Samson of Dol (also Samsun; born late 5th century) was a Welsh saint, who is also counted among the seven founder saints of Brittany with Pol Aurelian, Tugdual or Tudwal, Brieuc, Malo, Patern (Paternus) and Corentin. Born in southern Wales, he died in Dol-de-Bretagne, a small town in north Brittany, and was the nephew of Athrwys ap Meurig.
Life
Samson was the son of Amon of Demetia and Anna of Gwent. His father's brother married his mother's sister so that their son Maglor was Samson's cousin twice over. Due to a prophecy concerning his birth his parents placed him under the care of Illtud, Abbot of Llantwit Fawr, where he was raised and educated.
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 Pyr. Samson abstained from alcohol – unlike Pyr, who was killed when he fell down a well while drunk. 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.
There is one fairly certain date recorded of Samson's life; that he was ordained bishop by Bishop Dubricius but his suggestion that it was erected by Samson himself was discredited by later historians with access to more reliable written sources. However, in the 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". Legend has it that Saint Samson of Dol was threshing corn in Penparcau, Ceredigion on the hillside of Pen Dinas (a Celtic Hillfort) when the larger part of his flail broke and landed across the valley in the Abbey at Llanbadarn Fawr, in anger he threw the smaller part over the valley too and these were used to make the three celtic crosses which now stand in the church.
Later he 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), Guernsey where he is the Patron Saint and Brittany, where he founded the monastery of Dol.
Vita Sancti Samsonis
The primary source for his biography is the Vita Sancti Samsonis, written sometime between 610 and 820 and clearly based on earlier materials. It gives useful details of contacts between churchmen in Britain, Ireland and Brittany.
The work consists of a prologue and two books (or parts) consisting of 59 and 16 chapters respectively.
Dating
The Vita is difficult to date, Poulin (2017) [°not in bibliography°] suggesting an original 'primitive narrative' (the Vita Primigenia) and a later rewriting; therefore requiring two dates of composition. It is not possible to reconstruct completely the content of the Primigenia version but it is possible to identify segments which are certainly not part of it based on them containing later information. Olson (2017) states that the issue of the Vita's uncertain date, with estimates traditionally ranging from after 600 AD to 850 AD, is a serious impediment to its usefulness as a source.
Sources
The prologue of the Vita explains that its author, writing in the first person but otherwise anonymous, composed it from a variety of oral history sources and at least one prior written source:<blockquote>And first of all I wish it to be believed that these words are not put together on the lines of rash surmisings of my own, or of those of confused and unauthorised rumours; but on what I derived from a certain religious and venerable old man whose house beyond the sea Samson himself had founded. He led a catholic and religious life there for nearly eighty years. In times most approximate to those of the aforesaid St Samson, the mother of St Samson reported these deeds to his uncle, a very holy deacon (himself the cousin of St Samson); of what follows [the venerable old man] assured me truthfully, relating to me many parts of the saint’s wonderful career. And not only so, but there are also very many and delightful accounts of the amazing deeds which he performed on this side of the sea, in Brittany and in Romania, and which were written in suitably elegant style and taken across the sea by the said holy deacon, Henoc by name. The venerable old man, of whom we have already spoken, who lived in this monastery, caused them continually to read piously and attentively before me. And so I have not thought it fitting that I should seek to consign to oblivion the incomparable work of fortitude achieved through the holy, illustrious, yea most holy man Samson.</blockquote>Sowerby (2011) argues that deacon Henoc's texts was written and composed in the only monastery that Samson is known to have founded in Britain, that of Docco, in St Kew, Cornwall.
Publication History
The Vita was first published in 1688 by Jean Mabillon in Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti. A "faulty" attempt at a critical edition of the latin text was made by Fawtier (1912), Taylor (1925) used this as the base for his English translation. A "true"
Manuscripts
thumb|The first page of the Life of St Sampson of Dol from BnF Latin 11658 (f.60r; c.13th century)
Fawtier lists a total of 20 documents forming the basis of the manuscript tradition of the Vita:
{| class="wikitable"
|Siglum
|Manuscript
|Date (century)
|-
|A
|Metz. 195
|10th-11th
|-
|B
|Paris. Bibliothèque Mazarine. 1708.
|10th-11th
|-
|C
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Latin 11758
|13th
|-
|D
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Latin 17005.
|12th
|-
|E
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Latin 16734.
|12th
|-
|F
|Montpellier. Ecole de Médecine. I-IV.
|12th
|-
|H
|Dijon. 642.
|12th
|-
|I
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Latin 11771
|12th
|-
|J
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Latin 11884.
|
|-
|K
|Namur. 53.
|
|-
|L
|Paris. Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal. 996.
|
|-
|M
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Latin 14561.
|
|-
|N
|Rouen 1393 [U. 102].
|
|-
|O
|Rouen 1402 [U. 24].
|
|-
|P
|Rouen 1400 [U. 3].
|
|-
|R
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Latin 5296.
|
|-
|S
|Chartres. 507.
|
|-
|T
|Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale Latin 5280.
|
|-
|V
|Alençon. 12
|
|-
|X
|Conches.
|
|}
Only 18 of the listed manuscripts were available in 1912. Chatres 507 (S) was lost in the 1944 Chatres Library fire and Metz 195 (A) was reportedly destroyed in an arson attack on August 31 1944 by the Wehrmacht at the start of the Battle of Metz.
Only 7 of the manuscripts contain the complete work: A, B, C, D, E, F and H contain both complete books, with the prologue to Book 1. K, L, M, N and O contain Book 1 without the prologue. S, T and V are incomplete. He does not appear in the current Roman Catholic liturgical calendar of saints celebrated annually in Wales.
See also
- Blessed Julian Maunoir, "Apostle of Brittany"
- St Sampson's Church, Cricklade
- St Sampson's Church, Golant
- Saint Sampson, Guernsey
References
Bibliography
- Doble, G. H. (1970) The Saints of Cornwall: part 5. Truro: Dean and Chapter; pp. 80–103
- Fawtier, R. (1912) La vie ancienne de Saint Samson de Dol: Essai de Critique Hagliographique. Paris: H. Champion (Bibliothèque de l’École pratique des hautes études. Section des sciences historiques et philologiques, fascicle 197)
- Flobert, P. (1997) La vie ancienne de Saint Samson de Dol. Texte édité, traduit et commenté. Paris: Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Sources d’histoire médiévale)
- Journey to Avalon: The Final Discovery of King Arthur By Chris Barber, David Pykitt pp 119 St Samson
- 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 )
- Olson, L. (2017) St Samson of Dol and the Earliest History of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales. Boydell & Brewer, Incorporated.
- Taylor, T. (1925) The Life of St. Samson of Dol. London: Society for promoting Christian knowledge (Translations of Christian Literature: Lives of the Celtic Saints, 5).
External links
- "St. Sampson, Bishop and Confessor", Butler's Lives of the Saints
- A version of Taylor's English translation of the Vita Sancti Samsonis, with emendations based on a recent edition