The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March

S. DAVID, ABP. OF MENEVIA, AND PATRON OF WALES

(A.D. 544.)

[Roman, Irish, Scotch, and ancient Anglican Martyrologies. His festival was celebrated in England with rulers of the choir, and nine lessons. Pope Callixtus II. ordered him to be venerated throughout the Christian world. There are no very ancient accounts of S. David, The oldest is a life existing in MS. at Utrecht, which was not known to Usher or Colgan. Usher cites Ricimer, Giraldus, and John of Tynemouth, a Durham priest, who collected the Acts of the English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish Saints, and who lived in 1360. Ricimer was Bishop of S. David's about 1085, and died about 1096. His life of S. David seems to have been the foundation of all subsequent biographies of that saint. Several MSS. of this life are extant; and a portion of it containing matter not found in the life of the same saint by Giraldus Cambrensis, was printed by Wharton in the Anglia Sacra. Giraldus Cambrensis wrote his life of S. David about 1177. S. Kentigern (d. 590) mentions S. David, and there are numerous allusions to him in the lives of contemporary Welsh and Irish saints.]

S. David, or Dewi, as the Welsh call him, was born about 446, at Mynyw, which was named S. David's after him. His father was Sandde, son of Ceredig, who was the son of Cunedda, the great conqueror of N. Wales. His mother's name was Nôn; she was the daughter of Gynyr of Caergawch. Giraldus says he was baptized at Porth Clais by Alveas, Bishop of Munster, "who by divine providence had arrived at that time from Ireland." The same author says he was brought up at "Henmenen," which is probably the Roman station Menapia.

S. David was educated under Iltyt at Caerworgon. He was afterward ordained priest, and studied the Scriptures for ten years with Paulinus at Ty-gwyn-ar Dâf, or Whitland, in Caermarthenshire. He then retired for prayer and study to the Vale of Ewias, where he raised a chapel, and a cell on the site now occupied by Llanthony Abbey. The river Honddu furnished him with drink, the mountain pastures with meadow-leek for food. His legendary history states that he was advised by an angel to move from under the shadow of the Black Mountains to the vale of Rhos, and to found a monastery at Mynyw, his birth place.

He built a monastery on the boggy land which forms nearly the lowest point of that basin-shaped glen: on, or near its site stands the present Cathedral of S. David. He practised the same rigorous austerities as before. Water was his only drink, and he rigorously abstained from animal food. He devoted himself wholly to prayer, study, and to the training of his disciples. He, like many other abbots at that time, was promoted to the episcopate. A wild legend makes him to have started on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and to have received consecration at the hands of the patriarch John III. This tale was invented by some British monk to show that the Welsh bishops traced their succession to the oldest, if not the most powerful, of the patriarchates. Except when compelled by unavoidable necessity he kept aloof from all temporal concerns. He was reluctant even to attend the Synod of Brefi. This was convened by Dubricius about 519 at Llandewi Brefi, in Cardiganshire, to suppress the Pelagian heresy, which was once more raising its head. The synod was composed of bishops, abbots, and religious of different orders, together with princes and laymen. Giraldus says, "When many discourses had been delivered in public, and were ineffectual to reclaim the Pelagians from their error, at length Paulinus, a bishop with whom David had studied in his youth, very earnestly entreated that the holy, discreet, and eloquent man might be sent for. Messengers were therefore despatched to desire his attendance: but their importunity was unavailing with the holy man, he being so fully and intently given up to contemplation, that urgent necessity alone could induce him to pay any regard to temporal or secular concerns. At last two holy men, Daniel and Dubricius, persuaded him to come. After his arrival, such was the grace and eloquence with which he spoke, that he silenced the opponents, and they were utterly vanquished. But Father David, by common consent of all, whether clergy or laity, (Dubricius having resigned in his favour), was elected primate of the Cambrian Church." Dubricius retired to the Isle of Bardsey.

A beautiful yet wild legend tells us: – "While S. David's speech continued, a snow white dove descending from heaven sat upon his shoulders; and moreover the earth on which he stood raised itself under him till it became a hill, from whence his voice was heard like a trumpet, and was understood by all, both near and far off: on the top of which hill a church was afterwards built, and remains to this day."

S. David at first strenuously declined the primacy; at last he accepted it on the condition that he was to be allowed to transfer the archiepiscopal chair from the busy city of Caerleon upon the Usk – the former capital of Britannia Secunda – to the quiet retreat of Mynyw. Arthur, the famous king, and Pendragon, who is said to have been a nephew of our saint, assented to this. Doubtless the advances westward which the heathen English were making, filled S. David with dread lest the seat of the primacy should one day fall into their hands. So he thought it prudent to remove it to the iron-bound shores of Pembroke, where the English could not so easily land.

After his elevation, S. David, in spite of his retiring disposition, proved a vigorous and hard-working prelate. He occasionally resided at Caerleon, and in 529 he convened a synod, which exterminated the Pelagian heresy, and was in consequence named "The Synod of Victory." It ratified the canons and decrees of Brefi, as well as a code of rules which he had drawn up for the regulation of the British Church, a copy of which remained in the Cathedral of S. David's until it was lost in an incursion of pirates. Giraldus says, "In his times, in Cambria, the Church of God flourished exceedingly, and ripened with much fruit every day. Monasteries were built everywhere; many congregations of the faithful of various orders were collected to celebrate with fervent devotion the Sacrifice of Christ. But to all of them Father David, as if placed on a lofty eminence, was a mirror and pattern of life. He informed them by words, and he instructed them by example; as a preacher he was most powerful through his eloquence, but more so in his works. He was a doctrine to his hearers, a guide to the religious, a light to the poor, a support to the orphans, a protection to widows, a father to the fatherless, a rule to monks, and a path to seculars, being made all things to all men that he might bring all to God."

He founded several churches and monasteries. It is also generally agreed that Wales was first divided into dioceses in his time.

Geoffrey of Monmouth states that he died in his monastery at Mynyw i. e., S. David's, where he was honourably buried by order of Maelgwn Gwynedd. This event is recorded by him as if it happened soon after the death of Arthur, who died 542. According to the computations of Archbishop Usher, S. David died 544, aged 82. The Bollandists agree with Usher on the date of his death, but they put his birth back as far as 446, so that according to their calculation he lived to the age of 98.

Numerous legends have gathered round the history of S. David. Thus an angel is said to have foretold his birth thirty years before to his father in a dream. "On the morrow, said the angelic voice, thou wilt slay a stag by a river side, and wild find three gifts there, to wit, the stag, a fish, and a honeycomb. Thou shalt give part of these to the son who shall be born thirty years hence. The honeycomb proclaims his honied wisdom, the fish, his life on bread and water, the stag his dominion over the old serpent." The mention of the stag doubtless arose from the old fancy that that animal kills serpents by trampling on them: thus did David trample the Pelagian heresy under foot. When S. Patrick settled in the vale of Rhos, a voice bade him depart, for it was reserved for the abode of a child who should be born thirty years after.

At his baptism, S. David splashed some water on to the blind eyes of the bishop who was baptizing him, and restored their power of sight. His schoolfellows at "Henmenen" saw a dove teaching him, and singing hymns with him. After studying with Paulinus, he journeyed to Glastonbury. He was intending to dedicate afresh the church which had been re-built, when the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and told him that He had already dedicated it: as a sign that He had spoken unto him He pierced the saint's hand with His fingers. So our saint contented himself with building a Lady Chapel at the east end. He is said to have founded twelve monasteries on this journey. He returned to Wales, and then established a monastery at Mynyw, which was soon filled with monks and disciples. They worked hard with their own hands in the fields; they harnessed themselves to the plough instead of using oxen for that purpose; they tended bees that they might have some honey to give to the sick and the poor. The bees became so attached to one monk, Modemnoc, that they followed him on board ship when he was about to set sail for Ireland. He returned to the monastery and made several attempts to embark unobserved by his winged friends; but all his efforts failed. So at last he asked S. David's leave to take them with him; the saint blessed the bees, and bade them depart in peace, and be fruitful and multiply in their new home. Thus Ireland, where bees had been hitherto unable to live, was enriched by their honey.

He opened many fountains in dry places, healed many brackish streams, raised many dead to life, and had many visions of God and of Angels. In one of these visions he was warned that he should depart, March 1st. Thenceforth he was more zealous in the discharge of his duty: on the Sunday before his death he preached a sermon to the assembled people, and after consecrating and receiving the Lord's Body, he was seized with a sudden pain: then turning to the people he said, "Brethren, persevere in the things which ye have heard of me: on the third day hence I go the way of my fathers." On that day, while the clergy were singing the Matin Office, he had a vision of his Lord; then, exulting in spirit, he exclaimed, "Raise me after Thee." With these words he breathed his last.

He was canonized by Pope Callixtus II., A.D. 1120; who is also said to have granted an indulgence to all those who made a pilgrimage to his shrine. Three kings of England – William the Conqueror, Henry II., and Edward I. – are said to have undertaken the journey, which when twice repeated was deemed equal to one pilgrimage to Rome; whence arose this saying: —

"Roma semel quantum, dat bis Menevia tantum."

A noble English matron, Elswida, in the reign of Edgar, transferred his relics, probably in 964, from S. David's to Glastonbury.

S. David's plain but empty shrine stands now in the choir of S. David's Cathedral to the north of Edward Tudor's altar tomb.

S. ALBINUS, B. OF ANGERS

(ABOUT A.D. 549.)

[S. Albinus seems to have enjoyed an amount of popularity as a saint which it is difficult to account for. Besides receiving great veneration at Angers, where his feast is a double, and in Brittany, where it is a semi-double, in Gnesen, in Poland, it was observed as a double. His name appears in most Martyrologies, as those of Usuardus, Hrabanus, Wandelbert, &c. Authority: – His life written by Fortunatus, a priest, his contemporary.]

S. Albinus, or S. Aubin, as he is called in France, belonged to an ancient family at Vannes, in Brittany. He embraced the religious life in the abbey of Cincillac, called afterwards Tintillant, near Angers. At the age of thirty-five, in the year 504, he was chosen abbot, and twenty-five years afterwards, bishop of Angers. In the 3rd Council of Orleans, in 538, he caused the thirtieth canon of the Epaone to be revived, which declared excommunication to those who contracted marriage within the first or second degree of consanguinity. His life is singularly devoid of incident which could mark it off from that of many another abbot and bishop, and it is therefore difficult to account for his undoubted popularity in France in ancient times.

S. SWIBERT, THE ELDER, B., AP. OF THE FRISIANS

(A.D. 713.)

[Ado, Usuardus, Molanus, Belgian, and Cologne Martyrologies, Gallican and Roman Martyrologies. Authorities: – Bede, lib. V. C. 12; and the life of S. Willibrod. There exists a forged life of S. Swibert, under the name of Marcellinus, which was composed in the 15th century, and which is undeserving of attention. S. Swibert is called the Elder to distinguish him from S. Swibert, B. of Verden, in Westphalia, in 807. (April 30); there was also another Swibert about 750, abbot in Cumberland, mentioned by Bede. Many writers have confounded together S. Swibert the Elder, and S. Swibert the Younger.]

S. Swibert was a Northumbrian monk who had been trained under S. Egbert, whom he accompanied to Ireland. Egbert desired greatly the conversion of Friesland, but was unable himself to attempt it, and his zeal communicated itself to his disciple Swibert, and when S. Willibrord sailed in 690 for that country, Swibert, at Egbert's desire, accompanied him. They landed at the mouth of the Rhine, at Katwyck, and Willibrord established his head quarters at Utrecht. Two years before, Pepin l'Herstall had conquered Radbod, king of Frisia, and had obliged him to ask peace, and abandon to the mayor of the palace his most important possessions, amongst others the whole basin between the Meuse and the Rhine, where stand now the town of Leyden, Delft, Gouda, Brill, and Dortrecht, as well as the city of Utrecht.

Finding it difficult to make headway against the superstitions of paganism, Willibrord appealed to the authority of Pepin, who sent Willibrord to Rome to receive mission and benediction for his work from the Holy See. On his return, success declared for the apostles, and four years after, Pepin sent Willibrord again to Rome with letters praying the pope to ordain him bishop to the nation he had converted. Pope Sergius consecrated him in 696, and Willibrord fixed his see at Utrecht, of which he was the first bishop. In the meantime, Swibert had been labouring in Hither Friesland, or the southern part of Holland, the northern part of Brabant, and the counties of Guelders and Cleves, with great success. In 697, Swibert was in England, probably in quest of fellow-helpers for the harvest, for the fields were white thereto, and he received episcopal consecration from the hands of S. Wilfred of York, then in banishment from his see. Swibert, invested with this sacred character, returned to his flock, and committing them to the care of S. Willibrord, penetrated further up the Rhine, and preached to the Boructarii, a people living below Cologne, with success. But the Saxons invading the country, swept away his work, and he retired into the islet of Kaiserwerth in the Rhine, which Pepin had given him, where he founded a monastery, which flourished for many ages, till it was converted into a collegiate church of secular canons.

His relics were found in 1626, at Kaiserwerth, in a silver shrine, and there are preserved and venerated.

S. MONAN, ARCHD. AND C

(A.D. 874.)

[Aberdeen Breviary.]

S. Adrian, bishop of S. Andrews, trained the holy man from his childhood, and appointed him to be his archdeacon. He afterwards sent him to preach the Gospel in the island of May, at the mouth of the Frith of Forth; he then went into Fife. The Church suffered severely from the incursions of the Northmen who ravaged the coasts, burning churches and monasteries, robbing them of their sacred vessels, and carrying off the unfortunate people captive. S. Monan is said by Butler to have been martyred by these invaders, but this is inaccurate. There is no evidence that he died any other than a peaceful death. He was buried at Inverny.

S. LEO, ABP. OF ROUEN, M

(ABOUT A.D. 900.)

[Gallican Martyrology; on this day at Bayonne. By Saussaye and Ferrarius on March 3rd. Authority: – Two lives of no great antiquity, one written shortly after 1293.]

Leo, Gervase, and Philip, were the three sons of pious parents in the North of France; Leo was elected to be archbishop of Rouen, but resigned his government of the diocese into the hands of vicars, and betook himself with his two brothers to Bayonne, where Christianity had made but small progress, much heathen superstition remained, and a colony of Moors had settled there. He was well received, and succeeded in making many converts, but was killed by some pirates who had lived in the town, but had been ejected by the citizens on account of their nefarious deeds. According to the legend, a spring of water bubbled up where S. Leo fell, and he arose and carried his head to the place where he had last been preaching.

He is represented in Art, at Bayonne, where he is greatly venerated, as a bishop, holding his head in his hands.

S. RUDESIND, B. C

(A.D. 977.)

[Spanish and Benedictine Martyrologies. Office with twelve lections in the Coimbra Breviary. His translation is observed on Sept. 1st. Authority: – A life by Brother Stephen of Cella-nuova, about 1180.]

The Blessed Rudesind was the son of a Count Gutierre da Mendenez, in Gallicia. His mother is said to have had a foretoken of the sanctity of the child that was about to be given her, whilst praying in the Church of S. Salvador on Mount Corduba. When the child was born, she desired to have him baptised in the church, but as there was no font there, one had to be brought up the hill in a cart. The cart broke down, says the popular legend, however, the font continued its journey without it. The child grew up to be a good man, and he was appointed to the bishopric of Dumium, a see which has ceased to exist. His kinsman, Sisnand, bishop of Compostella, was a scandal to the Church, "spending all his time in sports, excesses, and vanities, and paying no attention to his duties." Wherefore, at the request of the king, Sancho, and the nobles and people, Rudesind undertook the government of it, and Sancho put Sisnand in prison. During the absence of the king against the Moors, the Normans invaded Gallicia, whereupon the bishop called together an army, marched against them, and drove them back to their ships, and then turned his arms against the Moors, and routed them. On the death of Sancho, Sisnand escaped from prison, attacked Rudesind on Christmas night, whilst engaged with the canons in the sacred offices, and threatened him, sword in hand, unless he resigned the see. Rudesind at once laid aside his office, and retired into a monastery, where he assumed the habit, and after some years was chosen abbot.

March 2

SS. Martyrs, under the Emperor Alexander at Rome, circ. A.D. 219.

SS. Jovinus and Basileus, MM. at Rome, circ. A.D. 258.

SS. Ducius, B.M., Absalom, Largius, Herolus, Primitius, and Januarius, MM. at Cæsarea in Cappadocia.

SS. Paul, Heraclius, Secundola, Januaria, and Luciosa, MM. in the Port of Rome.

S. Simplicius, Pope of Rome, A.D. 483.

S. Joavan, P. at S. Paul de Leon, 6th. cent.

SS. Martyrs, under the Lombards, in Italy, circ. A.D. 579.

S. Ceadda, or Chad, B. of Lichfield, A.D. 672.