Samson of Dol

Last updated
Saint

Samson of Dol
Saint Samson.jpg
Bornc. 485
South Wales
Died565
Dol, Neustria, Kingdom of the Franks
Venerated in Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church [1]
Major shrine Dol; Milton Abbas, Dorset
Feast 28 July

Samson of Dol (also Samsun; born c. late 5th century) was a Welsh saint, who is also counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany with Pol Aurelian, Tugdual or Tudwal, Brieuc, Malo, Patern (Paternus) and Corentin. Born in southern Wales, he died in Dol-de-Bretagne, a small town in north Brittany.

Contents

Life

The primary source for his biography is the Vita Sancti Samsonis, written sometime between 610 and 820 and clearly based on earlier materials. [2] It gives useful details of contacts between churchmen in Britain, Ireland and Brittany.

Samson was the son of Amon of Demetia and Anna of Gwent. His father's brother married his mother's sister so that their son Maglor was Samson's cousin twice over. Due to a prophecy concerning his birth his parents placed him under the care of Illtud, Abbot of Llantwit Fawr, where he was raised and educated. [3]

Samson later sought a greater austerity than his school provided, and so moved to Llantwit's daughter house, the island monastery of Caldey off the coast of Dyfed (Pembrokeshire), Wales, where he became abbot after the death of Pyr. Samson abstained from alcohol – unlike Pyr, who was killed when he fell down a well while drunk. As a cenobitic and later an eremitic monk, he travelled from Caldey to Ireland, where he is said to have founded or revived a monastery. [4]

There is one fairly certain date recorded of Samson's life; that he was ordained bishop by Bishop Dubricius [3] on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (22 February) at the beginning of Lent, which can be calculated to have fallen in the year 521. If, as is usual, he was 35 years old at the time then he would have been born in 486.

Abbott Samson's Pillar Cross at St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Abbott Samson's Pillar Cross.jpg
Abbott Samson's Pillar Cross at St Illtud's Church, Llantwit

Iolo Morganwg was responsible for the re-discovery of the Samson Pillar at St Illtud's Church, Llantwit, in about 1789, [5] but his suggestion that it was erected by Samson himself was discredited by later historians with access to more reliable written sources. However, in the 20th century, genealogical studies threw further light on the subject, and the pillar is now considered by many to be "one of the oldest inscribed Christian monuments in Britain". [6] Legend has it that Saint Samson of Dol was threshing corn in Penparcau, Ceredigion on the hillside of Pen Dinas (a Celtic Hillfort) when the larger part of his flail broke and landed across the valley in the Abbey at Llanbadarn Fawr, in anger he threw the smaller part over the valley too and these were used to make the three celtic crosses which now stand in the church. [7]

Later he travelled to Cornwall (where he founded a community in either South Hill or Golant), then the Scilly Isles (where the island of Samson is named after him), Guernsey where he is the Patron Saint and Brittany, where he founded the monastery of Dol. [3] He organised the excommunication of King Conomor and successfully petitioned the Merovingian king Childebert I on behalf of Judael, Conomor's estranged son (c. 540–60). He is recorded as having attended a council in Paris sometime between 556 and 573, by which time he would have been old. He was buried with his cousin Magloire in the cathedral of Dol.

The Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan (r. 924–939) obtained several relics of Samson, including an arm and a crozier, which he deposited at his monastery at Milton Abbas in Dorset. [8]

Roman Martyrology

In the 2004 edition of the Roman Martyrology of the Catholic church, Samson is listed under 28 July. He is mentioned as follows: "At Dol in Brittany (died) Samson, abbot and bishop, who having learned the Gospel and monastic discipline in Wales from Illtud, spread these in Domnonée." [9] He does not appear in the current Roman Catholic liturgical calendar of saints celebrated annually in Wales. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llantwit Major</span> Human settlement in Wales

Llantwit Major is a town and community in Wales on the Bristol Channel coast. It is one of four towns in the Vale of Glamorgan, with the third largest population after Barry and Penarth, and ahead of Cowbridge. It is 4+12 miles (7.2 km) from Cowbridge, 9 miles (14 km) from Bridgend, 10 miles (16 km) from Barry, and 15 miles (24 km) from Cardiff. It had a population of 9,530 in 2021.

Saint Samson, Saint-Samson, or Saint Sampson may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Aurelian</span> 6th-century Welsh bishop of Léon, Brittany

Paul Aurelian was a 6th-century Welshman who became first bishop of the See of Léon and one of the seven founder saints of Brittany. He allegedly died in 575, rumoured to have lived to the age of 140, after having been assisted in his labors by three successive coadjutors. This suggests that several Pauls have been conflated. Gilbert Hunter Doble thought that he might have been Saint Paulinus of Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illtud</span> 6th-century Welsh saint

Illtud, also known as Illtud Farchog or Illtud the Knight, is venerated as the abbot teacher of the divinity school, Bangor Illtyd, located in Llanilltud Fawr in Glamorgan, Wales. He founded the monastery and college in the 6th century, and the school is believed to be Britain's earliest centre of learning. At its height, it had over a thousand pupils and schooled many of the great saints of the age, such as David, Samson of Dol, and the historian Gildas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">July 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)</span>

July 27 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - July 29

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Illtyd's Church, Llantwit Major</span> Medieval Welsh church on 6th century monastic site

St Illtyd's Church is a church complex in Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, southeast Wales. It is located at the site of the oldest college in the United Kingdom, once believed to have been founded as Côr Tewdws c. AD 395 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. It is now generally accepted as having been founded by St. Illtud c. AD 508, from whom it derives its name. The current church building was built in the 11th century by the Normans, with portions being rebuilt in the 13th and 15th centuries. The church building is one of the oldest and best-known parish churches in Wales. It is a grade I listed building, or building of exceptional interest, and has been called both the "Westminster Abbey of Wales" for its unique collection of carved stones and effigies, and "the most beautiful church in Wales."

Saint Baglan was a 6th-century hermit who lived at Baglan in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audomar</span> Bishop of Thérouanne

Audomar, better known as Omer, was a bishop of Thérouanne, after whom nearby Saint-Omer in northern France was named. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Canna</span> 6th century female Welsh saint

Canna was a sixth-century mother of saints and later a nun in south Wales, to whom two Welsh churches are dedicated.

Pyr was a Welsh abbot of the 6th century who may later have been revered as a saint by some. Most of what is known of him comes from the First Life of St. Samson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cenydd</span> 6th-century Welsh saint

Saint Cenydd, sometimes anglicised as Saint Kenneth, was a Christian hermit on the Gower Peninsula in Wales, where he is credited with the foundation of the church at Llangennith.

Côr Tewdws or Bangor Tewdws is a fictional Romano-British ecclesiastical college that in the 18th and 19th centuries was understood to have been the predecessor of the historically attested 6th century College and Abbey of Saint Illtud at what is now Llantwit Major in Glamorgan in Wales. The supposed Roman college is believed to have been invented by the historian of ill-repute, Edward Williams, more generally known as Iolo Morganwg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Budoc</span> Medieval bishop

Budoc of Dol was a 5th-century Breton monk and Bishop of Dol, who has been venerated since his death as a saint in both Brittany and Devon. Budoc is the patron saint of Plourin in Finistère where his relics are preserved. His feast day was originally celebrated on 8 December, the date still used in Devon, but in Brittany this has been transferred to 9 December.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magloire</span> Breton saint

Magloire, better known as Saint Magloire of Dol, is a Breton saint. Little reliable information is known of Magloire as the earliest written sources appeared three centuries after his death. These sources claim that he was a monk from Wales who became the Bishop of Dol-de-Bretagne in Brittany during the 6th century, and ended his life on the island of Sark, where he was abbot of a monastery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Padarn</span> 6th-century bishop and saint

Padarn was an early 6th century British Christian abbot-bishop who founded Saint Padarn's Church in Ceredigion, Wales. He appears to be the same individual as the first bishop of Braga and Saint Paternus of Avranches in Normandy. Padarn built a monastery in Vannes and is considered one of the seven founding saints of Brittany. His early vita is one of five insular and two Breton saints' lives that mention King Arthur independently of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Sampson's Church, Golant</span> Church

St Sampson's Church is the Church of England parish church of the village of Golant, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom; it is dedicated to St Sampson of Dol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Teilo</span> Early medieval Welsh bishop and saint

Saint Teilo, also known by his Cornish name Eliud, was a British Christian monk, bishop, and founder of monasteries and churches. He was from Penalun (Penally) near Tenby in Pembrokeshire, south Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of St Illtyd, Penrice</span> Church in Penrice, south-west Wales

The Church of St Illtyd is a Grade II* listed building in the city and county of Swansea in south Wales. It is 1 km from Oxwich village, on a site overlooking Oxwich Bay and reached by the Wales Coast Path. It has a square churchyard with a stone wall and a modern gate. The church was originally listed on 6 March 1964. The church was originally dedicated to Hylledd, and no reason is known as to why it was changed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turiaf of Dol</span>

Saint Turiaf of Dol was a Breton abbot and bishop of the ancient Diocese of Dol.

References

  1. "Samson (Sampson) July 28".
  2. Flobert, Pierre (tr. & ed.) (1997) La Vie ancienne de saint Samson de Dol. Paris: CNRS ISBN   2-271-05386-2
  3. 1 2 3 Huddleston, Gilbert. "St. Samson." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 27 Feb. 2013
  4. St Samson of Caldey Island in Wales & Dol Island in Brittany Archived 2012-04-04 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Iolo Morganwg: the Stonemason
  6. Iolo Morganwg: Vale of Glamorgan Trail, published by Vale of Glamorgan Council, n.d.
  7. John, Terry (1994). The Standing Stones of West Wales; Their History and Traditions. Gomer. p. 47. ISBN   9781859021279.
  8. Farmer, David (2011). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 389. ISBN   9780199596607.
  9. Martyrologium Romanum, 2004, Vatican Press (Typis Vaticanis), page 419.
  10. National Calendar for Wales, accessed 8 February 2012

Bibliography