The Rule of St David

About this book

The Rule of St David: A Rule of Life for the Order of St DavidGwnewch y pethau bychain. Do the little things.These were the final words of Dewi Sant, spoken to his monks on the eve of his death in the year 589, and they have echoed down fifteen centuries of Welsh Christianity to form the heart of this volume. They are not pious sentiment. They are a complete spiritual programme.The Rule of St David is the founding document of the Order of St David, a secular institute of consecrated life within the Ancient Apostolic Catholic Church, rooted in the twin streams of Celtic and Benedictine spirituality. This Rule is given not as a burden but as a gift: a path marked out by those who have walked before us toward the City of God.The Rule is compact but comprehensive. Arranged in five parts across fifteen chapters and thirty-six articles, it addresses the identity and charism of the Order, the fullness of the spiritual life, the three Benedictine vows expressed in a distinctly Davidic key, the ascetic tradition adapted for modern circumstances, life in dispersed community, hospitality and service, and the stages of formation and profession. Its three vows, named Rootedness, Wholehearted Devotion, and Faithful Service, give canonical shape to St David's threefold command: be joyful, keep the faith, do the little things.Yet this volume is far more than the Rule alone. Three introductory essays offer extended theological and spiritual reflections on each of St David's dying words, drawing on the Desert Fathers, the Celtic hagiographies, the Benedictine tradition, and the great figures of Christian spirituality from Augustine to Thérèse of Lisieux, bringing the sixth century into living conversation with the twenty-first.The companion volume Reflections on the Rule of St David occupies the larger part of the book. Moving through the Rule chapter by chapter, it explores each commitment and practice in the depth that ordinary life demands. Here the reader will find practical guidance on Celtic prayer forms including the lorica and the caim, step-by-step formation in the Liturgy of the Hours, lectio divina, the daily examen, mental prayer, and Eucharistic adoration, alongside sustained chapters on silence and solitude, hospitality, Scripture, dispersed community, apostolic service, and spiritual direction. The theological virtues, ongoing conversion, the Celtic inheritance of creation theology, pilgrimage, and the thin places all receive the careful attention that formation requires.The volume concludes with The Little Hours: A Book of Celtic Prayers, a treasury of morning, midday, evening, and night prayers drawn from traditional sources including the Carmina Gadelica, newly composed prayers in the Celtic style, seasonal prayers, and prayers for the great moments of human life. Structured around St David's three pillars of joy, faith, and faithful smallness, this prayer book is designed for daily use by all who seek to sanctify ordinary life through the prayer of the Celtic tradition.Together, these three elements form a complete guide to a distinctive and demanding way of life, one that makes no separation between prayer and work, between the sacred and the secular, between the monastery and the kitchen table. The Order of St David is a dispersed community, its members living in ordinary homes and workplaces, consecrated without announcement, working as leaven in the dough.Whether you are discerning a call to this form of consecrated life, already walking its path, or simply drawn to the ancient wisdom of the Celtic and Benedictine traditions, this volume offers formation, prayer, and a vision of holiness rooted not in extraordinary acts but in the faithful performance of small things, offered to God with love.Byddwch lawen. Cadwch y ffydd. Gwnewch y pethau bychain. Be joyful. Keep the faith. Do the little things.