214 David of Wales, Saint
David of Wales, Saint (Dewi, Dafydd, Water-Drinker)
(ca. 520–ca. 601)patron saint of Wales
Of Saint David, whose Welsh name was Dewi, we know
almost nothing except what was contained in much later
hagiographical accounts. David could have lived at any
time during the fifth or sixth century. Our earliest literary
references to him were found in ninth-century Irish
manuscripts with his feast day on March 1. Names used
for the dedications of churches indicate that there was a
cult focused on him in southwestern WALES, Cornwall,
and IRELAND. Traditionally identified as a noble and a
bishop, he was described as a monk only later; those
descriptions were sponsored by monastic establishments.
In the earliest source for David as a saint, he was
identified as a typical saint by wonders from before his
birth, an ascetic monk, an orthodox Christian, and a
miracle worker. These attributes are found in The Life of
Davidby Rhygyvarch ap Sullian (1056–99), a bishop of
Saint David’s in Wales. With probably some elements of a
true tradition, it was written as propaganda to support
the independence of this Welsh see against Norman
Canterbury. Rhygyvarch patterned his David on Saint
Benedict and the hagiographical conventions of Pope
GREGORYI the Great in his Dialogues.David’s cult was
approved by Pope Callistus II (r. 1119–24) in 1120. He
is the only Welshman universally recognized as a saint in
the Western Church and is the patron saint of Wales.
See alsoHAGIOGRAPHY.
Further reading:Rhygyvarch, Life of St. David: The
Basic Mid-Twelfth-Century Latin Text with Introduction,
Critical Apparatus and Translation, ed. John W. James
(Cardiff: Wales University Press, 1967); Wendy Davies,
Wales in the Early Middle Ages(Leicester: Leicester Uni-
versity Press, 1982).
deacon and deaconate See CLERGY AND CLERICAL
ORDERS.
death and the dead The dead in the Middle Ages
played no direct role in the affairs of the living. Medieval
Christians honored their dead, prayed for them, offered a
cult to some of them, the saints, but never created a gen-
uine “ancestor cult.”
In his On the Care Due to the Dead,the first Christian
codification of any cult of the dead, AUGUSTINEdenied
the practical utility of most of the traditional funerary
practices. He separated funerary rites from the Christian
practice of intercessory or supplicatory prayers for the
dead, which were inspired by a FAITHin ultimate redemp-
tion. Funerary customs, rites performed over the mortal
remains, ritual BURIAL, and the upkeep of tombs, in no
way helped the deceased. Intercessory prayers for the
souls dead, such as MASSES, and alms, could comfort and
help ease the suffering of those who deserved to benefit
from them.
During the very early Middle Ages, the institutional
church was little interested in rites for the death of
ordinary Christians. Funeral ceremonies and burial
were “private” ceremonies, officiated usually by a
priest. The church condemned manifestations of grief
that were too doubtful of a fundamental Christian faith
in salvation.THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
On the other hand, according to a tradition shared by the
majority of the LAITY, the living had to attend to their
dead. Only after the family rites of passage were per-
formed could the deceased join a community’s “ances-
tors.” Soon the “cares due to the dead” became the
business of all Christians, who prayed for all the faithful
departed. The church, in place of families and communi-
ties, was in charge of the deceased, thus of the relations
between the living and the dead.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the church main-
tained close control over this relationship. One used the
liturgy and prayer of the church to intercede for the
deceased, especially through masses commissioned for
that purpose. The church administered the formal
memorialization of the deceased through tombs near or
in churches. All of these practices or memorials gener-
ated income for the church in that the clergy were paid
to act as intermediates among GOD, the dead, and those
still alive.
In the eighth century were formed the first clerical
associations to celebrate the memory of the deceased, by
having “special” masses recited for their spiritual benefit
of men’s souls. Religious houses created lists of names of
members and benefactors, living and dead, and recorded
them in a Book of Lifeto be remembered by prayer.Roman Empire in the Mid-Fourth Century
exploited these rites of remembrance of the dead. From
the ecclesiastical establishments founded for the care of
the souls of the deceased, rulers required prayers for the
general salvation and safety of the kingdom, as well as for
the celebration of commemorative services for the
deceased members of their family. The lists of dead of
such dynastic monasteries reflected networks of alliance
underlying the state.
These relationships connecting the living to their
deceased relatives were incorporated into a spiritual
community controlled by churchmen. The clergy became
the only intermediaries between the living and the dead.
For upper levels of society, by perpetuating the glorious
memory of their ancestors, they legitimized their own
inherited right to power. Cultivating the memory of the
dead was a main task of ecclesiastical communities. In
exchange, these ecclesiastical establishments received
numerous gifts. That the dead could intercede anywhere
for the living was unclear officially but a popular hope
for some Christians. This was not an issue for Judaism or
Islam.