The Feast of St Non

Just as the last of the welshcakes from St David's day are finished, we celebrate his mother, St Non.

Non, or Nonita, or Nonna, was a nun who lived in Pembrokeshire. According to legend her father was Cenyr, a nobleman of Carer Goch, near to where the cathedral of St David's now stands. Non was raped by Sanctus, King of Ceredigion. When carrying David a passing priest, a renowned preacher, was struck unable to preach, which was later thought to foretell David's skill as a preacher. Non gave birth near the sea, where the chapel of St Non now stands, and a rock embedded under the altar reputedly split as she clutched it in the pain of giving birth.

Non later travelled to Cornwall and later Brittany, where she died late in the fifth century. Her son David, of course carried on to live a great life.