Samson ap Amwn (abt. 485 - 565)

Born about 0485 in Dafyd (Demetia), Wales (now Pembrokeshire)

Died 28 Jul 0565 at about age 80 in Dol, Neustria, Kingdom of the Franks (now Dol de Bretagne, France)

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Biography

Samson was an abbot and bishop in the Celtic Church ^[1]

Name and Source

• Samson ap Amon would be his Welsh patronymic
• Saint Samson of Dol refers to Dol where he finished his life. ^[2]

The primary source for his biography is the Vita Sancti Samsonis, written sometime between 610 and 820 and clearly based on earlier materials.^[3] It gives useful details of contacts between churchmen in Britain, Ireland and Brittany.

Birth

He was born about 485 ^[1] in South Wales ^[2]

Parents

Samson's father was Amon of Demetia ^[2] or Amwn Ddu of Dyfed. ^[1]

His mother was Anna of Gwent ^[1]

She was the daughter of Meurig ap Tewdrig, King of Glamorgan and Gwent. ^[2]

His father's brother married his mother's sister so that their son Saint Magloire was Samson's cousin twice over. ^[2]

Early Education

Due to a prophecy concerning his birth his parents placed him under the care of Saint Illtud, abbot of Llantwit Fawr, where he was raised and educated. ^[4]

He was taught by Illtud at Llan Illtud (Dyfed) from 490 on and was ordained deacon and priest by Dyfrig at Illtud's request. ^[1]

Monastery of Caldey

Samson later sought a greater austerity than his school provided, and so moved to Llantwit's daughter house, the island monastery of Caldey off the coast of Dyfed (Pembrokeshire), Wales, where he became abbot after the death of Saint Pyr. ^[2]

He went to Pŷr's monastery (again in Dyfed) and on Pŷr's death succeeded him as abbot. ^[1]

Samson abstained from alcohol – unlike Pyr, who was killed when he fell down a well while drunk. ^[5]

Ireland

As a cenobitic and later an eremitic monk, he travelled from Caldey to Ireland, where he is said to have founded or revived a monastery. ^[5]

He then visited Ireland where there are churches bearing his name at Ballygriffin, near Dublin, and Bally Samson, in the county of Wexford. ^[1]

521 Bishop

Returning to Dyfed he became a hermit in a cave near Stackpole Elidr. ^[1]

In 521, on the Feast of the Enthronement of S. Peter, i.e. 22 Feb., he was consecrated bishop by Dyfrig and others. ^[1]

Samson was ordained bishop by Bishop Dubricius ^[4] on the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (22 February) at the beginning of Lent, which can be calculated to have fallen in the year 521.

Wikipedia notes that this is the one certain date in Samson's life and if, as wasusual, he was 35 years old at the time then he would have been born in 486. This is the source of his estimated birth year of, say, 485.

Abbott Samson's Pillar

Wikipedia shows a photograph of Abbott Samson's Pillar Cross at St Illtud's Church, Llantwit. 20th century, genealogical studies threw further light on the subject, and the pillar is now considered by many to be "one of the oldest inscribed Christian monuments in Britain". ^[2]

Noted antiquarian and forger Iolo Morganwg was apparently responsible for the re-discovery of the pillar, but his suggestion that it was erected by Saint Samson himself has been discredited by later historians. ^[2]

Cornwall

He then sailed to Cornwall (Padstow, Southill, and Fowey) where he lived for some years, his influence extending to the Scilly Isles. ^[1]

Later Samson travelled to Cornwall (where he founded a community in either South Hill or Golant), then the Scilly Isles (where the island of Samson is named after him), and Guernsey where he is the Patron Saint.^[2]

Brittany

Finally, he travelled to Brittany, where he founded the monastery of Dol. ^[4]

Thence he went to Brittany where he spent the rest of his life; this must have been before 547, at which time Teilo, who had fled from the Yellow Death, visited him there. ^[1]

He organised the excommunication of King Conomor and successfully petitioned the Merovingian king Childebert I on behalf of Judael, Conomor's estranged son (c. 540-60). He is recorded as having attended a council in Paris sometime between 556 and 573, by which time he would have been old. ^[2]

Samson's outstanding achievement in Brittany was the release of Iudual, a young prince of Northern Brittany, from the slavery in which he was kept in Paris by Childebert, the Frankish king, at the request of the crafty governor, Chonomor.

After the defeat and death of Chonomor, Samson once more visited Paris to attend the episcopal diet of the Franks held in 556 and on this occasion signed the resolutions as ‘Samson peccator episcopus.’ ^[1]

Death and Burial

He died about 565 in Dol, Neustria, Kingdom of the Franks ^[2]

He d. 28 July, 565.^[1]

Burial

He was buried with his cousin Magloire in the cathedral of Dol.^[2]

Saint

Saint Samson is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. The major shrines are in Dol; Milton Abbas, and Dorset, and his feast day is 28 July. ^[2]

Saint Samson of Dol is counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany along with Pol Aurelian, Tugdual or Tudwal, Brieuc, Malo, Patern (Paternus) and Corentin. ^[2]

The Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan (r. 924–939) obtained several relics of Samson, including an arm and a crozier, which he deposited at his monastery at Milton Abbas in Dorset. ^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12} Chancellor John Williams James, Aber. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Samson, 1959. Accessed November 24, 2018 jhd Article is based on the following sources:
   • Baring-Gould and J. Fisher, The Lives of the British Saints, iv, 130-70;
   • T. Taylor, The Life of St. Samson of Dol (London 1925) (S.P.C.K.);
   • Hugh Williams, Christianity in Early Britain (Oxford 1912), and his edition of Gildae De excidio Britanniae fragmenta, Liber de paenitentia, accedit et Lorica Gildae / Gildas The ruin of Britain, fragments from lost letters, The penitential, together with the Lorica of Gildas;
   • T. Taylor, The Celtic Christianity of Cornwall divers sketches and studies (London 1916).
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13} Wikipedia:Samson of Dol The Wikipedia site shows an icon of Saint Samson of Dol. Accessed November 24, 2018 jhd
3. ↑ Florent, Piere (tr. & ed.) (1997) La Vie ancienne de saint Samson de Dol. Paris: CNRS ISBN 2-271-05386-2 Cited by Wikipedia:Samson of Dol Accessed November 24, 2018 jhd
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Huddleston, Gilbert. "St. Samson." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 27 Feb. 2013. Cited by Wikipedia:Samson of Dol Accessed November 24, 2018 jhd
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} St Samson of Caldey Island in Wales & Dol Island in Brittany Archived 2012-04-04 at the Wayback Machine. Cited by Wikipedia:Samson of Dol Accessed November 24, 2018 jhd
6. ↑ Farmer, David (2011). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 389. ISBN 9780199596607. Cited by Wikipedia:Samson of Dol Accessed November 24, 2018 jhd

See also:

Doble, G. H. (1970) The Saints of Cornwall: part 5. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 80–103

Jones, Alison (1994) The Wordsworth Dictionary of Saints, p. 202

Marilyn Dunn The emergence of monasticism: from the Desert Fathers to the early Middle Ages, (Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2003): CNRS ISBN 1-4051-0641-7)