Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage, Day 6: St. David's, Wales

St. David's Episcopal Church

Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage

led by

Ken and Darlene Swanson

Day 6, April 9th: St. David's, Wales

We began our day leaving Wexford, Ireland on a ferry across the Irish Sea to Pembroke, Wales.  

It was a three and a half hour crossing into Pembroke harbor.

After disembarking, we drove to St. David's, Wales the home of our mother cathedral.  St. David's Cathedral was built on the very site where our patron St. David founded his last monastery in the late 6th century.  The monastery continued there, in spite of periodic Viking devastations.  As St. David was venerated throughout Britain, the monastery became a major pilgrimage site.  In 1081, William the Conqueror came to St. David's to pray, and in 1090 the Welsh scholar Rhigyfarcih wrote his Latin "Life of David" cementing David's veneration throughout all Christendom.  In 1123, Pope Calixtus granted St. David's major pilgrimage status, decreeing that "Two pilgrimages to St. David's is equal to one to Rome, and three pilgrimages to one to Jerusalem."  The present cathedral was begun in 1181, and completed in less than a decade.  It still stands as a majestic sign of the enduring strength of the gospel.

When we arrived we were greeted by the Dean of St. David's, the Very Rev'd Jonathan Lean.  Dean Lean led us on a thorough tour of the entire cathedral, which is magnificent.  Below are our pilgrims with the dean.

The cathedral has a wonderful nave and sanctuary, which is surrounded by several smaller chapels.  One of the chapels contains the tomb of Edmund Tudor, grandfather of Henry VIII, King of England.  Dean Lean at Edmund's tomb.

The same chapel houses relics of St. David.

While we were in the nave, the cathedral organ rehearsed for a concert to be performed that evening.  The music struck one of our pilgrims, Sue Mitchell Wallace who is our Music Director, with a sense of joy and awe. 

The Wallace family had more joy in store.  David Wallace recently discovered he had never been baptized.  Ken Swanson wrote to Dean Lean to request permission to baptize David in his patron's cathedral.  The dean graciously assented, and the baptism took place in the Lady Chapel.

Joy abounded in the chapel, as many a pilgrim shed a tear.  Dave and Sue Wallace, with Dave's godparents Al and JonAnn Thompson. 

In the evening, we returned to the cathedral for the concert of Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah" performed by the CF1 Choir from Cardiff and the British Sinfonietta, with Gary Griffiths singing the part of Elijah.

Tomorrow we will worship at St. David's Cathedral and then be off to Tintern Abbey on our way into England.