St. David's Society of Singapore

St. David About St. David
“Dafydd became so popular a name that it probably gave rise to the nickname, Taffy”

The monks of the period 500 to 600 were both less learned and more ascetic than those of earliertradition. David, the best known of them, was a tee-total vegetarian and an advocate of unremitting physical labour. His monastery on a promontory pushing out to the sea at the furthest point of south-west Wales was well placed to be a major centre of Celtic Christianity; indeed, St David's may well have been as much Irish as it was Welsh. David died on March 1 somewhere around the year 590. Six hundred years later, there were at least 60 parish churches dedicated to him, extending from St David's to Herefordshire, and from Gower to the upper Severn Valley. By then, the region of the dedications constituted the diocese of St David and covered almost half the surface area of Wales.

As the feast day of St David's was celebrated in more parishes than that of any other saint, he naturally became the patron saint of Wales. He was primarily an abbot. He may also have been a bishop, but later claims that he was an archbishop with authority over the other bishops of Wales are without foundation. The Welsh form of his name - Dewi - is a southwestern dialect form of the Welsh, Dafydd. Out of respect for David, Dafydd became so popular a name that it probably gave rise to the nickname, Taffy.




		About St. David “Dafydd became so popular a name that it probably gave rise to the nickname, Taffy” The monks of the period 500 to 600 were both less learned and more ascetic than those of earliertradition. David, the best known of them, was a tee-total vegetarian and an advocate of unremitting physical labour. His monastery on a promontory pushing out to the sea at the furthest point of south-west Wales was well placed to be a major centre of Celtic Christianity; indeed, St David's may well have been as much Irish as it was Welsh. David died on March 1 somewhere around the year 590. Six hundred years later, there were at least 60 parish churches dedicated to him, extending from St David's to Herefordshire, and from Gower to the upper Severn Valley. By then, the region of the dedications constituted the diocese of St David and covered almost half the surface area of Wales. As the feast day of St David's was celebrated in more parishes than that of any other saint, he naturally became the patron saint of Wales. He was primarily an abbot. He may also have been a bishop, but later claims that he was an archbishop with authority over the other bishops of Wales are without foundation. The Welsh form of his name - Dewi - is a southwestern dialect form of the Welsh, Dafydd. Out of respect for David, Dafydd became so popular a name that it probably gave rise to the nickname, Taffy.