Early medieval (6th century)
Feast: March 1
When the crowd at the synod couldn’t hear him, the ground under his feet rose into a hill. A dove landed on his shoulder. Wales chose him as their patron.
His last words to his monks were simple: ‘Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things.’ The Welsh still quote it. David founded his monastery at the far western tip of Wales, a windswept headland where the land runs out and the Atlantic begins. His rule was stricter than most: monks drank only water, ate only bread and vegetables, and pulled their own plows — no oxen allowed. David himself reportedly stood in cold water up to his neck to recite the psalms, a Celtic practice that sounds like misery but was meant to keep the body awake while the mind prayed. The most famous story about him comes from the Synod of Brefi, where bishops gathered to fight the Pelagian heresy. David didn’t want to attend. When he finally showed up and began to speak, the crowd complained they couldn’t hear him. The ground beneath him rose into a small hill, and a white dove settled on his shoulder. Whether that happened or not, the point was clear: the quiet monk from the edge of the world had something worth hearing. The Welsh celebrate his feast on March 1 by wearing daffodils and leeks — the leek because David told his monks that simplicity, not spectacle, was the measure of a holy life.