Tag: Saint David

Saint David (c. 500–589) (Welsh: Dewi Sant) was a Welsh Bishop during the 6th century; he was later regarded as a saint and as the patron saint of Wales. David was a native of Wales, and a relatively large amount of information is known about his life. However, his birth date is still uncertain, as suggestions range from 462 to 512. The Annales Cambriae has his death at 601, which would move his birth date forward.
David became a pupil of Saint Illtud at Llanilltud Fawr (English: Llantwit Major) like Saints Samson of Dol, Gildas and Paul Aurelian. Rhygyfarch, the late 11th century author of the saint’s life story (see below), wrote that David was the son of sanctus rex ceredigionis, where Sanctus has been interpreted as a proper name and its owner honoured by Welsh Christians as Sandde, King of Ceredigion. However, this Latin phrase can equally well mean simply “holy king of Ceredigion”. The king of Ceredigion around the time of David’s birth would have been Usai. According to…