The Life Story of St. David of Wales

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 32, 22 February 1929, Page 7

The Life Story of St. David of Wales

_f‘O examine the life story of David, the Patron Saint of Wales, is very like lifting a dark curtain to peer into the gloom, because those early centuries are very obscure, full of/a strange mixture of myth and Yet, somehow, out of it all there rises the figure of a strong man ruling his monastery and drawing the wild tribesmen to God by the power of his fiery eloquence. His life story may be said to begin with the love story of Sant, The Brython, and Non, a woman of the Goidelic tribes, because the child Dewi, or David, was the result of their irregular union. The expectant mother was driven out by her own kindred, and so her ehild was born in the wilds. Whilst he was still young he was sent to the monastery of Hen Lilwyn to be taught by Paulinus, the abbot. This early settlement was probably a collection of huts in a thorny brake, but afterwards a fine stone building rose on the site which was named Ty Gwyn. When the young man was fully grown he"went indo Gower, establishing churches in all the land between the Tawe and the Towy. From there he went back to Dyfed and established his monastery at Glyn Rhosyn, in the place now known by his name as St. David’s. There are traditions of his life at the monastery and the strictness of his rule, and these ring true. One story which has reached us tells of a conspiracy between three of his monks to poison him. ‘They were the steward, the cook, and his deacon or assistant. A VISITOR from Ireland, a monk ; named Scuthen, was staying at aikan Rhosyn at the time, and he suspected the plot. which was to poison the abbot’s bread. David, all unsuspecting, sat down at the table, when Scuthen exclaimed: "To-day none of

the brethren shall wait on the Father but myself." The deacon turned pale and trembled as Scuthen took up the bread and gave it to a house dog. At the same moment a crow flew down from an «ash-tree close by and picked up the crumbs. Whilst the conspirators and the other monks stood looking on, the dog and then the bird fell dead. Upon which the brethren rose and cursed the offenders, praying that they should forfeit their place in He nu. Sometime in the «aiddle of his life David was compelled by the violence of the yellow plague to fly over the sea to Armorica. He probably stayed there from 547 till 551, and this accounts for the many churches in Brittany which are dedicated to the Welsh saint. After his return to Wales he seems to have made his series of journeys, his preaching tours, from Cardigan Bay across to the banks of the Wye, which is probably the reason why we have so many churches. He was famous for his great sayings, and one of these at least has come down to us in the motto, "Goreu defawd daioni," which in English would read, "Goodness is the best custom." We have a relic of his stay in Gwent, where the little church near Caerlwn, called Llandewi fach, was granted to the Saint and dedicated to him after he had settled a long-standing dispute between the neighbouring chiefs. The old man, full of years, was greatest in his death, for the story goes that on the Sunday, though he was even then dying, he preached to his people in the church which is now the cathedral of St. David’s. On the following Tuesday, being the first of March, he was again in the church. and as he listened to the brethren Singing the psalms, he suddenly repeated the words, "Tolle me post Te" ("Raise me after Thee"), and so passed away.