St David of Wales

[xespo99]

Hi All,
This is my first time posting and I’m not sure if this is the correct forum or not, but here goes. My son is working on a school report about St. David of Wales. In almost every reference we can find it states “St. David is the only Welsh saint to be canonized and culted in the Western Church.” Can anyone tell me what “culted” means? Thank you.

 

[Damase]

Hi All,
This is my first time posting and I’m not sure if this is the correct forum or not, but here goes. My son is working on a scholl report about St. David of Wales. In almost every reference we can find it states “St. David is the only Welsh saint to be canonized and culted in the Western Church.” Can anyone tell me what “culted” means? Thank you.

Before there was a systematic canonization process (so, before the eleventh or twelfth century), the way that a holy man or woman was decided to be saint was by popular “cult.” In this context, “cult” refers to the practice of devotion to a saint or blessed. (The Latin word cultus means “honoring, reverence, adoration, veneration”.) So the early Christian martyrs, for example, were generally acclaimed to be saints by virtue of their cultus among the people.

Today there is a process of canonization. When the Pope canonizes a saint, he creates a *cultus *for that saint which is universal and obligatory for the whole Church.

So in the context of Saint David, “culted” means that he was the object of popular devotion, but not necessarily formal ecclesiastical approval.

 

[xespo99]

Thank you

 

[corsair]

There is apparently a close relationship between the Welch/Cornish/Irish Saints. I found this,

St Seiriol and Penmon Priory
Sixth Century Welsh Hermit who Lived on the Isle of Anglesey

Read more at Suite101: St Seiriol and Penmon Priory: Sixth Century Welsh Hermit who Lived on the Isle of Anglesey suite101.com/content/st-seiriol-and-penmon-priory-a48170#ixzz13VY57niJ

evidently there were several migration routes for the Welch through Cornwall. The welch and many Cornish crossed over and settled in Breton. In fact there is a very great dispute as to where King Arthur actually lived. There seems to be a lot of claim to the Welch and the Cornish (at Tantagel) and the Bretons (northwestern France) All with “supporting evidence”.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

Well, I think that description of St David is rather ridiculous! He is buried with St Justinian, his disciple, there is also St Non and St Lily and his 12 sainted disciples. There are many local Welsh saints that are celebrated in Wales by the Roman Catholic Church there - these are all “culted” and “canonized.”

Most of the saints in the Roman calendar have never been officially canonized by Rome. It was Pope Urban VIII who mandated beatification be done by Rome alone, but many Latin Catholic bishops continued to beatify their own local worthies for years afterwards e.g. Blessed John Duns Scotus was beatified by Pope John Paul II, but he was venerated as a local Beatus in Italy when he was beatified locally by a bishop there soon after his death.

The Celtic saints tended to move around a lot which is why Ireland’s patron is originally from Scotland and Scotland’s great evangelizer, St Columba, is originally from Ireland. I understand that St Kentigern Mungo bears the names of the two Celtic peoples he worked with - one Scottish and the other Welsh.

Alex