March 1st: Saint David's Day

March 1 is the feast day of Saint David, or Dewi Sant as he is known in the Welsh language, and is widely celebrated in Wales. So here are 10 things you may not know about Saint David.

1. His most famous miracle happened when he was preaching to a large crowd. The land he was standing on rose up to create a new hill, so that more people would be able to hear the sermon. At the same time, a white dove came and settled on his shoulder.
2. As well as being the patron saint of Wales, Saint David is also patron saint of doves and poets.
3. Saint David preached and practised austerity. His monks were not allowed to use horses to pull their ploughs, but had to pull the plough themselves, praying as they went. They were only allowed to eat bread with salt and herbs, and could only drink water or milk. David himself did not even drink milk, and became known as Dewi Ddyfrwr (David the water drinker). Personal possessions were forbidden, and even to refer to something using the word "my" was an offence.
4. His last words to his followers were in the sermon he gave the Sunday before he died: "Be joyful, and keep your faith and your creed, and do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about."
5. According to a biography of Saint David written by Rhygyfarch, the Saint is credit with founding many churches, among them Glastonbury Abbey. However, in a later account by William of Malmesbury, this was disputed, and instead he is said to have commissioned an extension only, and to have donated an altar and a sapphire.
6. His shrine became a great place of pilgrimage; four visits to the shrine at St David's were considered the equivalent of two to Rome, and one to Jerusalem.
7. David is said to be a descendant of the King of Cardigan on his father's side and a great-nephew of King Arthur on his mother's.
8. His birth wasn't easy - legend has it that his mother, Non, was seduced or raped by his father, Sant. Non ran away from her family to give birth and eventually became a nun and a saint in her own right. David's birth was said to be so painful that Non gripped the rocks around her so hard that she left finger marks. Then, as David was born, a bolt of lightning hit a nearby rock and split it in two.
9. Saint David was baptised by Saint Elvis of Munster, and it is said that a blind man was cured by the water used for the baptism.
10. Another Welsh legend links Saint David with "corpse candles", blue flames which travel just above the ground from the house of someone who is about to die to the graveyard and back again. This is because Saint David prayed that his people might have some warning when they were going to die so they could be ready.