Monday 28 February 2011

Dewi Sant of Wales


St. Non's Well in St Davids, Wales. This holy well is said to have sprung up during a thunderstorm when St. Non gave birth to St. David around 500 AD. It has healing properties.

A Happy St. David's day to all! The legend that the 6th. cent patron saint of Wales Dewi Sant only ever drank water but neither wine nor beer is from the mists of time but may well be true although probably not many of his countrymen are strict followers of his in this regard, especially at the six nations rugby feasts! The more likely story that he daily practised total immersion in cold water (his nickname being Aquaticus) is a sanguine thought indeed especially as in cold winters such as this! That he founded ten monasteries including Menevia (St. Davids) and Glastonbury in the harshest traditions of the desert fathers are facts not disputed. Archbishops of Wales of Roman Catholic or the Anglican tradition would more authentically be based on the ancient see of St. Davids in Pembrokeshire, the ancient metropolis since the synod of Brevi AD 550. From time immemorial the Welsh have worn a leek on St. David's day, in memory of a battle against the Saxons, at which it is said they wore leeks in their hats, on St. David's advice, to distinguish them from their enemies. Dewi was one of very few Welshmen to have been canonised by the Western church, in his case by Pope Callistus II in 1120, the feast being proscribed for the whole province of Canterbury until the Reformation. Despite what you might hear from parts (not thankfully all parts) of the Church in Wales, you  definitely do NOT have to be a supporter of the novelty of the Welsh Assembly (a most recent innovation) to be a loyal supporter of Wales and a pilgrim follower of St. David. That is why I shall be voting NO at the referendum this month on the proposal to give enhanced powers to the WAG (Welsh Assembly Government). I urge all Taffys like me (so named after Daffyd) to do likewise! This is the closest I'm likely to get to pushing politics but have you seen the appalling standard of debates on the TV channel BBC Parliament? In my experience the local authorities combined with Westminster do a much better job. What a joke and why does the Church in Wales insist on going secular and nationalistic when the priority should be the Gospel of Jesus Christ and nothing but the Gospel? 

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