The Liturgical Calendar: The Church Remembers

Today the church remembers David, Bishop of Menevia, Wales, c. 544.

When the Roman legions were withdrawn in the fifth century, a nightmare of chaos and terror closed in on isolated Britain. England fell into the hands of the heathen Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and it appeared that Christianity might disappear from the islands altogether. Some Celtic Christians withdrew into Wales, and David emerged as their most effective leader.

David was a monk of noble birth, well-educated, and a famous teacher and preacher. We have little concrete historical data concerning him. Even his name (probably Dawi) seems to have been distorted with the passage of time. We do know that he founded several monastic communities in Wales, and that these served as places of refuge for the homeless, as centers for the spread of Christianity, and as bastions of learning, justice, and good order in a hostile environment. David was the abbot-bishop of the monastery at Menevia. He, and other hearty pioneer monks like him, kept the light of the gospel shining in a very dark and troubled time.

O Almighty God, who did choose your servant David to be an apostle to the people of Wales, to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error to the true light and knowledge of you: Grant us to walk in that same light. Amen.

Read the Wikipedia article here.

Almighty God, you called your servant David to be a faithful and wise steward of your mysteries for the people of Wales: Mercifully grant that, following his purity of life and zeal for the Gospel of Christ, we may with him receive our heavenly reward; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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