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Anglican

Anglicans form the family of Christians closely related to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Whilst tracing their inheritance back to Christ and the earliest Christians and to the ancient Roman Catholic church, the sixteenth century Reformation was a crucial moment for Anglicanism.

Bishop

‘Bishop’ comes from the Greek word for ‘overseer’. So a bishop is a senior Christian minister authorised to have oversight for God’s people. As well as duties given to deacons and priests, bishops confirm and ordain.

Theological

‘Theology’ means literally ‘words about God’. Christian theology involves our trying to understand and explain what God has revealed about himself through Scripture. This work is aided by the writings of past and present theologians and human reason.

Home Pobl Dewi: December 2025 Ex Libris

Ex Libris

An eventful autumn brings to a close an eventful and historic year in the cathedral library, as outlined by Mari James, Cathedral Library Development Officer

Since a busy summer, with the first visit of the first 1588 Welsh Bible to Wales, the Library held series of autumn events. We again took part in the Europe-wide Open Doors/Drysau Agored programme arranged in Wales by Cadw. More people than previously attended joint events by the Cathedral and Bishops’ Palace. We marked the anniversary of Henry II’s visit to Menevia on pilgrimage at Michaelmas in 1171; the Norman king gave gifts, including caps for "the singers to God and St David". Every year we mark this by awarding Michaelmas caps to two of our choristers.

1925 orthodox group visit

We marked a visit in 1925 to St Davids Cathedral by a group of Orthodox Patriarchs including from Jerusalem, Alexandria, Jordan, Petrograd and Kiev. 100 years on, the Cathedral hosted a meeting of the International Commission for Anglican–Orthodox Theological Dialogue (ICAOTD). In the Library we showed them photographs of the previous visit. There was a strong awareness that when Dewi Sant founded his place of worship in the 6th century, we were all one Europe-wide Christian community with a common Nicaean creed.

Seminars, tours and exhibitions were held in Libraries Week. 150 years since the death of Bishop Connop Thirlwall, Bishop Wyn Evans led a tour around the west end of the Cathedral which was restored as a memorial to Bishop Thirlwall in the 1870s. We heard up-to-date research on Thirlwall's life and works from Prof Emerita Frances Knight and Revd Christopher Cunliffe. An exhibition by Pembrokeshire County Archives revealed fascinating eyewitness reports of the restoration.

The Welsh Centre for International Affairs loaned us the original of the 1925 Apel Heddwch/Peace Appeal letter that was sent from Welsh Christian denomination leaders to churches in the USA. First of the 14 signatories was Bishop John Owen of St Davids, President of the Welsh Council of the League of Nations.

Arglwydd Rhys tomb

Preparations are underway for 2026. This includes the National Eisteddfod Genedlaethol being held up the road between Eglwyswrw and Aberteifi in August, 850 years after Yr Arglwydd Rhys held the first competition of bards and singers from across Wales in 1176. Events in the Cathedral will focus on the tomb and effigy of Yr Arglwydd Rhys, The Lord Rhys.

Between Christmas and New Year there will be tours of rarely seen parts of the Cathedral, including visiting the Library, at 11am on 27th and 30th December. Booking online at www.StDavidsCathedral.org.uk/discover/library