Church Interior
& Windows
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Saint David's Priory, the interior of the church.
The interior of the church after Mass on Sunday March 1st 2015, traditionally St. David's day. (The church however celebrated St. David's day on Monday March 2nd this particular year, as Sunday, being the Lord's day, always takes precedence over any saint's day.)
The Sanctuary main window .
This window was donated by friends in memory of Canon Gwydir (died 1914). Dating from 1916 it shows Christ crucified in the centre, with the Virgin Mary and St John either side. St David and St Benedict flank them. In the lower part of the window are St Illtyd, St Robert, the Arms of the English Benedictine Congregation, Canon Gwydir and St Basil. The wording woven into the window reads 'Through thy Cross and Passion O Lord deliver us'.
The dedication reads 'In token of gratitude and esteem as a memorial of his devoted life in the service of God, and his heroic death in the cause of his King and Country'.
The Lady Chapel.
The main window depicts the Sacred Heart of Christ with St Patrick and St Peter. Installed around 1920 it is in memory of the soldiers and sailors who gave their lives during the First World War, The wording in the window reads: 'Of your charity, pray for the souls of the soldiers and sailors of this congregation who gave their lives during the Great War 1914-1919'.
Now the Lady Chapel, many years ago this was the Sacred Heart Chapel.
The Blessed Sacrament Chapel
The main window in the Chapel shows the Virgin Mary with St George and St Joan of Arc on either side. Installed around 1920 the wording reads : 'To the Glory of God, and in Thanksgiving for safe return from the Great War 1914-1919'.
This window commemorates the Religious Orders of men who have served the Catholic people of the city centre during the long history of Swansea
In the trefoil at the top are the arms of the Papacy, the head of all Religious Orders.
The first coat of arms portrayed (top left) is that of the Knights Templars, a military order of monks who were suppressed in 1312. An interesting connection to them is that Father Plowden, in a letter of 1813 to the Jesuit Principal, writes of renting a room in the old church of the Templars in order to say Mass. This was probably a little exaggerated, as investigation would seem to indicate he had rented a room in Temple Street, where Castle gardens are now located, which was property originally owned by the Templars, rather than an actual church.
After the suppression of the Templars, their property passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitallers, often called the Knights of Rhodes or the Knights of Malta.
Their church, was the church that is now St. Matthews, near the railway station, which had the title of St. John until the 19th century, when a new church was built in the Hafod and the title transferred.
After the horrors of the Protestant Reformation, and the suppression of all the religious orders in Great Britain, all Catholic priests went underground, as to be a Catholic priest was punishable by death. You can see from the list of priests at the back of the church who secretly, during the days of persecution, ministered to the Catholics in this area. Amongst them were numbered the Franciscans and the Jesuits.
In 1873 Benedictine monks of Doui in France came to serve this church and in 1972 the Benedictine monks of Belmont in Herefordshire took over this service.
In the top of the right hand lancet of this window is some 15th century Medieval glass portraying the Resurrection. This is said to be the only medieval stained glass window in Wales and was given to this Church by George Grant Francis, the Swansea Historian, at the time of it's opening in 1847. It is believed to have originated from the West Country.
In the left hand lancet is portrayed St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church. Born in Tuscany he became Pope in the year 440. He was a true Father and Shepherd of his people. He constantly strove to preserve the integrity of the faith and many of his sermons are still read in the Divine Office. He defended the unity of the Church, repelled or alleviated the incursions of the Barbarians, including Attilla the Hun, and in very truth he is called the Great. He died in the year 461.
In the trefoil at the top are written the words "Tu es Petrus" (You are Peter). These are the opening words of Jesus' commission to Saint Peter when he founded the office of the Papacy: "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the under-world can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven."
This window was made by Catrin Jones and was installed in July 1986.
Please pray for the donor.
This window is based on the idea of the Holy Family combined with the Annunciation. In order to express these two ideas, the artist has included figurative elements though not in the traditional sense. There is included the Angel of the Annunciation (Gabriel) seen from the back and bearing the symbol of the white lily - the sign of the purity of the Virgin Mary and also the symbol of St. Joseph. These are set in a circular composition moving towards Mary holding her child, symbolising the eternity of the Word made Flesh, and the salvation of the whole world which came about through the Incarnation.
The outer areas represent the wings of the Angel Gabriel which surround the central figures in an attitude of protection - they are white to symbolise once more the purity of the Virgin Mother of God.
The trefoil at the top shows a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit "the Holy Spirit shall come upon you" then three lenses to symbolise the Blessed Trinity "and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and the child which will be born to you shall be called the Son of God"
This window was designed by Catrin Jones and installed in 1983.
Saint Bede depicted in this window holding books and a quill, was born near Sunderland in 673 AD. He was educated from the age of seven, first at Wearmouth Abbey by Benet Biscop and then by Coelfrith at Jarrow Abbey, where he spent the rest of is life as a scholar and monk dying in 753 AD.
He is reckoned of his time as "the greatest scholar in Christendom". From the monastery cell at Jarrow he poured out a never ceasing stream of books: theology, poetry, grammar, and natural science. To him Englandowes the practice of dating years from the birth of Christ and the first prose written in Latin by an Englishman. His vision of Hell - where there is no voice but weeping, no face but of tormentors - expresses the very soul of the dark ages he helped to ilumine. The most famous of his works was "The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation" - the story of the conversion. Lucid, just, immensely learned, it is a monument to his age, his faith and his country. That life of scholarship and labour, with the tireless hand writing amid the intervals of prayer and teaching, sometimes so frozen that he could hardly grip the pen, is one ofthe proud memories of England. He left his countrymen the earliest version of the Gospel in their own tongue and a tradition, rare in that age, of gentleness, love of truth and scrupulous fairness.
(Sir Arthur Bryant.)
St. Benedict lived from about 480 to 547 AD. He is author of the Rule still followed by Benedictines and Cistercians. He is Father of Western Monasticism and Patriarch of Western Christendom.
He was born at Nursia North-East of Rome. Sent to Rome as a youth to study, he was repelled by the city's moral laxity. Seeking solitude, he came to Subiaco. After living there for a number of years his reputation for holiness spread, until he was invited by a local monastery to be it's abbot. Much against his will he accepted. His reforms so angered the
The church of origin of these Victorian windows is unknown. They were discovered In 1983 by Dom Leo Bonsall in a stained glass studio in Swansea. They depict monks closely connected with Benedictine history. St. Benedict and St Bede. It seemed very fitting to place them in a Benedictine served church. They were first restored and placed here on the 18th April 1984 and redesigned with pictures of Belmont and Douai Abbeys on the 21st May 1994, the Abbeys chiefly responsible for St. David's Church in recent years.
lax monks that they tried to poison him. Later he founded 12 flourishing monestaries near Subiaco. Again his good work was thwarted through the jealousy of a local priest, Florentius, who tried to poison him. He decided to leave and founded the world famous monastery of Monte Cassino. There he wrote his Rule for monks and died. This window depicts his passing from earth to heaven surrounded by angels. The window is dedicated to the memory of Margot and Pierre Roche.
Blessed Philip Powell (Sometimes spelled Powel) was born on February 2nd 1593 at Trallwyn Cynfyn in Brecon. From 1614 to 1619 he studied at the university of Louvain. He was ordained a priest in 1618 on the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady (August 15th. In 1619 he was professed as a Benedictine monk at the English Monastery of St. Gregory at Douai. In those days every monk of the English Benedictine Congregation had to take an oath to serve on the English and Welsh mission, and so on March 7th 1622 he was sent from his monestary to work among the recusant Catholics in this island.
On the feast of St. Peters Chair (February 22nd) 1646, when the boat on which he was a passenger was lying in Swansea Bay, it was boarded by Captain Crouder, Vice-Admiral of the Irish and Welsh seas, who identified and arrested him on the charge of being a priest. He was taken to London and on June 16th condemned to death. About 8pm on Sunday June 28th, when an Officer came to inform him that he was to die on the following Tuesday, he exclaimed "Welcome, whatever comest! God's name be praised".
On Tuesday June 30th, the commemoration of the Martyrdom of St. Paul, Blessed Philip celebrated Mass in prison. When the Mass was ended he walked out to the hurdle, lay down upon it and was drawn across London Bridge to Tyburn. On the way someone presented him with a glass of wine and he drank to the coalman that
drove the horses attached to the hurdle. The coalman cursed Blessed Philip, complaining about being delayed for a traitor. But the hurdle had hardly passed over the bridge when one of his six horsed fell dead, which compelled the man to take a much longer stay!
At Tyburn, Blessed Philip mounted the cart and spoke to the crowd, to which he said,: "O what am I that God thus honours me, and will have me die for his sake? I am brought hither to execution for no other reason than that I am a Catholic priest, and a monk of the order of St. Benedict. I give God thanks that he has honoured me with the dignity of a priest and glory that I am a monk of the holy Order which converted this kingdom to Christianity". The rope was then adjusted around his neck, he prayed for his persecutors, and then the cart on which he was standing was drawn away. At the end of four minutes the body was cut down, disembowelled and quartered.
On December 15th 1929, Blessed Philip Powell was beatified by Pope Pius XI. This window, in his honour, presented by an anonymous donor and designed by Catrin Jones, was installed in December 1985. It depicts the Saint with the rope around his neck being offered a glass of wine on his way to Tyburn, with the coalman's horse lying dead at the feet of the woman.
This window is in honour of the Venerable Louis-Marie Baudouin and the Congregation of sisters which he founded - the Ursulines of Jesus. The sisters came to St. David's in 1860 and have worked with the Benedictine Monks of this Priory from then until the present day.
In the left-hand lancet is portrayed the venerable Louis-Marie Boudouin and in the right hand lancet are three Ursuline Sisters dressed in the habit that they wore in 1860.
At the bottom there is a picture of the Mother house of the Ursulines of Jesus at Chavagnes-en-Paillers in France.
This window was designed by Catrin Jones and installed in July 1986.
Please pray for the donor.
This window, installed in the 1970's, shows in the lower sections, the disciples with the Virgin Mary at Pentecost, the wording in the window reads: 'They were all filled with the Holy Ghost'.
The two upper sections of the window show scenes of a schoolroom and confirmation. It is dedicted to the memory of James Welsh, headmaster of St. David's school Swansea from 1934 to 1967. R.I.P.
This window, installed in the 1970's, shows in the lower sections John the Baptist preaching and baptising Christ. The two upper sections of the window show scenes of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the visit of Nicodemus to Christ at night, with the wording 'Ye Must Be Born Again' (John 3:7)