St. David of Wales

Who they were

David, or Dewi Sant, was the great monastic founder of Wales. His community at Menevia lived a rule of striking austerity, pulling the plough themselves without oxen, silent at labour, drinking only water, which is why the old sources call him the Waterman. From there he planted churches across the Welsh lands whose dedications still map his journeys. The synod legend, in which the ground rose under him at Llanddewi Brefi so the crowd could hear, is a beloved legend and is told as one.

What certainly survived is the sentence. His final sermon, preserved in the medieval life, ended by telling his monks to be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things that they had heard and seen him do. Gwnewch y pethau bychain, do the little things, became the nearest thing Wales has to a national motto. It is St. Thérèse of Lisieux's Little Way in a sixth century Welsh accent, thirteen centuries early.

Why people turn to St. David of Wales

Welsh families on the first of March, leeks and daffodils and all. And everyone flattened by the size of the picture: his last words are the counsel, and St. Zita and St. Dulce Lopes Pontes are on the same shelf.

How to ask their intercession

Do one little thing today on purpose and offer it. One decade counts, and he said so first.