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building devoted to the purposes of religion, though some time may elapse before a revenue is appropriated for its maintenance. Chapels, on the contrary, were erected after the endowment became a vested right, for upon this principle, as already shown, depends the circumstance of their subordination. It will, therefore, follow that the chapels and subordinate churches, which are assigned to St. David, in the preceding list, were not founded by him, but dedicated to his memory after his decease; and though the distinction is not carefully observed in popular opinion, it may be stated in confirmation of the view here given, that, in the writings of the middle ages, specific mention occurs of only one of these chapels as founded by the Saint to whom it is ascribed. The instance alluded to is that of Colfa, subject to Glascwm, which Ricemarchus and Giraldus* describe as one of the Monasteries founded by St. David; but, as the passages in which it occurs are very corrupt, the statement may be a mistake. It is inconsistent with analogy, as well as with the testimony of Gwynfardd; but allowing its correctness, the solitary exception will not invalidate the general rule.

St. David is stated to have been canonized by Pope Calixtus, between A. D. 1119 and 1124; it might, therefore, be expected that churches were dedicated to his memory after that event; and also that, according to the practice with other Saints of the Romish Calendar, churches were called after his name in places which had no connexion with his history, the selection of the patron Saint being left arbitrarily to the founder of the building. His canonization appears, however, to have resulted from, rather than have caused the celebrity in which he was held by his countrymen; and upon the churches of Wales it appears to have had no further effect than perhaps to increase the number of his chapels; but numerous as these may be, it will be inferred, from the following considerations,

* Life of St. David, in Wharton's Anglia Sacra.

that the great majority of them are more ancient, and belong to a time when arbitrary dedication was not the usual practice. Many of them are dedicated to the same Saint as the mother church; but this, it will be observed, is an extension of the principle of subordination. The remainder are almost uniformly subordinate to churches of Welsh Saints of contemporary or older date. If it were the custom to build chapels and dedicate them to St. David in later ages, they would be found occasionally subordinate to Saints of a later generation, or to those of the Romish Calendar; but such is not the case. If it were the custom to dedicate churches to St. David as to St. Peter, St. John, and others, it would be expected that they were dispersed over the country indiscriminately; but, on the contrary, they are strictly local, being grouped together in certain districts, over which his personal influence must have extended. In the six counties of North Wales there is not one church that bears his name. In the original Diocese of Llandaff he has but two chapels, and only three in what is supposed to have been the original Diocese of Llanbadarn; all the rest, including every one of the endowments, are in the district of which, as Archbishop of Caerleon, or Menevia, he was himself the Diocesan. The Cathedral of St. David's is in the territory of his maternal grandfather, the neighbourhood of Henfynyw appears to have been the property of his father, and Llanddewi Brefi is situated on the spot where he refuted the Pelagian Heresy.

SECTION III.

General Observations on the Welsh Saints, as distinguished from those of the Roman Catholic Church.

THE three Saints,* whose churches have been examined, happen to be the best specimens that could have been selected to represent so many classes of foundations; and it is hoped the arrangement will not prove inconsistent with the testimony of ecclesiastical historians. The oldest churches in Wales are called after the names of certain holy persons, who are reputed to have been their founders; but a difficulty presents itself in the question-to whom were they dedicated? for their patron Saints are unknown, and it cannot be supposed that their founders would raise churches in honour of themselves. The objection, that they must have been erected to the memory of these persons after their decease, would perhaps be admitted as insuperable, if it could not be shown from authentic documents, that the belief current in the Principality since the eleventh century has been to the contrary. The popular explanation is, that they were called after the names of their founders, upon the principle that a house is

* The pre-eminence of these Saints did not escape the notice of Gwynfardd; the concluding lines of his poem are,

"Cyfodwn, archwn arch ddiommedd, Drwy eirioledd Dewi, a Duw a fedd. Gwae a nad gwen-wlad gwedi masw

edd.

H

Drwy eirioledd Mair, mam radlonedd,
A Mihangel, mawr ym mhob arfedd.
Dychyfarfyddwn ni lu am ei lariedd;
Dychyfarfyddwn ninnau am drugaredd."

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frequently named after its builder; and if they never had any other patron Saints, the inference naturally follows, that they must have been founded before formal dedications were customary. It must have remained for the superstition of succeeding generations to dignify these founders with the title of Saints; but, as they flourished in the fifth and sixth centuries, it may be urged that formal dedications were at that time usually practised on the continent. The superstitions of Britain, however, were those prevalent in the Catholic or Universal Church in the fourth century; for shortly after the commencement of the fifth, the communication between the Britons and their continental neighbours was interrupted; so that while the Catholic Church was inventing new ceremonies, and how the Britons continued stationary; and in the seventh century 2. the discrepancy was so great, that the Christians of Wales would hold no communion with the Saxons, who had adopted the Roman ritual. In Italy and the Eastern Empire, instances occur of churches formally named after Saints as early as the time of Constantine; how rapidly this practice may have spread westwards is uncertain; but Bede mentions two churches so dedicated in Britain in the beginning of the fifth century. The first is the church of St. Martin at Canterbury, which however is intimated to have been built by the Romans rather than the Britons.† The second is the church of Candida Casa, or Whithern, in Galloway, North Britain, dedicated also to St. Martin; but it is stated that Ninia, its founder, received his religious education at Rome, and it is added that this church was built of stone contrary to the usual custom of the Britons. About A. D. 710, Naiton, king of the Picts, upon conforming to the Romish ritual, desired that architects should be sent him, to build a church of stone in his country according to the fashion of the Romans, which he promised to

* Bede's Eccl. Hist. + Ibid. Book I. Chap. 26. Book III. Chap. 4.

dedicate to the prince of the Apostles, adding that thenceforward he and his people would adopt the customs of the holy Roman and Apostolic Church, so far as they could be learnt by persons so distant from the language and nation of Rome.* Though the Britons of Wales were not so remote from Rome as their brethren of Scotland, they persisted more obstinately in their non-conformity, and are described by Bede, in his own time, as celebrating the Passover without fellowship with the church of Christ. The full amount of difference is not stated, but it is a satisfaction to remark that the historian does not charge them with errors of doctrine. That their religious ceremonies were conducted with a degree of primitive simplicity might be expected from their poverty and seclusion. It is evident, however, that the churches of the Britons were built of wood, and covered with reeds, or straw; and from the situation of their representatives in Wales, it would further appear that they were not formally dedicated to Saints. The grounds upon which this opinion rests are, that the churches, which from their endowments are shown to be the most ancient, have no other patron Saints than the persons alleged to have been their founders; the next in point of antiquity are called after St. Michael, the Archangel, being the first advance in the way of superstition; afterwards follow those dedicated? to the Apostles and other Saints, still retaining certain marks of distinction. But not to depend entirely upon speculation, however well supported by existing circumstances, two passages in the writings of Bede will perhaps decide the question. The first is to the following effect.

"Aidan, the Bishop, having departed this life, Finan, who had been ordained and sent by the Scots to succeed him in his Bishoprick, built, in the island of Lindisfarne, a church fit for an Episcopal See; which however, after the manner of the

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