Dubricius
Saint Dubricius | |
|---|---|
 Saint Dubricius depicted in stained glass with an archiepiscopal cross | |
| Archbishop | |
| Born | 465(?) Madley, near Hereford, Herefordshire, England[1] |
| Died | 550 or 612 Bardsey Island, Wales[1] |
| Feast | 14 November |
| Attributes | holding two croziers and an archiepiscopal cross[2] |
Saint Dubricius (also known in his native Welsh as Dyfrig and in corrupt Norman-French as Devereux) (c. 465 – 550 or 612) was a 6th century Briton ecclesiastic venerated as a saint. He was the and evangelist of Ergyng (now Archenfield) and much of South-East Wales.
Biography
Dubricius was born in Madley, now located in Herefordshire in England. He was the illegitimate son of Efrddyl, the daughter of King Peibio Clafrog of Ergyng. His grandfather threw his mother into the River Wye when he discovered she was pregnant, but was unsuccessful in drowning her. Dubricius was born in Madley. He and his mother were reconciled with Peibio when Dubricius kissed him and cured him of his leprosy[citation needed].
Dubricius founded a monastery at Hentland and then one at Moccas. He became the teacher of many well-known Welsh saints, including Teilo and Samson. Dedications at Porlock and near Luscombe on the Exmoor coast of Somerset may indicate that he also travelled in that area. He later became Bishop of Ergyng, possibly with his seat at Weston under Penyard, and probably held sway over all of Glamorgan and Gwent, an area that was later known as the diocese of Llandaff. However, he may have merely been a bishop for the purpose of ordaining priests, not as administrative head of the church over a geographical area. Dubricius was good friends with Saints Illtud and Samson, and attended the Synod of Llanddewi Brefi in 545, where he is said to have resigned his see in favour of Saint David. He retired to Bardsey where he was eventually buried before his body was transferred to Llandaff Cathedral in 1120.
According to legend, Dubricius was made Archbishop of Wales from Caerleon by Saint Germanus of Auxerre, and later crowned King Arthur. He appears as a character in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and Wace's Roman de Brut, which was based on it. Much later Alfred, Lord Tennyson featured the saint in his Idylls of the King.
Churches dedicated to Saint Dubricius include the Church of England churches in Ballingham, Herefordshire, and Porlock Somerset;Llanvaches, a church in Wales near Newport. The Catholic church at Treforest is also dedicated to Dyfrig. It should be remembered that Dyfrig was a canonised Welsh Saint and that modern day Monmouthshire, Glamorgan and Dyfrig's part of Herefordshire once formed part of the ancient kingdom of Gwent, which is why Hereford still comes under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cardiff. The Catholic Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire was originally to be the Cathedral for Newport.
Arthurian scholar Norma Lorre Goodrich in her book Merlin, claims that St. Dubricius and Merlin were actually the same person, as Merlinus Ambrosius Dubricius, who reputedly lived in the same time period.
References
- ^ a b Ford, David Nash (2001). "St. Dyfrig, Bishop of Ergyng". Early British Kingdoms. Nash Ford Publishing. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ Rabenstein, Katherine (March 1999). "Dubricius B (AC)". Saints O' the Day for November 14. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
External links
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. Dubric". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
