Parish of Llandudno North Wales, Rector's letter

March 2015

On Wednesday March 11th a party of around 22 people from our parish will take part in a pilgrimage to the Shrine of St. David in St. David’s Cathedral. This will be one of the opening events of the 150th Anniversary celebrations of Holy Trinity Church. But why travel to the other end of Wales to celebrate a parish anniversary? Surely if we want to go to the sanctuary of an ancient Celtic saint then we only need to climb the Great Orme to reach our own church of St. Tudno!

However, important as St. Tudno is to us, St. David is the saint to which all Wales looks as patron. His life has inspired men and women from every part of the country throughout the centuries. So at the beginning of our anniversary year it’s good to go to the place where St. David lived, to draw inspiration from his life and to ask for his prayers.

Dewi Sant lived in the sixth century. Legend and historical truth blend in the accounts of his life so that it’s sometimes hard to know which is which. However we do know that he founded a monastery in the area known as Glyn Rhosyn in the place named after him today. There, he and his disciples led a simple and austere monastic life. Dewi was known as ‘the Waterman’ either because he drank only water or because of his habit of standing in cold water to pray (or perhaps it was both). David became a bishop and made several pilgrimages including one to Jerusalem. Famously his final words to his followers were: ‘Be Joyful. Keep the Faith. Do the little things that you have heard and see me do.’

His shrine in St. David’s Cathedral, built in the presbytery close to the High Altar, dates from the twelfth century. In the shrine were placed bones believed to be those of the saint. Pope Calixtus II declared St. Davids to be a place of pilgrimage and stated that two pilgrimages there were equivalent to one to Rome, and three were equivalent to one to Jerusalem! At the reformation the Shrine was defaced and the practice of pilgrimage was suppressed. In more recent times however pilgrimage to this ancient holy place has flourished and in 2012 the shrine was restored and now houses two reliquaries reputed to contain the remains of St. David and St. Justinian and a replica of a Celtic ‘bangu’ bell. As pilgrims to St. David’s Shrine the group from our parish will be following in the footsteps of countless men and women who have trodden this path through the centuries.

In preparation for their journey, the pilgrims are invited to gather at the Eucharist in Holy Trinity on Thursday 5th March. On that day we will actually be keeping the feast of St. David. 1st March falls on a Sunday this year, and because it is a Sunday in Lent, the feast has to be transferred. The Church in Wales lectionary directs that it can be held on any day in the following week – so we have chosen Thursday 5th. The celebration of the feast of St. David is naturally an ideal occasion to bless the pilgrims as they look forward to their time at the shrine during the following week.

St. David’s Day is often in Lent (sometimes just before it). It is an appropriate season indeed to celebrate one who believed that commitment to Christ must involve sacrifice and who lived an austere life. But it is also near to the coming of spring and usually on St. David’s Day the daffodils are beginning to open – a reminder of the joyous nature of the Christian faith and of the new life given to us through the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord.

Whether you will be a pilgrim to St. David’s on the 11th or not do join us at the Eucharist on March 5th to celebrate this great man of God, patron of Wales.

Fr. John

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