Today (1st March) is St David’s Day.
Adopted as the Patron Saint of Wales in 12th century, St David does not feature heavily in English lore. Even in my own diocese of Bath and Wells, just across the channel from Wales, I could find only one church commemorating St David. That would be in the eponymous Barton St David, near Somerton. (see pic by, pleasingly, Geoff Pick)
So who was St David?
St David is a 6th century saint, a native of Wales and a bishop of Mynyw, now called St David’s in his honour. Tradition has him as the grandson of Ceredig ap Cunedda, king of Ceredigion. The dates of his birth and death are contested, but he was believed to have been present the Synod of Brefi in 545, in what was once called Cardiganshire for the benefit of my non-Welsh readers.
This Synod was the site of St David’s best-known miracles. Speaking to large crowd, a white dove came down to rest on his shoulder while the spot of ground on which he stood grew to form a small hill. Historian John Davies comments that one can scarcely “conceive of any miracle more superfluous”1 in that part of Wales than the creation of a new hill.
Why was St David hanging around synods?
This is what piqued my interest and gave me some comfort, having just attended the General Synod of the Church of England this week where all kinds of troubling statements were made.
At his Synod nearly 1500 years earlier, St David was fighting the teachings of Pelagius, an Irish theologian who had made a name for himself in the previous century with a controversial doctrine. Pelagius taught that humans were not infected by the sin of Adam, and that humans choose to sin of their own ‘free will’.
Those two words, ‘free will’, can set off alarm bells in the heads of any Calvinist, even though this might seem reasonable to others. After all, it feels like we are able to choose to do good or evil. If we choose evil, more fool us. How can it be any other way if we are held responsible for our actions before a court of law and, more importantly, the throne of God?
Unfortunately, like all heresies, Pelagianism causes many more problems than it solves. It also flatly contradicts the words of Paul in Romans 5 who writes:
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned… Death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
Oh no! We’re all doomed because of Adam!
Not quite. Read on:
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!... For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:12-19 NIV)
Paul is arguing that if Adam’s sin did not doom us all, Christ’s death on the cross cannot save us all. Christ’s death on the cross cannot save anyone if his ‘nature’ is not transferable to anyone. But, as St David and Augustine argued, Adam’s sin is indeed passed onto us.
In a nutshell: Pelagius is wrong. Hallelujah.
That said, Pelaganism keeps being passed down through the generations. (Yes, that was the Pelaganism joke. You are welcome). Pelagianism mutated into slightly more common heresy of Semi-Pelagianism which is sadly alive and well. But now is not the time to concern ourselves with that.
I was promised an origin story about leeks.
Read on.
The association of St David’s Day with leeks is hard to pin down. There is a ballad from 1630 called The Praise of Saint Davids day showing the Reason why the Welshmen honour the Leek on that day (see pic above right). The ballad tells the story of how the Welsh grabbed leeks to wear in their hats to identify their fellow countryman in battle as the Saxons attacked. Perhaps it was already a traditional story.
This gives the story some pleasing anti-Anglo-Saxon sentiment, possibly accounting for an entry in Samuel Pepys’s diary in which he recounts witnessing the lynching of an effigy dressed as a Welshman on St David’s Day 1667, although no mention is made of a leek.
Let’s finish with an extract from the ballad from 1630, if for no other reason than to appreciate numerous rhymes for the word ‘leek’.
Shall find them worthy men of Armes,
as breath[e]s beneath the Sunne:
They are of valiant hearts,
of nature kind and meeke,
An honour on Saint Davids day,
it is to weare a Leeke.
The Welch most ancient is
of this our famous land,
Who were the first that conquerd it,
by force and warlike hand.
From Troy stout [B]rute did come,
this kingdome for to seeke;
Which was possest by savage men,
then honoured be the Leeke.
He having won the same,
and put them to the sword:
Of Brute did Britaine first take name,
as Chronicles record.
The Welch true Brittaines are,
whose swords in blood did reeke,
Of Pagan men being heathenish,
then honoured be the Leeke.
And now if you would know,
why they the Leeke doe weare,
In honour of Saint Davids day,
it plainely shall appeare.
Upon Saint Davids day,
and first of March that weeke,
The Welch-men with their foes did joyne,
then honoured be the Leeke.
And being in the field,
their valour they did try;
Where thousands on both sides being slaine,
within their bloods did lye.
And they not knowing how
their friends from foes to seeke,
Into a Garden they did goe,
where each one pulld a Leeke:
And wore it in his Hat,
their Countrey-men to know;
And then most valiantly they did,
orecome th[e]ir warlike foe.
Then were no colours knowne,
nor any feathers eeke;
The feathers first originall,
it was the Welch-mans Leeke.
And ever since that time,
the Leeke they use to weare,
In honor of Saint Davids day,
they doe that Trophy beare.
A Reverend Bishop was
Saint David mild and meeke,
And tis an honour that same day,
for them to weare a Leeke.
Happy St David’s Day!
Davies, John (2007) [1993]. A History of Wales. London: Penguin. p. 74