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St David and St Patrick
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St David (6th C) and St Patrick (5th C), unlike Sts George and Andrew, are both British. There is an old
stone hut near the city that bears St David’s name in Pembrokeshire where it is claimed he was born. St Patrick was
born in Bannavem Taburniae, a region that possibly stretched from Cornwall to the Clyde – suggesting that he could be
English, Welsh or Scottish. Both became bishops and founded several monasteries, though there is some doubt as to
whether St Patrick was a monk; St David chose a humble life living on bread, vegetables and water. Much of their
histories are mixed with legends.
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Did St Patrick actually drive all the snakes out of Ireland? It is most likely that there weren’t
any snakes in Ireland. They could not have survived the Cold of the Ice Ages. By the time the last Ice Age ended the
Irish Sea had been established, whilst a land bridge existed between England and the continent across which snakes
could have crossed before the ice melted enough to flood this land bridge away. It is said that the cult of St David
was started by the Welsh in opposition to the saints at Canterbury.
St David (above), St Patrick (right)
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The national emblems are the shamrock for Ireland and the leek and daffodil for Wales. There is a story that St Patrick
used the shamrock to explain the Trinity. The leek and the daffodil are the same word (ceninen) in Welsh. The wearing of
leeks by Welsh soldiers is referred to by Shakespeare and there is a story that St David told Welsh soldiers to wear
leeks in their hats during a battle with the pagan Saxons. There are no early records of the daffodil, but as one
commentator says ‘the daffodil makes a better button-hole!’
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Copyright © St Mary's Parochial Church Council 2010-2011
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