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Various legends about his life claim he was born on a cliff overlooking the sea during a storm. The ruins of a small chapel, known as Capel Non (Non’s Chapel), mark the site of his birth, and a holy well close to the chapel is believed to have healing powers.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The Life of St Non
- Women in Sixth-Century Wales
- Traces of St Non in The Pembrokeshire Landscape
- St Non in The Wider World
- The Role of Legends
- St Non’s Story Today
- Saints as Life Examples
There are several versions of St Non’s life. The Life of St David, written by the monk Rhygyfarch in 1080, focuses mostly on her life as a nun and giving birth to David. This Life was written five hundred years after David’s death, with Rhygyfarch drawing on old manuscripts in the cathedral library and oral traditions. There are references elsewher...
St Non is described variously as the daughter of a chieftain or a king, a nun, and a chaste woman. It is likely that women played a prominent role in early Welsh society, with some legal rights and a degree of independence in managing their lives. However, marriage still made aristocratic women like Non an important political tool, as land and powe...
Near the coastal path is the ruined medieval chapel of St Non. This is where Non is said to have given birth to St David. During her labour pains, she gripped a stone so hard that her fingerprints were left on it and it split in two. St Non’s well, which is said to have miraculously sprung up as David was born, is nearby. This continued to be a pla...
St Non is a saint celebrated in other parts of the Celtic world. It is said her tomb lies in the 16th century church of St Nonne and St Divy (St David) in Dirinon, Brittany, and she has a church and holy well dedicated to her in Altarnon, Cornwall. These connections show the strong cultural and language links this part of Wales had with the rest of...
When St Non was giving birth alone, it is said that a great storm was raging on the peninsula, she was bathed in a golden light and complete calm. This imagery echoes a legend around the birth of Jesus where a frightened young Virgin Mary gave birth in a stable bathed in golden light from the Star of Bethlehem. Such comparisons were designed to mak...
The heart of St Non’s story is a difficult one. It tells of a young woman being attacked by a powerful man who may have seen it as his right to have her. Her resulting pregnancy may have caused her to be shunned by her community or made her feel she had to hide away. But she survived; her story is also one of faith enabling her to overcome this ter...
We may think of a ‘saint’ as being someone who is perfect, but many saints’ lives tell a different story. They tell of people following God, but often failing or having things happen to them which are cruel or unjust. What marks them out is that they hold to their faith and find that God is with them, no matter what. That does not mean God will ‘fi...
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A church was built in the place of David's birth and this stone is now concealed in the foundations of the altar. [4] Variations on her story state that: Non may have been the daughter of the nobleman Cynyr of Caer Goch (in Pembrokeshire ). [5] The chieftain who fathered David may have been named Xantus, [6] Sandde [7] or Sant. [8] (
David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail about his life. His birth date, however, is uncertain: suggestions range from 462 to 512. [1] He is traditionally believed to be the son of Non and the grandson of Ceredig ap Cunedda, king of Ceredigion. [2] The Welsh annals placed his death 569 years after the birth of Christ, [3] but Phillimore 's ...
Jul 31, 2009 · What we know about the life of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales and one of the early saints who helped to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of Western Britain.
Fortunately, Non was protected by heavenly intervention. Giving birth to David on a Pembrokeshire clifftop in the midst of a violent thunderstorm, she was bathed in 'so serene a light that it glistened as though the sun was visible.'
The site of Davids birth is marked by the ruins of a tiny ancient chapel close to a holy well and the more recent 18th century chapel dedicated to his mother Non can still be seen near St. David’s Cathedral.
