Samson of Dol
Encyclopedia
Saint Samson of Dol was a Christian
religious figure who is counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany. Born in southern Wales
, he died in Dol-de-Bretagne
, a small town in north Brittany.
, Wales and Anna of Gwent, daughter of Meurig ap Tewdrig
, King of Glamorgan and Gwent. His father's brother also married his mother's sister and their son Saint Magloire was therefore his cousin. In view of the prophecy concerning his birth his parents placed him under the care of Saint Illtud
, abbot
of Llantwit Fawr, where he was raised and educated.
Later, after the death of Saint Pyr
, Samson became abbot
of Llantwit's daughter house on Caldey Island
. He was ordained bishop
by Bishop Dubricius
on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter
(February 22) at the beginning of Lent
, which can be calculated to have fallen in the year 521, the only certain date in Samson's life.
If the usual practice was observed and he was 35 years old at the time of his ordination this would mean he was born in 486, though he is recorded as having been in attendance at a church Council in Paris
held sometime between 556 and 573 at which time he would have been between 70 and 87 years old.
At first, a cenobitic monk and later, an eremtic
monk, he travelled widely. It is known that Samson travelled from Llaniltud Fawr to the island monastery of Caldey off the coast of Dyfed
(Pembrokeshire
), Wales
and then on to Ireland
where he is said to have founded or revived a monastery, to Cornwall
(where he founded a cenobite, at either South Hill
or Golant
), the Scilly Isles, Guernsey
and Brittany
.
While in Brittany, he founded the monastery of Dol. Samson participated in Breton politics, organising the excommunication of King Conomor
and successfully petitioning the Merovingian king, Childebert I
, on behalf of King Judwal. One of the seven founder saints of Brittany with Pol Aurelian
, Tugdual or Tudwal
, Brieuc, Malo
, Patern (Paternus) and Corentin, he was buried, with his cousin Magloire, in the Cathedral of Dol.
in Britain during Samson's time. This document details the contacts churchmen in Britain had with both Ireland and Brittany, describes their belief, and offers facts that have been used to prove both that religious communities were headed by abbots where the bishops served in a subordinate role, and that these communities were actually headed by bishops as was the usual practice in the rest of Europe. This Vita was later used as a model for the writing of other hagiographies
in Brittany. There is an English translation of the Vita by Thomas Taylor, published in 1925 by SPCK. A second life of less interest was edited by Dom Plaine in 1887.
For further information, see.
Celtic Christianity
Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages...
religious figure who is counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany. Born in southern Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, he died in Dol-de-Bretagne
Dol-de-Bretagne
Dol-de-Bretagne , cited in most historical records under its Breton name of Dol, is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine département in Brittany in north-western France.-History:...
, a small town in north Brittany.
Life
Samson was of noble blood, the son of Amon of DemetiaKingdom of Dyfed
The Kingdom of Dyfed is one of several Welsh petty kingdoms that emerged in 5th-century post-Roman Britain in south-west Wales, based on the former Irish tribal lands of the Déisi from c 350 until it was subsumed into Deheubarth in 920. In Latin, the country of the Déisi was Demetae, eventually to...
, Wales and Anna of Gwent, daughter of Meurig ap Tewdrig
Meurig ap Tewdrig
Meurig ap Tewdrig was the son of Tewdrig , and a king of the early Welsh kingdoms of Gwent and Glywysing. He is thought to have lived sometime between 400 and 600 AD....
, King of Glamorgan and Gwent. His father's brother also married his mother's sister and their son Saint Magloire was therefore his cousin. In view of the prophecy concerning his birth his parents placed him under the care of Saint Illtud
Illtud
Illtyd , was a Welsh saint, founder and abbot of Llanilltud Fawr in the Welsh county of Glamorgan...
, abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
of Llantwit Fawr, where he was raised and educated.
Later, after the death of Saint Pyr
Saint Pyr
Pyr was a Welsh abbot of the 6th century who may later have been revered as a saint.He has been described as being "an unsuitable abbot and...one of those Celtic 'saints' who would never have been canonized by any formal process"...
, Samson became abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
of Llantwit's daughter house on Caldey Island
Caldey Island
Caldey Island lies south of Tenby in Pembrokeshire, Wales.The island is home to a small village, but is best known for its monastery. Caldey Island is separated from the mainland by the Caldey Sound which is 1 km to 2 km wide between Caldey Island and the coast of Pembrokeshire...
. He was ordained bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
by Bishop Dubricius
Dubricius
Saint Dubricius was a 6th century Briton ecclesiastic venerated as a saint. He was the evangelist of Ergyng and much of South-East Wales.-Biography:Dubricius was the illegitimate son of Efrddyl, the daughter of King Peibio Clafrog of Ergyng...
on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter
Chair of Saint Peter
The Chair of Saint Peter is a relic conserved in St. Peter's Basilica, enclosed in a gilt bronze casing that was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and executed 1647-53....
(February 22) at the beginning of Lent
Lent
In the Christian tradition, Lent is the period of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer – through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and...
, which can be calculated to have fallen in the year 521, the only certain date in Samson's life.
If the usual practice was observed and he was 35 years old at the time of his ordination this would mean he was born in 486, though he is recorded as having been in attendance at a church Council in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
held sometime between 556 and 573 at which time he would have been between 70 and 87 years old.
At first, a cenobitic monk and later, an eremtic
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...
monk, he travelled widely. It is known that Samson travelled from Llaniltud Fawr to the island monastery of Caldey off the coast of Dyfed
Dyfed
Dyfed is a preserved county of Wales. It was created on 1 April 1974 under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972, and covered approximately the same geographic extent as the ancient Principality of Deheubarth, although excluding the Gower Peninsula and the area west of the River Tawe...
(Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....
), Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and then on to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
where he is said to have founded or revived a monastery, to Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
(where he founded a cenobite, at either South Hill
South Hill, Cornwall
South Hill is a civil parish and village in east Cornwall, United Kingdom.The parish church was consecrated in 1333 and apart from the upper stage of the tower and the south aisle is entirely of this date...
or Golant
Golant
Golant is a village in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the west bank of the River Fowey and lies in the civil parish of St Sampson....
), the Scilly Isles, Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
and Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
.
While in Brittany, he founded the monastery of Dol. Samson participated in Breton politics, organising the excommunication of King Conomor
Conomor
Conomor , also known as Conomerus or Conomor the Cursed, was an early medieval ruler of Brittany. His name, which has the Welsh cognate Cynfawr, means "Great Dog", but could also indicate "Sea Dog" in early Brythonic. Conomor was notorious for his cruelty, becoming a legendary villain in Breton...
and successfully petitioning the Merovingian king, Childebert I
Childebert I
Childebert I was the Frankish king of Paris, a Merovingian dynast, one of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511...
, on behalf of King Judwal. One of the seven founder saints of Brittany with Pol Aurelian
Paul Aurelian
Paul Aurelian is a 6th century Welsh saint, who became one of the seven founder saints of Brittany....
, Tugdual or Tudwal
Saint Tudwal
Saint Tudwal was a Breton monk. He is considered one of the seven founder saints of Brittany. Tudwal was said to be a son of Hoel Mawr . Tudwal travelled to Ireland to learn the scriptures, then became a hermit on what is now called Saint Tudwal's Island East off North Wales...
, Brieuc, Malo
Saint Malo (saint)
Saint Malo was the mid-6th century founder of Saint-Malo in Brittany, France...
, Patern (Paternus) and Corentin, he was buried, with his cousin Magloire, in the Cathedral of Dol.
Records
The primary source for his biography is the Vita Sancti Samsonis, written sometime between 610 and 820, but clearly based on earlier materials. Not only does it preserve such details about Samson such as his abstinence from alcohol—unlike many of his contemporaries, such as the Abbot Pyr who was killed when he fell down a well while drunk—but valuable details about Celtic ChristianityCeltic Christianity
Celtic Christianity or Insular Christianity refers broadly to certain features of Christianity that were common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages...
in Britain during Samson's time. This document details the contacts churchmen in Britain had with both Ireland and Brittany, describes their belief, and offers facts that have been used to prove both that religious communities were headed by abbots where the bishops served in a subordinate role, and that these communities were actually headed by bishops as was the usual practice in the rest of Europe. This Vita was later used as a model for the writing of other hagiographies
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
in Brittany. There is an English translation of the Vita by Thomas Taylor, published in 1925 by SPCK. A second life of less interest was edited by Dom Plaine in 1887.
For further information, see.
External links
- Catholic Encyclopedia article
- "St. Sampson, Bishop and Confessor", Butler's Lives of the Saints
- A version of Taylor's English translation of the Vita Sancti Samsonis, with emendations based on a recent edition