It's a little while until March 1, so I'm sneaking in with a query seeking information in good time ... it concerns the liturgical observance ... or not ... of S David, in accordance with the hints to be gleaned from Tradition and past praxis.
I begin with the Victorian period and its evidence.
I have an 1874 Breviary. It contains a single appendix for 'Anglia'. This appears to treat Wales as part of England. It does have S David on March 1, but not with any particular dignity. He is a plain "Double". The assumption must be that in every part of England and Wales he was observed, and with that rank.
9 November 1943: the SRC granted a Calendar to the English Diocese of Nottingham. It has nothing indicated for 1 March.
In 1949, Burns Oates Washbourne published a bilingual hand-missal with copious information about British local Calendars. On 1 March, S David was observed as a "double" in: Westminster, Cardiff, Menevia, and Portsmouth. I can imagine historical reasons for the Westminster observance; I think Cardiff and Menevia at that time constituted the whole of Wales; but why on earth is Portsmouth the only other 'English' diocese to observe S David? Is it because he visited Paulinus on the Isle of Wight (Vecta insula) and eiusdem hortatu vicinis populis praedicare coepit?
A 1958 Brentwood Calendar, for 1 March, simply says "Ember Day. Mass of feria." And the Anglo-Papalist English Missal of 1958 gives congruent information.
A friendly priest researching an associated topic writes: "I found a set of old Clifton breviaries ... I discovered that in 1962 SS David and Patrick were not in Clifton's calendar at all."
Joining up the dots indicates whither this is all leading. Does anybody have other fact-based information?
I wonder if one could discern in this jumble of facts evidence for a paper on Liturgical Evidence for Notions of Nationhood?
3 comments:
Dear Fr. Hunwicke.
This is a most interesting Post.
Thank you for raising the question of Saint David.
For years, I have wondered why no mention was ever made of this great Saint.
I shall watch the progress of your query/request for information very closely.
in Domino
Zephyrinus
From the Catholic Directory for England and Wales, 1913 edition
"March 1 S—St. David, Bp. C, d. white.
Menevia. St.David, Bp.C. Second Patron of the Diocese. d. 1 cl. white.
Newport. St. David, Bp. c. Patron of South Wales, d. 1 cl. white.
From Missae Propriae pro Dioecesibus Britanniae
"DIE 1 MARCH
S. DAVID Ep. et Conf. Patron. Princ. Cambriae
(In Dioec. Westmon., Portus Magni, Cardiffen. et Menev.)"
From Index Festorum Specialis secundum Kalendarium Congregationes Angliae OSB 1926
"David Ep. Conf., 1 Mart"
I've a Burns, Oates and Washbourne hand missal, ninth ed. 1935 and apart from the three doubles mentioned, there's a few difference in the diocesan Kalendars that note St David. Birmingham has St David as a double of the second class, with no other English diocese marking St. David's Feast. Cardiff has the saint as double of the first class except for Lent, Menevia as a greater double. Not marked in Scotland Ireland, New Zealand or Australia. It has St David and all diocesan saints grouped together with a sort of diocesan ordo at the start of the supplement. An 1806 'Roman Missal for the Use of the Laity,' Keating, Brown & Co., 37 Duke St., Grosvenor Square, doesn't separate out diocesan and universal saints and while St Chad bp of Lichfield is marked next day, St David isn't.
A 1961 The Roman Missal of Nicholas Adams & Sons Bristol doesn't mark St David for Birmingham but is a double for Portsmouth, Cardiff, double of the first class, Menevia, the same.
The Roman Missal in Latin and English for Descleé & Co. 1923 notes that Menevia is now called St David's, that St David had transferred the principal see of Wales from Caerleon to Menevia, and doesn't give the feast any obvious rank. It does give the Welsh feasts, but in a supplement for England, Scotland and Ireland.
The Missal in Latin and English, Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1958, notes St David as Title of Cathedral and the feast as double of the first class, Mevevia marks him as Patron of Wales and same rank, Portsmouth as a double. The feast is noted as marked in Westminster, Cardiff, Menevia and Portsmouth.
Burns and Oates, The Roman Missal for the use of the laity simply notes St David as a double and appears not to note the different dioceses in any particular way. All feasts including England, by which they mean Ireland, Scotland, Wales too, are with the universal calendar.
Portsmouth seems also to mark some Irish feasts like that of St Bridget.
I hope Fr this post treats of the question you asked. I notice also that St Bridget is also marked inv Cardiff and Menevia in the 1958 missal with Portsmouth marking her as a commemoration in the 1935 missal.
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