CONCERNING ST. DAVID, ARCHBISHOP OF MENEVIA IN WALES,
IN THE YEAR 544.
Preliminary Commentary.
St. David, Archbishop of Menevia in Wales.
Section I. The Archiepiscopal See of St. David: Various written Acts: Sacred Worship.
[1] Wales, an illustrious portion of Britain situated to the west, has for several centuries now been joined to England and subject with it to the same Kings; formerly under the Romans it was constituted as Britannia Secunda. But after the Anglo-Saxons occupied the rest of Hither Britain In Wales, formerly Britannia Secunda and imposed new names on the various kingdoms they established, to this region, to which very many fled so as not to dwell with the idolatrous Anglo-Saxons, almost solely the name of Britain was left, and various petty kings ruled it simultaneously. called either simply Britain, or Cambria. Afterward the name Cambria was either adopted or certainly, since many consider it ancient, renewed: which name the inhabitants still preserve. But since there had been a great interchange of all things between the Armoric peoples of Gaul and these Britons, and among the Gauls the Armoric region assumed the name of Britain, the other Britain, or Cambria, was conversely called Gualia and then Wallia from the name of Gaul: which appellation the English, and foreigners following them, chiefly assign to that region.
[2] In this Cambria, or Wales, in the fifth and sixth century, St. David flourished, of royal blood in that land: his father was Sanctus, or Xantus, King of the Ceretic nation, his grandfather Ceretus the King, St. David born of a father who was King of the Ceretic province: who is said to have given his name to the Ceretic province, according to Ussher in chapter 14 of his On the Origins of the British Churches, page 442. The Ceretic province in South Wales on the Irish Sea is now generally called the County of Cardigan, where, as Giraldus Cambrensis testifies in book 2 of his Itinerary through Wales, chapter 4, is Lhan-Dewy-Brevy, that is, the church of St. David at Brevy, or near Brevy: made Archbishop of Britain: at which place, by very many Bishops, Abbots, Kings, and other nobles assembled in a Synod in the year 519, St. David was constituted, as is said below in the Acts, number 16, Archbishop of the entire British nation, and his city was dedicated as the metropolis.
[3] At that time the Archiepiscopal See was in the city of Caerleon on the Isca, or Osca, river, which is also called Isca or the Second Legion; and St. Dubricius presided over that See and that of Llandaff, by whom, now quite old, St. David is said in the Acts below to have been brought to this Synod at Brevy. that dignity was translated from the city of Caerleon to Menevia: Dubricius was succeeded by St. Teilo as the second Bishop of Llandaff, at whose Life on February 9 we labored greatly to shed some light on the obscure affairs of this Britain, and in number 5 we said that some suspect that St. Dubricius, leaving Llandaff and Isca to St. Teilo, transferred the archiepiscopal throne to Menevia and handed it over to St. David. But it seems more probable that upon Dubricius's death in 522, or earlier when rendered unfit to bear the burden by old age, Teilo was appointed to govern the Church of Llandaff, and David that of Caerleon; but that David migrated to Menevia while retaining the title and office of Archbishop: or certainly that he was made Bishop of Menevia while Dubricius was still living, and upon the latter's death was considered Archbishop of Cambria, by the favor of King Arthur, whose uncle he is said to have been. We conjectured these things there, not daring to trust the Acts of St. David, according to which he was constituted Archbishop at the Synod of Brevy, to which honor Dubricius had previously yielded to him by designation, as Giraldus adds, according to Ussher, page 474, in his Life of the same St. David: which the same Giraldus in book 2 of the Itinerary through Wales, chapter 4, explains the events of this Synod thus: Where, by the unanimous both election and acclamation of the entire assembly, although unwilling and resistant, David was raised to the rank of Archbishop, especially since the blessed Dubricius also, in the aforesaid court of the City of the Legions, had shortly before yielded to him that honor by both his designation and his pronouncement, the Metropolitan See being henceforth translated from the City of the Legions to Menevia. Ranulph of Chester in book 1 of the manuscript Polychronicon, chapter 52, agrees with Giraldus Cambrensis: From the City of the Legions, he says, to Menevia, which is situated to the west of Demetia above the Irish Sea, the Metropolitan See was translated in the time of St. David under King Arthur. Concerning the location and antiquity of the cities of Caerleon and Llandaff, enough was treated on February 9 in connection with the aforesaid Life of St. Teilo.
[4] Demetia, or the Demetic region, is the seat of the ancient Demetae, or Dimetae, whom Ptolemy places in the same part of Britain, and it contains the provinces of Pembroke, Carmarthen, and Ceredigion: the latter, however, the Acts of St. David, number 2, exclude from it, the city and neighboring territory received their name from St. David. since they say his father traveled from Ceredigion into Demetia. The said archiepiscopal city of St. David, Menevia, is situated on the spacious promontory of the County of Pembroke, which with a broad front extends far into the Virginian Ocean: Ptolemy calls it the Octapitarum promontory (ὀκταπίταρον ἄκρον); the British inhabitants call it Pebidiog and Cantred-Dewi; the English call it St. David's-land, that is, the domain of St. David; and the British call the city of Menevia itself Ty-Dewi, that is, the house of Dewi, or David; and the English call it St. David's.
[5] Several Acts of St. David exist, none composed by contemporary writers: much in them is scraped together from the report of the common people, who invent frivolous additions, and has been corruptly interpolated by others, [the Acts of somewhat suspect reliability, the more ancient from a Utrecht manuscript:] and therefore we have judged them not sufficiently trustworthy elsewhere. Of these we believe the most ancient are those which, once brought from Britain to Belgium, we found in the manuscript codex of the Church of the Holy Savior at Utrecht, and which we give here, because other more accurately written ones are not available, and these are still unedited and not cited by Ussher, Colgan, or others. The second Acts may be seen as those which Colgan published from the parchments of the Bishop of Ossory in the Acts of the Saints of Ireland under these Kalends of March, formerly communicated to us by Hugh Ward. then those published by Colgan, These are taken from the former, polished here and there with a neater style, and here and there augmented with erroneous glosses. What is inserted concerning the Rule prescribed by St. David to his monasteries we give separately; we observe some things in the Notes; the rest the curious reader will find published in Colgan. The authors of these Acts are unknown, and therefore Ussher in his Chronological Index under the year 529 calls him the anonymous writer of the Life of David when he cites some things from these second Acts. then those written by Ricemarchus, Ussher, page 443, also cites others narrating the Life of St. David: Ricemarchus, Giraldus Cambrensis, and John of Tynemouth; and on page 843 he calls Ricemarchus the son of Sulgenus, and narrates in his words how St. Patrick, thirty years before David was born, wished to choose the Valley of Roses, or Menevia, as his seat, and from that port, at divine admonition, crossed over to Ireland. Giraldus is added next, by Giraldus, who in his description of the Life of the same David explains the same things more fully after Ricemarchus: where it is indicated that Ricemarchus flourished before Giraldus, who in the year 1200 was Bishop of Menevia. Both authors in the same place assert that he miraculously viewed the whole island of Ireland shown to him: which Ussher declares to be fictitious, and it is better absent from the earlier Acts, as are many other things which are read from Giraldus in Ussher, some of which we indicate in the Notes. and by John of Tynemouth: But the words attributed to John of Tynemouth in Ussher are all found in the Life of St. David in John Capgrave's Nova Legenda Angliae, printed at London in the year 1516; among which, concerning the said prospect of all Ireland shown to St. Patrick, John of Tynemouth depicts the place in Ussher, page 845, thus: There was a rather large valley, in which there is a stone, these published by Capgrave. upon which he stood before the door of a certain ancient chapel, which I saw with my own eyes and touched with my hands. The same things are read in Capgrave. Capgrave, an Augustinian Hermit, flourished around the year 1480, while John of Tynemouth, first a Priest of a church in the diocese of Durham, then a Benedictine monk at St. Albans, lived around the year 1360. John Pits, in his work On the Illustrious Writers of England, writes that Tynemouth compiled in a huge volume the Lives, deeds, and miracles of the Saints of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland; and he also asserts that the Life of St. David composed by Giraldus survives in manuscript at Cambridge in the public Library.
[6] That St. Kentigern, Bishop of Glasgow, elegantly and learnedly composed a speech on the death of St. David, and left various other monuments of his erudition, Bale and Pits report and enumerate. Did St. Kentigern write a speech on the death of St. David? We gave his Life on January 13, in which, in chapter 5, the following is read: Sons of Belial from the kindred of King Morken rose up against the Saint, conspiring to kill him. Warned therefore by divine revelation, he undertakes a journey toward Menevia, where St. David flourished in virtues. Near Carlisle he converted many to the faith, and built a church, and tarrying for a while with St. David, he received from the King of that land, Cathwallam, a place to build a monastery. Ussher assigns the journey of St. Kentigern to St. David to the year 543, which was the last before the latter's death, so that Kentigern could both have written the cited speech on his death, and others could have excerpted various things from his narrative. But since nothing of St. Kentigern's writings survives, let the credibility rest with Pits, and with Leland, whom both he and Bale profess to follow.
[7] Nicholas Harpsfield in his Ecclesiastical History of England, in the first six centuries, chapter 26, treats of St. David, Bishop of Menevia, and asserts that God commended the sanctity of this man to the world by certain astounding and admirable events, Miracles are related from Harpsfield and Capgrave. which others pursue in detail. He touches on the resurgent Pelagian heresy extinguished by him and the salutary laws prescribed to monasteries: and then presents miracles and benefactions wrought after his sacred Dormition, which we do not read in the authors cited above: which we give from him, along with two other miracles related in Capgrave.
[8] The Britons, inhabitants of Cambria or Wales, celebrate the feast of St. David on the Kalends of March with distinguished worship: among whom the Church of Menevia, which was originally dedicated to St. Andrew, The birthday of St. David is celebrated on March 1 among the Welsh, glories chiefly in the name of St. David, as also the city itself with its subject territory is so called. We have indicated that the Church of St. David at Brevy in the Ceretic province is also an ancient monument of his veneration. Edward Maihew in the Benedictine Trophies of the English Congregation, under the day
of March 1 asserts the English, that among the Provincial Constitutions of England there exists a provincial decree concerning the feast of St. David, to be celebrated on the first day of March in the Province of Canterbury, with direction of the choir and nine lessons.
Those Lessons are found in an ancient Breviary of the Church of Salisbury printed in the year 1499, and are mostly taken from chapter 1 of the Life, to which at the end a concluding clause about his death is added. From which it seems to be gathered that the remaining part of the Life was distributed into Lessons which were recited throughout the Octave. The account of the same Saint is recorded in the English Martyrology. That St. David was also held in veneration by the Scots and Irish their calendars testify. the Scots, In the ancient Breviary of Aberdeen, the Lessons of the already cited Church of Salisbury are found for recitation at Matins; and his name was inscribed for this day in the Scottish Menology by Dempster and Camerarius. Colgan judged he should be counted among the Saints of Ireland, because he believes him born of an Irish mother, and because David cultivated many Irish saints with singular friendship: the Irish, and finally because his name is read inscribed in the Irish Martyrologies of Tallaght, Donegal, Maguire, Oengus, and Marianus; and his Acts are found among the Lives of the Saints of Ireland in the Island and Kilkenny codices.
[9] The worship of the same Saint was propagated throughout the rest of the Church, especially after Pope Callistus II, other Europeans, with the approval of Pope Callistus II, who reigned from 1119 to 1124, either enrolled him in the Catalogue of Saints (as is read in the English Martyrology and in Godwin on the English Bishops, page 601) or confirmed the ancient worship with new privileges. Hence he was inscribed in the Martyrologies printed at Cologne and Lübeck in 1490, in the manuscript Florarium of the Saints, in the Appendices to Usuard by Hermann Greven and Molanus, in the General Catalogue of Ferrari, in the German Martyrology of Canisius, and others. The words of Greven are these: On the same day, of the Blessed David, Archbishop and Confessor of Menevia. St. Patrick, Patron of Ireland, foresaw this man's birth thirty years beforehand, by the Lord's revelation: and when after his birth he was to be baptized, a spring of water suddenly burst forth. When he was once about to copy the Gospel of St. John, and the bell having been rung for the Work of God, he had hastily gone out with his work incomplete; on returning he found it finished in golden letters by the ministry of an Angel. He died at last full of days in the one hundred and forty-sixth year of his life. So much for that. Concerning his years of life we shall speak presently. About his work completed in golden letters by Angels, the Acts which we have so far seen are silent. The day sacred to the Translation of his relics is indicated as August 16 and September 26 in the manuscript Notes of the Charterhouse of Brussels on the said Greven. Translation on August 16 and September 26. On the first day these are found: The Translation of the blessed David, Archbishop, in Wales. On the other day this is read: The Translation of the most holy David, Archbishop, in Menevia. Which are to be understood of one and the same Saint.
Section II. The Age of St. David.
[10] In this perplexing and much entangled matter, this account appears to us more probable. First, that St. Patrick, thirty years before St. David was born, had been in Britain and had wished to establish a seat for himself in the Valley of Roses as a place of retirement; but was ordered by divine oracle to reserve his hopes for the conversion of Ireland — we said above, and it is related in all the Acts and Lessons already cited. That this happened in the year 432, when he was ordained Bishop and, supported by the authority of an Apostolic mission, entered with a retinue of several clerics into the harvest so often promised to him, is as incredible as anything could be. What then? We shall demonstrate in his Acts that it is most probable that eighteen years earlier the same expedition had been attempted by St. Patrick, not yet a Bishop but only a Priest, alone, and without any other mission than that he had long since been taught by many visions that he was destined by God for Ireland. When this did not succeed for him, nothing could more easily have happened than that, somewhat downcast in spirit, he began to aspire to the consolations of the solitude he had tasted in Etruria and the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea; and having found a place where we said, which pleased him, he would have remained there, had he not been forbidden by angelic command. [In the year 414, St. David's future birth after thirty years is indicated to St. Patrick:] And so, perceiving that the Irish harvest was not yet ripe for his labors, and not being permitted to remain there, he returned to Gaul and betook himself to Auxerre; and there he attached himself first to St. Amator, then to St. Germanus, until by the latter's counsel and aid he obtained from Pope Celestine what he had so long desired with such great prayers. Counting therefore thirty years from the year 414, one arrives at the year 445: in which year we gather that he went to Rome, both from the number of twelve years during which he says he used in Ireland, while sacrificing, that hide which he gave as a gift to clerics encountered on the road to Rome; and from the fact that he is said to have gone to Rome a third time after completing his studies, the last of which journeys it is fitting to place in the year 459, he is born in 445. when, having appointed St. Secundinus as vicar of the church of Armagh which he had established and of the metropolis, he betook himself thither, now eighty-two years old; between which and the first journey of the year 431, this middle journey of which we speak is conveniently placed — when (as Jocelin narrates in his Life, number 214) the Saint, tarrying for a while in Britain, his own homeland, on his return, founded many monasteries and repaired those destroyed by the Pagans: he filled them with sacred communities of monks according to the form of religion which he prescribed for them. He also foretold many adversities and prosperities that were to come upon Britain, with a prophetic spirit and mouth. He also foresaw and foretold the sanctity of the blessed David, then made a Priest, still enclosed in his mother's womb. From this some conclude that a monastery in the Valley of Roses, or Menevia, was first founded by St. Patrick, then restored and enlarged by St. David; which Ussher observes in the Chronological Index was done around the year 490 by the latter, who had been excellently trained in letters and previously ordained a Priest; he builds the monastery of Menevia around the year 490: and Ussher adds that at the same time St. Finian, leaving his homeland of Ireland, went to Britain, spent thirty years there, built three churches, and found St. David and two other holy men present with him. St. Finian is venerated on December 12. There exists some Life of his in Colgan under February 23, in which some things about their meeting are read. However, since that Life, published by Colgan from our manuscript codex, needs some correction, we have judged that nothing should be inserted here. Furthermore, since in the said year 490 St. Benedict would have been only a boy of about ten years old, monasteries founded at that time did not observe his Rule, and St. David is wrongly ascribed to the Benedictines by Edward Maihew, Bucelin, and others.
[11] They say that the Empire of King Arthur then prevailed in the fifth century, under whom St. David, his uncle as they assert, was constituted Metropolitan of Britain, [around the year 516 he is consecrated Archbishop at Jerusalem: in 519 he attends the Synod at Brevy:] having first been consecrated Archbishop at Jerusalem by the Patriarch John III around the year 516 or the years immediately following, that is, before he was promoted to the supreme pinnacle of ecclesiastical dignity at the Synod of Brevy (which Spelman, Ussher, and others say was held in the year 519). St. Dubricius, Archbishop of Caerleon and Llandaff, had attended this Synod; and upon his death on November 14 of the year 522, his Archbishopric of Caerleon is said to have been conferred on St. David, and the Bishopric of Llandaff on St. Teilo. However these things may have happened, at least we judged above that it was more truly from the death of St. Dubricius that St. David was regarded as Archbishop.
[12] Among the illustrious works afterward accomplished by him, there excels a certain one performed for the Church of Glastonbury in the county of Somerset, which is narrated from the manuscript history of the Church of Glastonbury, preserved in the Cottonian Library, thus in the Monasticon Anglicanum, page 1: [In the year 529, instructed by an appearing Christ that the Church of Glastonbury was dedicated by Him:] Afterward St. David, Archbishop of Menevia, came, intending to dedicate the aforesaid Church, still repaired in its former form: to whom the Lord appeared in a dream and recalled him from his intention, and as a sign that the Lord Himself had previously dedicated that Church together with its cemetery, He pierced the Bishop's hand through the finger: and thus pierced it appeared to many on the morrow. Presently the same Bishop, admonished by divine revelation, added another smaller chapel in the form of a chancel on the eastern side to this church, he erects a chapel: and consecrated it in honor of the Virgin Mary: in memory of which he brought his most precious altar to this place. And so that it might always be known where those chapels were joined, a certain pyramid on the northern side externally, and a certain step internally, and on the south side linearly cut them off. The same things from a bronze tablet affixed to a column of the Church of Glastonbury are read in Ussher, pages 113 and following, where the last part is thus expressed: Whose altar he distinguished with a priceless sapphire in perpetual memory of this event. And lest the place or the dimensions of the earlier church be consigned to oblivion through such additions, this column is erected, in a line drawn from the two eastern angles of the same church toward the south, and cutting off the aforesaid chancel from it. And the length from that line toward the west was ninety feet, the width twenty-six feet, the distance from the center of this column to the midpoint between the aforesaid angles forty-eight feet. Ussher adds that the church added by St. David was called Little St. Mary's, and in his Chronological Index he assigns those events to the year 529. On February 6 is venerated St. Ina, King of the West Saxons, who with royal munificence endowed the monastery of Glastonbury and furnished it with various privileges, as we reported more fully on that day: where in the Privilege related in section 3, which Spelman judges to have been given in the year 725, the following is read: Wherefore I, Ina, supported by the royal dignity from the Lord ... to the ancient Church which is in the place called Glasteie (which the great Priest and Pontiff Christ, by the service of Angels, made known to the Blessed David that He had once sanctified for Himself and for the Perpetual Virgin Mary with many and unheard-of miracles), from those things which I possess by paternal inheritance and hold in private domain, I grant contiguous and suitable places for the support of the regular life and for the use of the monks, etc. The same things are read in the Monasticon Anglicanum, page 13.
[13] In the same year 529, the Synod assembled by St. David is thus described by Giraldus in his Life, according to Ussher: In the course of time another Synod was assembled, He assembles a Synod: which was called the Synod of Victory: in which, the entire clergy of Cambria having been convoked again, those things which had been confirmed in the former Synod, with certain additions concerning the advantages of the Church, were renewed by a firm examination of rigor. From these two Synods, therefore, all the Churches of all Cambria received their manner and rule (with the Church of Rome also lending and confirming its authority): by the decree of which Synods, what Bishop David had promulgated by word of mouth, he also committed to writing with his own holy hand,
and entrusted them to his own Church and many others throughout Cambria to be preserved. Which writings indeed, like very many other distinguished treasures of a noble library, have vanished through age, neglect, and also the raids of pirates (who, carried from the Orkney Islands in summertime in longships, were accustomed to ravage the maritime provinces of Cambria). In the aforesaid times, therefore, the Church of God flourished distinguished within the borders of Cambria, and grew day by day with many fruits: monasteries were built in many places throughout the land, and many congregations of the faithful in various orders were gathered with holy devotion to the service of Christ. To all of them Father David, as if placed on the most eminent watchtower, was a mirror and example of life: he instructed his subjects by word, and he instructed them also by example, a most effective preacher by mouth, but greater still by deed. For he was learning to those who heard, a model to the religious, life to the destitute, protection to orphans, support to widows, a father to wards, a rule to monks, a way to the secular, made all things to all, that he might gain all for God. So says Giraldus. The Acts published by Colgan mention the said Synod.
[14] Meanwhile, ancient records of the Church of Glastonbury in the Monasticon Anglicanum, page 7, and in Ussher, pages 116 and 521, indicate that King Arthur died from a wound received in battle among the people of Glastonbury in the year of Christ 542, around Pentecost, After the death of King Arthur, who died in the year 542, and the following agree in British history: Thomas Rudborne from Walter of Oxford and Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Annals of Winchester monastery, Matthew of Westminster, Alan of Lille, and among the writers of Scottish affairs, John of Fordun, John Major, and Hector Boece, whom Ussher cites and follows on page 521. The words of Geoffrey of Monmouth, book 11, chapter 2, are these: But that renowned King Arthur also was mortally wounded, and from there was carried to the island of Avallon (where the monastery of Glastonbury is) to heal his wounds, and granted the crown of Britain to his kinsman Constantine, son of Cador, Duke of Cornwall, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 542. And in chapter 3, after relating Constantine's wars against the Saxons, he adds: St. David dies in the year 544, Then died the most holy David, Archbishop of the City of the Legions, in the city of Menevia, within his own abbey, which he had loved above the other monasteries of his diocese, because the Blessed Patrick, who had prophesied his birth, had founded it. For while he was tarrying there among his fellow brothers, he was suddenly taken ill with a grievous sickness and died, and at the command of Malgo, King of the Venedotians, he was buried in that same church. Then in chapter 4, after narrating other wars of the same Constantine, he adds that Constantine was killed by Conan in the third year of his reign. From this it is clear that St. David departed this life between the years 542 and 545; on March 1, a Tuesday, and it is rightly deduced below from the Life, number 17, that he died in the intermediate year 544, in which, with Solar Cycle 21 and Dominical Letters CB, the Kalends of March fell on a Tuesday: which are observed there as the characteristics of his death.
[15] After David's death, we said on February 9 in the Life of St. Teilo, section 2, number 13, that Ismael, a disciple of Dubricius, was consecrated Bishop of Menevia in his place by St. Teilo, [His successor in the See of Menevia, Ismael, consecrated by St. Teilo, who died before the year 560.] from a Fragment of the latter's Life written in 1120 by Geoffrey, brother of Urban, Bishop of Llandaff. But in section 1, number 10, we gave the words of the ancient Fragment published by Spelman, in which under the year of Christ 560 it is said that the altar of Saints Dubricius and Teilo existed, so that the latter must necessarily have departed this life some years before, and deserved heavenly honors as one illustrious in miracles. Which necessarily requires that St. David died earlier, and therefore either in the year 550, in which the first of March also fell on a Tuesday, or certainly in the year 544 already assigned in the time of King Constantine. Against these statements one may oppose Geoffrey, who in book 11, chapter 3, asserts that Kinoc (in others Kinocum or Cenaucus), Bishop of the Church of Lampeter in the Ceretic province, was placed in the Metropolitan See in place of St. David upon his death, and was promoted to a higher dignity. But he should be said to have succeeded in the See of Caerleon, which Ussher also indicates on page 528. After Kinoc's death, that St. Teilo was substituted in the See of Caerleon and ordained Ismael as Bishop of Menevia, we indicated that others say in the Life of St. Teilo, section 1, number 9 — which confirms the year of St. David's death assigned by us.
[16] From this we can finally calculate the age of St. David, if we establish that he was brought into the world toward the end of the forty-sixth year of the fifth century. St. David dies at the age of 97. For the business to be handled by St. Patrick at Rome and the deeds accomplished in Britain on his return require that almost that entire year had elapsed; nor is it necessary that St. David be said to have been conceived immediately after the thirty-year span had passed, since a difference of some months, or even of almost a whole year, can be counted as nothing in that indefinite manner of speaking "after thirty years." Let us say, I repeat, that St. David was born at the end of the forty-sixth year of that century, and died at the beginning of the forty-fourth year of the following century: he would have extended his life for a full ninety-seven years. Those who wish it to have been one hundred and forty-seven years could easily have been deceived by the perverted reading of a single numeral letter, following what, by a copyist's error, had evidently crept into the Acts as a manifest blunder (σφάλμα), when it is said that he completed his old age in one hundred and forty-seven years. Those who maintain so long a life, however, found in Colgan, annotation 31, a most vigorous defender, asserting that the Saints of Britain and Ireland extended their life beyond the common span of other nations, and he confirms this with various but equally disputed examples, and among other things with the one hundred and eighty-five years of St. Kentigern, which we rejected as something of a paradox in the Life on January 13, number 7, in the Preliminary Commentary. Meanwhile, our authority is wrongly invoked by Colgan on March 5, annotation 42, to the Life of St. Kieran, on whom three hundred years of life are thrust, as if we had confirmed that age in the Acts published from Capgrave. The occasion for this error seems to have been seized from the intrusive visit of St. Barry, or Finbar, to St. David, and the monastic habit assumed by Constantine, King of Cornwall; but we observe below in the Acts that these things happened after the death of St. David. The other testimonies of a longer life adduced by Colgan are mostly Irish and more obscure: in refuting which we would undertake an immense and nearly useless labor and bring tedium to readers. That Bucelin in his Benedictine Menology writes he died around the year 650 — an error of 106 years — we ascribe not to so learned a man but to the printers, since with the digits transposed the year would be 560. Edward Maihew more correctly asserts that he flourished around the year of the Lord 490.
[17] In the Life of St. Patrick in Capgrave the following is read: A certain matron, named Elswida, in the time of King Edgar, acquired the relics of St. David through a certain kinsman of hers who was Bishop of Menevia: when that entire land was so devastated Relics brought to Glastonbury. that scarcely any inhabitant of that place could be found. This Translation of the body of St. David by the aforesaid matron was made to Glastonbury in the four hundred and twenty-first year after his death. That year would be, by our reckoning, 964, and the sixth of the said King Edgar. In the Monasticon Anglicanum, in the Glastonbury Abbey section, page 4, the following is read: There also rests St. David, Archbishop of Menevia, whose relics a certain noble matron, in the time of King Edgar, brought thither, along with certain other relics.
LIFE
from the Utrecht manuscript.
St. David, Archbishop of Menevia in Wales.
BHL Number: 2108
From manuscripts.
CHAPTER I.
The Revelation concerning St. David's future birth. His birth, upbringing, and Priesthood.
[1] The Saint, whom the washing of baptism calls David, but the common people call Dewi, was made known by the truthful oracles of Angels, first to his father, and then to St. Patrick, thirty years before he was born. For at a certain time his father, named Sanctus,(b) King of the Ceretic nation,(c) was admonished by an angelic voice in his sleep. He heard: Tomorrow, when you go hunting, St. David was made known to his father by revelation, having slain a stag near a river, you will find there three gifts, namely the stag which you pursue, a fish, and a honeycomb. Of these three therefore you shall reserve: the honeycomb, a part of the fish, and of the stag, which you shall send to be preserved for a son to be born of you, to the monastery of Nautanum,(d) which to this day is called the Monastery of the Deposit. These gifts indeed foretell the life of this one: for the honeycomb of honey proclaims his wisdom; the fish signifies his aquatic life, which he will lead on bread and water alone; and the stag signifies his dominion over the ancient serpent. The holy Patrick(e) also, a Bishop, entering the Demetic lands(f) and exploring everywhere, at last came to the place which is called the Valley of Roses.(g) and to St. Patrick, thirty years before his birth: And recognizing the place as pleasing, he vowed to serve God faithfully there: but an Angel of the Lord appearing to him said: This place,(h) he said, God has not appointed for you, but for a son who has not yet been born; nor will he be born until thirty years have passed.
[2] After thirty years had therefore passed, Sanctus, King of the Ceretic nation, set out for Demetia: and while exploring there, a certain maiden met him, named Nonna,(i) exceedingly beautiful and a comely virgin. The King, lusting after her, overpowered her; and she knew no man afterward, conceived by a mother who was overpowered: for conceiving at that very hour, and thereafter leading a most faithful life, she lived on bread and water alone. In the place where she was overpowered and conceived, there lies open a small field, pleasant to the sight, full of the gift of heavenly dew: in which at the time of conception two great stones appeared, one at the head and one at the feet, which had not been seen before. For the earth, rejoicing at the conception, opened its bosom, both to preserve the maiden's modesty and to foretell the solidity of the offspring. As her womb grew, the mother entered a certain church to offer alms for her delivery: in which a certain Doctor(k) was preaching the word to the people. But when the maiden entered, the Presbyter suddenly becoming mute, fell silent. she impedes a Presbyter who was preaching: Asked by the people why he had fallen silent, he answered: I can speak in ordinary conversation, but I cannot preach: but go outside, and let me remain alone, to see if even so I may be able to preach. When the crowd went outside, the maiden, hiding herself humbly in a corner, remained concealed. Then the Doctor, attempting a second time to preach with all his might, could not: whereupon, terrified, he cried out in a loud voice: I adjure, he said, that if anyone lies hidden from me here, let him reveal himself and make himself known. Then she, answering, said: I am hiding here. And he said: Go outside, and let the people enter the church. When this was done, his tongue was loosed and he preached. When the maiden was questioned, and confessed herself to be pregnant, it was clear to all that she was about to bring forth to the world a son who would surpass all the Doctors of Britain in the eloquence of the divine word.
[3] Meanwhile there was a certain Tyrant from the vicinity, who heard from the prediction of magicians that a son was to be born within his borders at his birth he is divinely protected against the plots of a tyrant: whose power would occupy the whole country. Having noted by the oracles of the magicians the place where he would be born, already envying him, he decided to occupy the place alone for so many days, so that whoever he found resting there even briefly, he would slay with the sword. But when the time of delivery drew near, the mother was seeking that very place, which the Tyrant was watching by the magicians' prediction. On that very day so great a storm of the air prevailed that no one dared even to go outside. But the place where the mother groaning in labor lay shone with a great serenity of light. Under the pressure of pain she leaned with her hands on a rock that was nearby: which displayed to those looking at the rock an imprint as if stamped in wax; and the rock, split in two, shared in the suffering of the mother. Then, baptized by Elisus,(m) Bishop of the people of Menevia, he is baptized, a blind man is illuminated, and a spring bursts forth: he bestowed new eyes on the blind man who held him under the water, sprinkling his eyes with water, and opened to him a day unknown. In that very place, for the service of baptism, a spring of most limpid water suddenly burst forth.
[4] The boy was raised in the place called Old Bush,(n) and there, educated in letters, he learned the ecclesiastical service. His fellow students, moreover, saw a dove teaching him and singing hymns with him. divinely taught, he becomes a Priest, And as time went on, with the merits of his virtues increasing, preserving his virginal flesh, he was ordained a Priest. Setting forth from there, he went to Paulinus,(o) a disciple of St. Germanus, a teacher who was leading a life pleasing to God on an island named Dilamgerbendi.(p) It happened, however, that Paulinus at the same time that St. Dewi was staying with him was deprived of his sight. for ten years he did not look upon his Master's face, And it came to pass that when the disciples were gathered together, at the Master's request, each one, touching the Master's eyes with the sign of the Cross, blessed them, so that he might be healed by their prayer and blessing. When they had done this in order, it was asked he illuminates the blind man by his touch. that St. Dewi should touch the Master's eyes. But he, answering, said: Until now I have not looked upon the Master's face. For he was so suffused with modesty that for ten years, during which he had lived with the Teacher, he had not looked upon his face. To whom the Master said: Only raise your hand, touching my eyes but not seeing them, and I shall be healed. And so it was done.
Notes:
(a) Around the year 414.
(b) In the Life published by Colgan it is added: "and holy in deed," which is better absent. In Capgrave the name is not indicated; by others he is called Xantus.
(c) Ceredigion is now considered the County of Cardigan, and is separated from the territory of Pembroke by the river Teifi. Ceredigion.
(d) Capgrave has Mancanni. Colgan has Manchani. St. Endeus was a disciple of Manchenus, St. Endeus. Master of the monastery of Rosnatum in Britain, as will be said in his Life on March 21. Whether Rosnatum is the same as the monastery noted here is doubtful, especially since this one was called by posterity the Monastery of the Deposit, from the gifts deposited there.
(e) Around the year 414, as said above.
(f) St. Gildas and others after him mention Demetia: here it is taken chiefly for the County of Pembroke.
(g) The Valley of Menevia according to others, near the city of St. David's.
(h) Meanwhile Geoffrey of Monmouth, book 11, chapter 3, says St. David loved this Abbey above all others, because the Blessed Patrick founded it. Much is added in Capgrave about Ireland being shown to St. Patrick, concerning which see his Life on March 17.
(i) In Colgan, Nemata; in Capgrave, Nonnita in this Life; the mother of St. David. in the Life of St. Keina she is called Melari's sister, the second-born daughter of Braghan, King of the people of Brecknock, where nothing is said about this violation.
(k) Colgan has: a certain holy man, with no name added. Capgrave: St. Gildas. Gildas, becoming mute as if his throat were closed, fell silent — see this miracle above in the Life of St. Gildas the Confessor. So it says there. But we rejected that Life as written by an unskilled person in connection with the Life of the same Gildas on January 29, section 4, number 39; we said in section 1, number 3, that he was born in the year of Christ 493, that is, 47 years after the birth of St. David. Nor did we say that more than one St. Gildas should be admitted, in the same place, section 2, and on February 1 in the Life of St. Brigid, section 12. The same things are attributed to St. Ailbe the Bishop, but when he wished to offer sacrifice, in the manuscript Life to be given on September 12.
(l) In Capgrave it is added: for in that place a church is built, in the foundation of whose altar this rock lies covered. Everything about this rock is absent from the Life published by Colgan.
(m) In Colgan: By St. Ailbe, Bishop of the people of Munster. But Giraldus writes that he was baptized in the place called Portcleis by Relueus, Bishop of Menevia, who had come there by divine providence. Who baptized him? Ussher adds, page 444, that Portcleis is a place near Menevia and still retains the name. The same Ussher suspects he was baptized by the already mentioned St. Ailbe, Bishop of the people of Munster, since in his Life it is read: Afterward that son was born, and his father gave him to St. Ailbe to raise him for God. He is the holy Bishop David, whose relics rest in his city of Ceall-muni, which is in Britain.
(n) Giraldus in Ussher, page 444, adds the following: The boy was raised in the place called Old Bush, which in Welsh is Henmenen, Old Menevia. and in Latin is called Old Menevia. The place received this name from the Irish word Muni, which means Bush, whence also in Irish the Church of Menevia is still today called Kilmuni.
(o) Capgrave printed Paulentus and Poulentus.
(p) In Colgan: On the island of Witland. Giraldus says he went to the Isle of Wight. Colgan and Ussher agree. Camden in his Britannia writes that the Isle of Wight is called Wuidland by the Anglo-Saxons. But it was then under the pagan Anglo-Saxons, the island of Witland. who Bede writes in book 1 of the History of the English Nation, chapter 15, had occupied it at the beginning of their arrival in Britain. In the County of Carmarthen, commonly Caer Marden, which is ascribed to the region of Demetia, there is a place called Whiteland, in Latin Albalandia, in which later a distinguished monastery of the Cistercian Order was built, concerning which a charter of King John of England exists in the Monasticon Anglicanum, page 884 and following. Contiguous to this province is Morgannwg, or Glamorgan, in which St. Illtud opened a school, to whom, as is read in his Life on November 6, very many scholars flocked, among whom these four — Samson, Paulinus, Gildas, and Dewi — studied wisely instructed. In the Life of St. Gildas on January 9, number 3, his fellow students are recorded as Samson of Dol and Paul of Léon, both Bishops in Armorican Britain, with no mention made of St. David. St. Samson is venerated on July 28, St. Paul or Paulinus on March 12: on which day we shall show that they were not fellow students of St. David, whom we suspect is here wrongly taken for Daniel.
CHAPTER II.
Monasteries built by St. David. Evildoers punished.
[5] Not much time later, an Angel appearing to Paulinus said: It is time that Dewi should not bury the talent of wisdom committed to him by hiding it in the earth, but multiply it by distributing it. From then on the said Dewi, taking up the office of preaching, converted many from the vanity of the world by his exhortation. He builds twelve monasteries: For he founded twelve monasteries. First, arriving at Glastonbury,(a) he built a church; then Bath;(b) and there, making the deadly water wholesome by his blessing, he endowed it with perpetual warmth suitable for bathing bodies. Afterward(c) Caul and Reptum, Colva and Glastum, then Seumnistre, then Racla, and next Langhemalach, in which he later received an altar sent to him. He also healed King Ertig himself by restoring the sight of his eyes. He illuminates a blind king: These having been founded in his usual manner, and the rule of the monastic habit having been ordained, he returned to the place from which he had previously departed as an exile. But Duisdianus, a Bishop who was his cousin, was living there. While they were consoling each other with divine conversations, the holy Dewi said: My companion Angel has spoken to me and said: From the place where you propose to serve, scarcely one out of a hundred will attain the rewards. But there is another place nearby, in whose cemetery whoever shall be buried with the faith preserved, scarcely one of them will suffer the punishments of hell.
[6] On a certain day, three of his most faithful disciples, made more famous by widely dispersed smoke: with a great crowd of disciples accompanying them, came to him: and together they went to the place which the Angel had foretold. And having kindled a fire in the name of the Lord, the smoke, raised up on high, encircled and filled, as it appeared, the whole island as well as Ireland. But a certain man from the vicinity of the place, named Baia, seeing such a sign, was moved with such anger that throughout the whole day he was sad and did not remember to eat. To his wife, who asked the cause of his sadness, he answered: I grieve, he said, to have seen smoke rising from the Valley of Roses, which encircled the whole country. For I hold it certain that the one who kindled it will surpass all in power and glory. For this smoke, as by a kind of harbinger, foretells his fame. To whom his wife said: Rise, take a band of servants, and, pursuing with drawn swords those who dared such a deed, slay them all. This done, having committed a great crime, evildoers punished, while walking along the road they were seized by a great fever, and, their strength sapped, yet feeble, they attacked with the most foul blasphemies of insults. Then, returning home, they met his wife. Our cattle, she said, have perished by sudden death. Therefore returning together to the servant of God, they seek mercy with tears and prayers. but confessing their fault, The land on which you stand, they said, shall be yours forever. But the servant of God, responding with a kind spirit, said: Your cattle shall come back to life. And it was found as he promised. he raises the dead cattle: On the following day, however, his wife, inflamed with envy, summoned her maidservants: Go, she said, and with bodies bared before the monastery, performing lewd games(e) of Penance, use immodest words. The maidservants obey, perform shameless games, simulate intercourse, display enticing bonds of love, [against immodest temptations, he encourages his men: he conquers when the evildoers are killed:] drag the minds of some monks toward lust, and trouble others. The monks attempt to desert the place. But the holy Father strengthened their minds to patience and endurance with holy exhortation. On the next day, the same wife, having first killed her innocent stepdaughter (at the site of whose martyrdom a spring, a restorer of health, gushed forth), went mad and was seen no more. Baia, moreover, struck by an unexpected enemy, perished: his fortress was burned by fire sent from heaven.
[7] The malice of the enemies having therefore been expelled, they built a distinguished monastery in the place which the Angel had foretold. There the man of God, overflowing daily with fountains of tears, he leads by the example of virtues: burning with the ardor of twofold charity, daily consecrated the offering of the Lord's body with pure hands; and so, alone after the Matins hours, he would go to angelic conversation. From there he would immediately seek cold water, in which by tarrying long, he tamed every ardor of the flesh by his soaking. Then for the rest
of the day he would spend tirelessly in teaching, praying, genuflecting, caring for the Brothers, and also feeding the multitudes of orphans, widows, the destitute, the infirm, and pilgrims. And so he began, continued, and finished. He draws Princes to the monastic life: Therefore, when the fame of his good fragrance was heard, Kings and Princes and laypeople abandoned their kingdoms and sought his monastery. Hence it happened that Constantine,(f) King of the Cornish, abandoned his kingdom and subjected himself to obedience in this Father's cell.
Notes:
(a) The Life published by Colgan: He himself founded the monastery of Glastonbury. Glastonbury. Capgrave: Coming to Glastonbury, he built a church from the foundations. In fact, we said above that he added a small chapel.
(b) Capgrave has Bathonia, a city in the County of Somerset together with Glastonbury, Bath. where in the year 520 the famous defeat was inflicted on the Saxons by the Britons, in which year St. Gildas wrote that he was born.
(c) These seven monasteries are omitted by others, perhaps because they had ceased to exist by the time of the writers. Two others are mentioned in Capgrave: Lemustir and another in Gower in Wales, unless the former is here called Secumnistre.
(d) In Colgan it is added: namely Aidan, Eliud, and Ismael. In Capgrave: Disciples. namely Aidan, Teilo, and Ismael. We consider this a gloss of later writers. For we said in connection with Teilo's Life on February 9, chapter 1, letter e, that Teilo, or Eliud, was a fellow student of St. David, not a disciple. That Ismael was a disciple of St. Dubricius we said above.
(e) Penance. Albert le Grand in the Life of St. Sezni says that the hermitage of this Saint is called by the Britons Peneti Sant Sezni: and elsewhere he indicates that this word is taken for "penitential," that is, a place designated for the exercise of penance: perhaps here too "Penetia" or "Pœnitentialia" would be a more correct reading.
(f) We treat of St. Constantine on March 2, whom we believe to be this same person.
CHAPTER III.
Miracles performed by St. David and his disciples.
[8] On a certain day the Brothers, meeting together, complained about the lack of drinkable water: [By prayer he draws forth a spring, whose water is changed to wine for the Eucharist:] hearing this, the man of God went to the nearby place where the Angel used to speak with him, and there, praying for a very long time, he requested the necessary water: and at the voice of him praying, a spring of the sweetest water flowed forth, and because the country was not fruitful in vineyards, for the purpose of confecting the sacrament of the Lord's body, it was changed into wine. But we know that at other times sweet waters given by his disciples in imitation of their Father were also beneficial for the health and use of men.
[9] On a certain occasion a certain countryman, named Tardi, suggested such things to the Saint: Our land, he said, is exhausted of water, and because the river is far away, he procures another spring: we have a laborious life in fetching water. The Saint, compassionate toward the need of his neighbors, went out and opened the surface of the turf with the point of his staff, and a most limpid spring gushed forth, which, bubbling with a perpetual vein, bestows the coldest water in time of heat.
[10] At another time, while St. Aidan,(a) his disciple, was reading a book he had received outside, by some chance,(b) for the purpose of confirming doctrine, the Provost of the monastery came St. Aidan the disciple rescues oxen from a precipice, and commanded him to go with two oxen to carry wood from the valley: for the forest was situated far away. Aidan, obeying more quickly than told, and not even taking time to close the book, sought the forest. When the wood was prepared and loaded on the beasts of burden, he returned: but the road led along a sheer precipice, beneath which the sea flowed in. When the vehicle reached the precipice, it crashed headlong with the beasts toward the sea. But he made the sign of the Cross upon them as they fell: and so it happened that, receiving them safe and unharmed from the waves with the vehicle, he joyfully continued his journey. he keeps a book untouched by rain: But while he was on his way, so great a flood of rain arose that the ditches flowed with rivulets. When his labor was finished, he went to where he had left the book: and found it open and unharmed by the rains. When the Brothers heard these things, both the Father's grace and the disciple's humility were celebrated. The holy Aidan, moreover, fully instructed, sought Ireland: and having built a monastery there, he led a most holy life.
[11] When St. Aidan was praying on the night of Easter, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: You know that tomorrow poison will be set before your venerable father St. Dewi by certain Brothers at dinner. Scutinus is divinely conveyed from Ireland to Britain, Send therefore some one of your attendants to warn the Father. The Saint answered: Neither is a ship ready, nor is the wind favorable for sailing. To whom the Angel replied: Let your fellow disciple, Scutinus(c) by name, go to the shore of the sea. The disciple, obeying, sought the shore, entered the sea up to his knees. Then a sea creature received him and carried him across to the outskirts of the city. When the Easter solemnities had been completed, he warns St. David about the poisoned bread: St. Dewi went with the Brothers to the refectory for dinner, and there he was met by his former disciple Scutinus. Having narrated all the things that had been done concerning him, they reclined together in the refectory. When the prayer was finished, the Deacon who was accustomed to serve the Father rose and placed bread infected with poison on the table: to which the cook and the steward had consented. But Scutinus, rising up, said: Today, Brother, you shall render no service to the Father, for I shall attend to it. The Deacon, conscious of what had been done, withdrew in confusion. The holy Dewi, blessing the bread, divided it into three parts: one part he ordered to be given to a dog; another to a raven: and when they tasted it, in the sight of all, they died. a portion of which he eats harmlessly. But the Father himself, taking the third part, ate it; yet it did him no harm.(d)
[12] At a certain time, another disciple of St. Dewi, named Modnuciant,(e) was excavating a road with the Brothers near the outskirts of the city on a slope, so that access might be made easier for travelers. [St. Modomnoc is preserved from being struck by the sign of the Cross of St. David:] He himself said to one of the laborers: Why do you work so lazily? But that one, indignant, raising high the iron tool he held in his hand, tried to strike him on the head. But the holy Father, seeing this from afar, made the sign of the Cross and raised his hand toward them, and thus the hand of the striker withered. Afterward, however, the same disciple, with the merits of his virtues increasing, sought the island of Ireland: having boarded a ship, the entire multitude of bees followed him, and placed themselves with him in the ship where he had sat. For the same man, serving at the bee stations, was devoted, along with the other work of the Brotherhood, to the hives for nourishing the offspring of the swarms, as he departs for Ireland, the bees voluntarily follow him: so that he might procure some pleasures of sweeter food for the needy. He therefore, not tolerating the loss to the fraternal community, returned again to the man of God, accompanied by the swarm of bees: and each one flew back to its own place. Then, bidding farewell to the Father and Brothers, he departed: but again the bees followed him. And so it happened that whenever he went out, they too would follow. Returning therefore to the Father a third time, so that at least, being tired, they might remain in their hives, lest the Brothers be deprived of their usefulness — and when even so they did not remain — he received from the Father permission to cross the sea with the bees. The Father blessed them thus: Let the land to which you hasten abound in your seed: may your offspring never fail from it. But our city, forever deserted by you — may your offspring never increase in it. Which we have learned by experience has been observed to this day. For we have discovered swarms of bees brought to that same Father's city; but after staying for a little while, they fail and dwindle away.(f) Ireland, however, in which until that time bees had never been able to live, is enriched with an excessive fertility of honey.
Notes:
(a) These things are narrated at length on January 29 in the Life of St. Aidan, chapter 2.
(b) In Colgan these words are interposed: in the place called Ferna Gearin. Ferna is an Episcopal See in South Leinster, where we said St. Aidan, or Edan, was the first Bishop, in connection with his Life.
(c) Colgan, following the Irish Martyrologies, recorded St. Scutinus under January 2. Scutinus. Giraldus Cambrensis in the Life of St. David in Ussher, page 997, observes that he was also called Scolanus, and was afterward raised to the see of Winchester, as they say. But he seems to be St. Swithun, whom the Worcester chronicler records as having succeeded Helmstan in the year 936. Those times are several centuries apart. St. Swithun is venerated on July 2.
(d) Here certain things had been intruded, or also inserted by the author, which we have rejected as false, What should be judged about the sea crossing of St. Barry, or at least of highly suspect reliability. Here they are, so the reader may judge, in the same words: At another time also, when a certain Abbot of the Irish, named Barry, had visited the thresholds of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul at Rome, having fulfilled his vow and returned, he visited the holy man; tarrying there for a while in divine conversations, delayed by a longer stay because the ship by which he had prepared to revisit his homeland was impeded by lack of winds. Fearing lest in his congregation, in the absence of the Abbot, contentions should arise, searching with an anxious mind, he found a wonderful route. For he asked for the horse on which the holy Father Dewi was accustomed to ride for ecclesiastical purposes, and received it as a gift: and having received the Father's blessing, he sought the port, entered the sea, and used the horse as his conveyance instead of a ship. For the horse traversed the swelling mounds of waves as if it were a level plain. But when he had gone farther out to sea, and the meeting with St. Brendan, St. Brendan appeared to him, who was leading a wonderful life upon a sea creature. The holy Brendan, seeing a man riding on horseback in the sea, said in amazement: God is wonderful in his saints. After mutual greetings, Brendan asked where he was from and from whom he had come, and in what manner he had ridden in the sea. To whom Barry, narrating each thing, showed that he was fortified by the blessing of St. Dewi, and that through his horse he had entered upon such a journey. To whom Brendan said: Go in peace; I will come and see him. Barry then returned to his homeland with unharmed step, and told the Brothers what had been done concerning him. They kept the horse in the service of the monastery until his very death. So far the insertions in the Acts, in which these things are objectionable. First, he who is here called Barry is Barrius in Colgan, who asserts him to be the same one venerated on September 25, called Barrus and Finbarrus by others, whose triple manuscript Life we obtained — one communicated to us by the Irish Franciscan Hugh Ward, in which these same things are narrated. Another, formerly accustomed to be read in the Cathedral Church at Cork in the Ecclesiastical office, is distributed into nine lessons, from which these are absent, and
better so: because in it Finbarrus is said while still a youth to have visited Bishop Torporeus, a beloved disciple of Pope Gregory, and to have learned the Gospel and Paul from him: who therefore could in no way have reached the times of St. David. The third Life is similar to the other two in many respects, but under the name of Bishop Maculinus, in which no mention of St. David is made. Then many things in any Life of St. Barry, Finbarrus, or Maculinus are of little reliability. But most objectionable of all are the things narrated here about the meeting of St. Finbarrus and St. Brendan, of whom no mention is made in the former's Acts. We rejected some things not dissimilar to these in connection with the Life of St. Brigid on February 1, page 117, section 14, where we recorded the death of both Brendans, the elder around the year of Christ 571, and the younger around the year 577 or 583, so that St. Finbarrus the Abbot, returning from Rome where he had dealt with a disciple of Pope Gregory, could not have encountered either of them. Finally, if another, older Barry be brought forward, credence should not immediately be given to this description. What if he was conveyed from Britain to Ireland by a ship of the monastery of Menevia, which posterity at least called the horse of St. David, and from that the occasion for this fabrication was first seized by poets and then by others? Perhaps the same thing was devised about the sea creature by which Scutinus is said to have been conveyed. Mention may be made, if it seems appropriate, of the wonderful life of St. Brendan and his seven-year navigation, on May 16.
(e) St. Modomnoc. In Colgan he is called Modomnoch, and he is St. Modomnoc or Dominic of Ossory, whose Life we gave on February 13, and illustrated these matters there.
(f) We showed in connection with his Life that these things are to be understood of the part of Ireland in which St. Modomnoc lived.
CHAPTER IV.
The Journey of St. David to Jerusalem: His Archbishopric: His Death.
[13] On a certain night, an Angel appearing to St. Dewi said: Tomorrow, girding and putting on your shoes, set out on your desired journey as a pilgrim to Jerusalem. [St. David, admonished by an Angel, goes to Jerusalem with Saints Teilo and Paternus,] But I shall also call two other companions: Eliud, that is, he who is now commonly called Teilo,(a) who was once a monk in his monastery, and Paternus,(b) whose virtues are contained in his own history.(c) But the holy Father, marveling at the Angel's command, said: How could this happen? For those whom you promise as companions are distant from us or from each other by a journey of three days or more: by no means therefore could we meet tomorrow. To whom the Angel replied: I will go this night to each of them: and they will meet at the appointed place, which I now show you. The Saint, without delay, having arranged the affairs of his cell, and having received the Brothers' blessing, began his journey early in the morning, reached the appointed place, and found there the Brothers who had been sent before, and they entered upon the road together: one soul, one joy, one sorrow among them. When, having been conveyed across the British Sea, they reached Gaul and heard the foreign languages of diverse nations, the Father David(d) was enriched with the gift of tongues, like that apostolic assembly, he receives the gift of tongues: so that while dwelling among foreign nations they would not need an interpreter. At last they reached the outskirts of the desired city of Jerusalem. On the night before their arrival, an Angel appeared to the Patriarch(e) in his sleep, saying: Three Catholic men are coming from the ends of the West, whom you shall receive with joy and consecrate for me in the episcopate by blessing them. The Patriarch therefore prepared three most honorable seats. He is consecrated Archbishop by the Patriarch: When the Saints arrived at the city, greatly rejoicing, he received them kindly, and setting them on the prepared seats, supported by spiritual conversation, they gave thanks to God. Sustained by divine election, he raised Dewi to the Archbishopric.
[14] These things accomplished, addressing them, he said: Obey my voice: the power of the Jews is growing strong against the Christians: they agitate against us and repel the faith. He converts many Jews by his preaching. Therefore go forth to preach each day, so that their violence, confuted, may subside, knowing that the Christian faith has been spread to the uttermost ends of the earth. They obey the command; each one preaches day after day; the preaching is welcome; they convert many to the faith, and strengthen others. With all things accomplished, they endeavor to return to their homeland. Then Father Dewi is enriched by the Patriarch with four gifts: namely, a consecrated altar, on which he used to consecrate the Lord's body (which, abounding in innumerable virtues, was never seen by men from the death of that Pontiff: but covered and hidden under leather coverings, it lies concealed); also with a distinguished bell(f); and that too shines with virtues; a staff, and a tunic woven of gold. He receives gifts renowned for miracles: This staff, gleaming with glorious miracles, is celebrated as distinguished throughout the whole country. But, said the Patriarch, because these are burdensome for you to carry on the journey, return to your homeland in peace; I will send them after you. They bade farewell to the Father and arrived in their homeland. And each of them, awaiting the Patriarch's promise, received the gifts sent through their Angels. Dewi indeed received his at the monastery whose name is Langemelech; the others each at their own monastery. Hence the common people call them "coming from heaven."
[15] Because, moreover, after the death of St. Germanus,(g) the Pelagian heresy was reviving, a universal synod(h) of all the Bishops of Britain was assembled. When therefore one hundred and eighteen(i) Bishops had come together, To a synod assembled against the Pelagians, with a countless multitude of Abbots and others of various orders, Kings, Princes, and laypeople, so that a very great army covered all the surrounding places, the Bishops said among themselves: An excessive multitude is present, and not only we, but even the blast of a trumpet will be unable to sound in the ears of all. Nevertheless, an arrangement was made to preach to the people under this condition: that having heaped up a mound of garments on a height of earth, one person should stand on top and preach. But whoever should be endowed with such a grace of speech that his words might sound in the ears of all, who stood far off — he should become, by the consent of all, Metropolitan Archbishop. Then, the place having been appointed, which is called Brevy,(k) they erected a tower of garments and tried to preach: but as if with throat closed, the speech scarcely reached even those nearest. One after another they attempt to argue, but in vain: great distress falls upon the Bishops; they fear the people will remain in their undiscussed heresy. he is summoned: Then a certain one of the Bishops, named Paulinus, with whom St. Dewi had once studied, rose and said: There is a certain man who, made a Bishop by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, has not yet attended our synod — a man eloquent, approved in religion, whose companion is an Angel; handsome in face, distinguished in form, erect in stature at four cubits. Invite him therefore. At his counsel, messengers are immediately sent; they come to the holy Bishop and announce for what purpose they have come. But the holy Bishop refused: What they themselves cannot do, he said, what sort of man am I that I could? Go in peace. A second and a third time envoys are sent; but even so he did not acquiesce. At last the most holy men, his brothers Daniel(l) and Dubricius, are sent. After many entreaties, the Saint consented. As they set out, they came near the synod: and behold, nearby they heard a funeral lamentation. The Saint said to his companions: I will go where the great wailing is heard. His companions went on to the synod, lest their tardiness should annoy those waiting. On the way he raises a dead man: But the man of God went where he heard the mourning. And behold, a bereaved mother was watching over the body of her dead young son, to whom barbarian ignorance had given the name Magnus. But she, having heard the fame of the Saint, fell before his feet, and with importunate cries begged that he would have mercy on her. He, moved with compassion, approaching the body, bathed his face with tears, and at last, with the soul returning, the body trembled: and taking the boy by the hand, he restored him healthy to his mother, and taking him, the Saint made him go with him to the synod. He afterward led a holy life.
[16] When the Saint entered the synod, the Bishops and the entire crowd rejoiced: he preaches with a dove sitting on his shoulders: he is asked to preach; he did not despise the judgment of the council. They bid him ascend the mound of garments that had been constructed: but he asked only that a handkerchief be placed beneath him; and in the sight of all, a snow-white dove, sent from heaven, settled on his shoulders, which remained as long as he preached. He preaches with a clear voice; the ground is raised up, forming a growing hill: all who were near and all who were far away heard equally, as if he were preaching individually in the ears of each person. The earth beneath him, growing, rose up into a hill: placed on the summit, he was seen by all, as if standing on a high mountain he raised his voice like a trumpet; on the summit of which hill a church now stands. The heresy is expelled from sound bodies; he is constituted Archbishop of Britain: the faith is strengthened. Then, magnified by the mouth of all, by the consent of all Bishops, Kings, Princes, and Nobles, he is constituted Archbishop of the entire British nation; and his city is dedicated as the Metropolis of the whole country.
[17] At last the man of God, from whom all had received the norm and pattern of right living, having been brought to old age, was celebrated as the head of the entire British nation and the honor of the country — an old age which he completed in one hundred and forty-seven(m) years. On the eighth day before the Kalends of March, while the Brothers were celebrating Matins, an Angel spoke to him: The day long desired, he said with a clear voice, is now near at hand. But the Saint, recognizing the friendly voice, said to God with an exultant spirit: from an Angel he learns he will die on March 1: Now you dismiss your servant, Lord, in peace. The Brothers, hearing them speaking together, fell to the ground in terror. Then the whole city was filled with the harmonies of Angels and the fragrance of a delicious scent. The Angel again spoke, the Brothers understanding: Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ, on the Kalends of March, accompanied by a great host of Angels, will come to meet you. When these things were known, immense sadness arose: the city resounded with weeping. But from that hour until the day of his death, he remained in the church, preaching and consoling the people. That report, carried by the Angel, ran throughout all Britain and Ireland. Then a concourse of Saints from both sides hastened swiftly to visit the holy Father. On the intervening Sunday, with a very great multitude arriving, he delivered a most noble sermon, and having consecrated and distributed the body and blood of the Lord, he was immediately seized with pain and fell ill. And having blessed the people, he addressed them all, saying: My brothers, persevere in those things which you have heard and seen from me. For I, on Tuesday, on the Kalends of March, shall enter the way of the fathers. When Tuesday came, at cockcrow the city was filled with angelic choirs, resounding with heavenly songs, he dies while Angels sing and Christ appears, filled with the sweetest fragrance. At the morning hour, while the clergy were singing, the Lord Jesus deigned to impart His presence for the consolation of the Father, as He had promised through the Angel. Seeing Him, wholly exulting in spirit, he said: Take me after You. With these words he gave back his life to God: and accompanied by the angelic host with Christ, he sought the heavenly threshold. His body was honorably buried by the Brothers and the people in his city: it shines with continual miracles.
Notes:
(a) By others Teilo, in whose Life, illustrated by us on February 9, these things are related more fully in chapter 2, which there is no need to repeat here. St. Teilo.
(b) He is believed
to be the same one who was afterward Bishop of Vannes in Armorican Britain, and to be venerated on April 16: on which day that controversy will be discussed.
(c) St. Paternus. There exists a Life of St. Paternus in Capgrave, and a compendium of it in the Lessons of the Breviary of Vannes, in which the same pilgrimage of the Saints is read.
(d) In the Life published by Colgan this gift is extended to all with these words: By the gift of the Holy Spirit they thus knew the kinds of diverse languages, so that they could not only understand them but also sufficiently speak them. In Capgrave the following is found: When they heard the languages of foreigners, understanding of them was granted by the Lord without an interpreter. Consult the Life of St. Teilo, where St. Paternus is also treated.
(e) The Patriarch around that time was John III, praised by us in connection with the Life of St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch on January 11, section 5, number 25, John III, Patriarch of Jerusalem. where we said that, drawn away from communion with Severus through Saints Sabbas and Theodosius, he freely professed the orthodox faith.
(f) In the Life of St. Teilo, a cymbal was also given to him, as to St. Paternus a staff and a choral cope. Which we noted in the same place from these Acts.
In the Life of St. Patrick in Capgrave: St. David, while still living, bequeathed to the Church of Glastonbury the stone which he had received from the Patriarch of Jerusalem at his consecration.
(g) St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, is venerated on July 31. He, together with St. Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, attended the Synod against the Pelagian heresy assembled at Verulamium, St. Germanus of Auxerre in the year 446, as Spelman proves in volume 1 of the Councils of Britain: about the year, others disagree, which must be discussed more exactly elsewhere.
(h) This Synod is said by Spelman, Ussher, and others to have been held in the year 519.
(i) The same number is read in the Life published by Colgan; it is omitted in Capgrave and Giraldus: we judged these matters little worthy of credence in connection with the Life of St. Teilo, section 1, number 1. Colgan believes that many were titular Bishops, who had no defined or subject dioceses, and that similarly 350 Bishops are said to have been consecrated by St. Patrick's own hand in the Life of the latter written by Jocelin.
(k) Giraldus in Ussher, page 474, adds: in the Ceretic region. Ussher, page 81, says this place is now called Lhan-Dewy-Brevy, that is, the church of St. David at Brevy. See Camden, page 518 B.
(l) St. Daniel was the first Bishop of Bangor (or of that place opposite Anglesey, St. Daniel, Bishop. where that city was afterward established), ordained around the year 516 by St. Dubricius, Archbishop of Llandaff. St. Daniel is venerated on December 1. St. Dubricius died on November 14, in the year 522.
(m) We judged above, in connection with the error, that he reached only the age of 82 i.e. 97.
APPENDIX I
From the Life of the same, published by Colgan from a manuscript.
The Rule of life prescribed by St. David to his monks.
St. David, Archbishop of Menevia in Wales.
BHL Number: 2110
[1](a)
The malice of the enemies having therefore been expelled by God's aid, the man of God built a distinguished monastery in the place which the Angel had pointed out: and when all things were completed, he ordained that whatever the Brothers acquired by daily labor there should pass into the common life. Sustenance acquired by their own labor. The holy man, knowing also that careless ease is the kindling and mother of vices, subjected the monks' shoulders to daily fatigues. For he considered that those who submit their minds under the harmful ease of idleness give birth to the restless spirit of sloth and the goads of lust. For this reason the holy man exhorted his monks to persist in labors without pretense, lest the devil find them idle. They rejected possessions and gifts and detested riches; no neck of an ox was introduced by them for plowing, but they dug the earth with their own hands. strict silence, When work was finished, no murmur of words was heard, no conversation was held beyond what was necessary: but each one, either praying or thinking rightly, performed the task assigned. studies, When rural work was completed, returning to the monastic enclosure, they spent the whole day until evening either reading, writing, or praying. When evening came, the sound of the bell was heard, and each one left his study and came to the community. If indeed it was still ringing in someone's ears, he would leave even the stroke of a letter he was writing, or even half a letter, prompt obedience, incomplete, and come with silence to the common place. When they had completed the divine office, piety in divine worship, as regards Psalms and singing, in the church with reverence, then they applied themselves to genuflections and the devotions of the inner man, not without the shedding of tears; and while the rest placed themselves in their beds to rest, David alone poured out prayers to God for the flock.
[2] Finally, coming together, they took food for necessity rather than for satiety, being content there too with bread and vegetables and salt; frugality in eating, they considered more sumptuous food as a cause of disgust: yet for the sick, or those advanced in age, or exhausted by a long journey, they sometimes procured the comforts of more delicate food. After the thanksgiving, they entered the church in the customary manner, vigils and prayers, and there for about three hours they applied themselves to vigils and prayers and genuflections. As long as they prayed in the church, no one dared to yawn, no one to cough, and no one to spit outside. moderate sleep, After these things, they composed their limbs for sleep; but roused at cockcrow, devoting themselves to prayer and genuflection, openness in revealing one's conscience, they spent the rest of the night sleepless. They also disclosed their thoughts to their spiritual Father, and sought the Father's permission even for the secrets of nature. poverty, All things were common to all, and they said nothing was "mine" or "yours": for whoever said "This or that is mine" was subjected to harsh penance. They were covered with cheap garments, and especially ones made of skins. Obedience to the Father's command was unfailing, testing of candidates, and perseverance in their works was constant, and integrity in all things. For whoever, with a holy purpose, turning from the world, desired to enter the fellowship of the Brothers, first remained for ten days before the doors of the monastery, as if rejected and reviled with verbal insults. and of novices: But if, bearing patiently well, he persevered to the tenth day, he was accepted, and first placed under the elder(b) who presided at the time, he served, and there, sweating much labor and broken by many adversities, he at last merited the fellowship of the Brothers. They had nothing superfluous, but voluntary poverty was loved, and whoever loved the company of the Brothers — not even one penny, so to speak, would the holy Father accept from him for the use of the monastery, but he was received naked, as if escaping from a shipwreck.
Notes:
(a) Nearly the same things are read in the Legend of Capgrave written by John of Tynemouth.
(b) In that Life: who presided at the gate.
APPENDIX II
From the English History of Harpsfield.
Miracles wrought by the intercession of St. David after his death.
St. David, Archbishop of Menevia in Wales.
[1] The Church of Menevia was first dedicated under the name and in honor of St. Andrew: after the times of David it chiefly retained his name, on account of his fame in those places and the astounding signs performed through him. Very many of which, performed through him while living, we have knowingly and deliberately omitted, of set purpose. Selected and certain miracles are related. Yet lest they come rashly under anyone's suspicion, or lest the things which God designated for him or through him after his sacred dormition should be doubted. Since these have neither measure nor number, separated in place and time, we shall bring forth only four or five of this kind from one period only, which rest on a certain, worthy, and partly eyewitness testimony.
[2] The river which flows past the cemetery of the above-mentioned church, in the reign of Stephen,(a) flowed with wine, and at the same time a certain spring called Pistel-Dewi, A river flows with wine, a spring with milk: that is, the pipe of David (so called because through a certain pipe and channel the spring flows down into the cemetery), flowed with milk. This was reported by one who lived at that time and had the most thorough knowledge of the affairs of that land.
[3] A certain portable bell is held in high regard in Cambria, which they call David's: when soldiers at the castle of Radnor detained it, a fire on account of the bell of St. David being seized: against the will of the woman who had brought it, suddenly during the night the whole town was consumed by fire, except for the one wall where the same bell was hanging.
[4] A certain boy attempted to steal young pigeons from a nest in the church of David of Llanfaes: and behold, his fingers immediately adhered to the stone and could not be pulled away. The hands of a thief adhere to a stone, and are freed by his help: While all were amazed at the miracle, especially the parents and friends of the boy, when they with the boy had devoted themselves before the altar of the same church for three days and as many nights to vigils, fasts, and prayers, the boy divinely pulled his hands free from the stone. The author who reported these things not only lived at that time, but also saw the man himself and spoke with him, and heard him confess that it had happened thus. And what is more, he saw the stone preserved in the church in memory of the event, with the traces of the fingers clearly formed and expressed as if in wax.
[5] At Lanthoheni, that is, the church of St. David, above the river Hodheni, the chapel of St. David cannot be plundered: or, as others say, Nanthodheni, that is, the valley of Hodheni, there is a certain chapel of Bishop David, where certain holy men led a most austere life in the wilderness: which place many have often dared to plunder, and have been made famous by remarkable misfortunes.
[6] Mahel, son of Count Miles de Brecknock, in the reign of Stephen, One who expels a Bishop and seizes Church property is punished with death: expelled a certain Bishop of Menevia by force and tyranny, and seized the property of the church. Shortly afterward, struck by a stone falling from the top of a tower, he received a mortal wound: judging this to be divine vengeance inflicted on him for his plunder, he ordered the Bishop to be restored and the seized property returned. In whose presence, as he was bewailing his miserable fall in pitiful fashion, and the punishments inflicted on him by Blessed David, he expired amid these words.
Note:
(a) Stephen became King toward the end of the year 1135, as we said on February 20 in the Life of St. Ulric the Priest, chapter 4, letters d and f. He died on October 25 of the year 1154.
APPENDIX III
From the Legend of John Capgrave.
Other miracles of St. David.
St. David, Archbishop of Menevia in Wales.
BHL Number: 2109
[1](a) A certain Welshman from the Bishopric of Menevia was captured by the Saracens and bound with an iron chain together with a certain German. The Welshman indeed began to cry out continually day and night to St. David in his own language, saying thus: Two men captured by Saracens are freed by the help of St. David: Dewi Wareth, that is, David help! A wondrous thing: in a short time he was suddenly restored to his homeland, and informing Gervase, then Bishop of that place, about this — on account of the remarkable miracle he remained with him. The German, however, his companion, as one conscious of what had happened, was exposed to beatings and under stricter
confinement he was detained. He therefore considered how his companion had frequently been accustomed to say "Dewi Wareth": and although he did not understand the word, he nevertheless resolved to say the same thing, and to cry out "Dewi Wareth" repeatedly. Without delay, he was suddenly snatched away and brought to his own home, having been unable to know how he was conveyed. And when searching everywhere for the meaning of the word, he could not discover it, he hastened to Paris, and from a certain Welshman found there he learned the force of the word, and gave thanks to God, and to give thanks for the benefit bestowed upon him, he set out on a pilgrimage and sought St. David at Menevia. His companion, recognizing and marveling at him, approached him and, kissing him with the greatest weeping, inquired how he had been restored from servitude to freedom. He took care to make known to all, in order, everything that had happened to him.
[2] When a great plague was raging in England, and the greatest slaughter of the people was occurring in various places, by common counsel it was provided the plague is driven away by water in which the arm of St. David was washed. that each Bishop should bring the relics of his church to be bathed in holy water, so that by the sprinkling or drinking of the water, divine grace might come to the aid of the people. This done, the plague could not cease. At last, the last of all the Bishops to arrive was the Bishop of Menevia, bringing with him the arm of St. David. When it was washed in the water, the water appeared gilded as if with fat, and above it a golden cross. And when the people eagerly tasted of that water, the mortality of men was entirely abated, and joy and gladness and health were spread throughout the kingdom.
Note:
(a) This appears to be Gervase de Castro, Bishop of Bangor, who is said to have administered that office from the year 1366 to 1370.