the three supreme things in life—education, character, and religion, or, in other words, three of the great passions of life—the passion for truth, the passion for purity, and the passion for God." The first lesson was read by Mr J. G. Parry, and the second by Mr R. H. Williams. Madame Gower Burns sang two solos. Mr A. M. Owen was organist, and Mr H. Glaysher played solos on <he harp.