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Sunday Worship: St David 900 celebrations

St David 900 celebrations

BBC Radio 4 - Sunday Worship, St David 900 celebrations

St David was recognised as the patron saint of Wales by Pope Callixtus II 900 years ago.

It’s 900 years since St David was recognised as the patron saint of Wales by Pope Callixtus II. Presented from Jerusalem by the Dean of St David's, Sarah Rowland-Jones.

This year marks 900 years since St David’s place at the centre of Welsh identity was given international recognition by Pope Callixtus II, who also affirmed St. David's Cathedral as a significant pilgrimage destination. 

David’s life and the stories which came to be told about him were from the very beginning shaped by an international dimension: David was given his status because of a relationship with Rome; he acquired his spiritual purpose because of a relationship with Jerusalem; his birth and upbringing involved a relationship with Brittany; while his spiritual leadership involved relationship with the whole island of Britain. 

For this St David’s Day, the Dean of St Davids, the Very Revd Dr Sarah Rowland Jones, considers Wales' patron saint’s life and message from the perspective of Jerusalem, the city David would have considered the centre of the world, and to which he is said to have made pilgrimage in the 6th century. 

Sarah leads a service from the ancient Holy Land locations which formed David’s view of the world; and invites reflections from three contemporary Welsh pilgrims visiting sites of significance for the story of St David: in Rome, Fr Matthew Roche Saunders, Catholic priest from Aberystwyth; in Brittany, Canon Edwin Counsell, of St Illtud’s, where David is believed to have studied; and in Jerusalem, contemporary Welsh writer in residence at St George’s College, Rhidian Brook.  The service also includes a contribution from the present day Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Theophilus III.

Music by the following artists, recorded on location by the BBC:

Sound of Wales
St David's Cathedral Choir
Choir of the Venerale English College, Rome
Officina Corale

Producer: Dominic Jewel.

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