beasts. When any one petitioned to be admitted, he waited ten days at
the door, during which time he was tried by harsh words, repeated
refusals, and painful labors, that he might learn to die to himself.
When he was admitted, he left all his worldly substance behind him, for
the monastery never received any thing on the score of admission. All
the monks discovered their most secret thoughts and temptations to their
abbot.

The Pelagian heresy springing forth a second time in Britain, the
bishops, in order to suppress it, held a synod at Brevy, in
Cardiganshire, in 512, or rather in 519.[2] St. David, being invited to
it, went thither, and in that venerable assembly confuted and silenced
the infernal monster by his eloquence,{492} learning, and miracles. On
the spot where this council was held, a church was afterwards built
called Llan-Devi Brevi, or the church of St. David near the river Brevi.
At the close of the synod, St. Dubritius, the archbishop of Caerleon,
resigned his see to St. David, whose tears and opposition were only to
be overcome by the absolute command of the synod, which however allowed
him, at his request, the liberty to transfer his see from Caerleon, then
a populous city, to Menevia, now called St. David's, a retired place,
formed by nature for solitude, being, as it were, almost cut off from
the rest of the island, though now an intercourse is opened to it from
Milford-Haven. Soon after the former synod, another was assembled by St.
David at a place called Victoria, in which the acts of the first were
confirmed, and several canons added relating to discipline which were
afterwards confirmed by the authority of the Roman church; and these two
synods were, as it were, the rule and standard of the British churches.
As for St. David, Giraldus adds, that he was the great ornament and
pattern of his age. He spoke with great force and energy, but his
example was more powerful than his eloquence; and he has in all
succeeding ages been the glory of the British church. He continued in
his last see many years; and having founded several monasteries, and
been the spiritual father of many saints, both British and Irish, died
about the year 544, in a very advanced age. St. Kentigtern saw his soul
borne up by angels into heaven. He was buried in his church of St.
Andrew, which hath since taken his name, with the town and the whole
diocese. Near the church stand several chapels, formerly resorted to
with great d