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Two saints of the Church that converted the Brits

March is the month in which we celebrate the feast of two of the greatest Celtic saints—St David of Wales on March 1st and St Patrick of Ireland on March 17th.

According to the ancient chroniclers, the great Celtic Church was established in Britain in AD 37 or 38—some five years or so before the Romans invaded. Annals record its founder as St. Joseph of Arimathea, the uncle of Jesus Christ, who settled at Glastonbury, then a center of the metals trade.

The Celtic Church not only converted the British people to Christ, it vigorously defended the faith during the Anglo–Saxon invasions, and then went on to convert the invaders. It also carried the Gospel to Ireland and the Picts in Scotland.

St David was consecrated Archbishop of Carleon, Monmouthshire, in or about the year AD 569. Not long after, he moved his seat to a monastery he had founded near the town of Menevia (now renamed St David’s) in Pembrokeshire.

He was a great founder of monasteries. He is said to be responsible for planting more than a dozen. All were dedicated to scholarship and prayer.

Saints are often not easy people to live with. This seems to have been the case with David. The rule of life at his monasteries was extremely strict. Like St Francis of Assisi some six centuries later, he forbade his monastics to own any possessions. Even prayer books were forbidden.

David was a great worker of miracles, healing the sick, especially the blind, and raised a number of people from the dead. He was such a spellbinding preacher that on one occasion a small hill raised itself up under his feet to enable the crowd to hear him more clearly.

One commentator observed drily that this was the most superfluous of miracles. Wales is a country crammed with hills and mountains. Even so, the reputed hill can still be seen at the village of Llnddewi Brefi.

St Patrick lived a century earlier. It is believed that he was born in AD 387 and died on March 17, AD 460. His birthplace is a matter conjecture. Some claim he came from the west of England near Bristol; others say he hailed from Merionethshire in Wales.

We know from Patrick himself that his grandfather was a Christian priest and his father was a deacon. When he was about 16 he was captured by pirates while attending a fair and sold as a slave in Ireland.

There he herded sheep for his master—a pagan Druidic priest—becoming a highly capable dog handler. The skill enabled him to escape from slavery. He earned his passage back to Britain by managing a pack of fierce Irish wolfhounds.

Upon his return home, he felt a call to Holy Orders. Eventually his mastery of the Irish language led to his consecration as bishop charged with taking the Gospel to Ireland.

He proved an amazingly successful missionary, establishing dozens of monasteries and convents. One of his most important converts was St Bridget, an influential Irish noblewoman, who played a major role in converting Ireland’s nobility to the Christian faith. GPH✠

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