Llandaff Cathedral [antikvár]

LLANDAFF CATHEDRALTHE RIGHT REVEREND ERYL S. THÖMAS*A CATHEDRAL is, in idea and origin, a great church in which the bishop of the diocese has his cathedra, his seat or 'see', and in which he and the clergy to whom he has delegated the responsibility of the care of the cathedral maintain the constant opus Dei, the work of God or round of divine service. From his cathedral Christian influences were to radiate within the diocese in his care.The story of Llandaff Cathedral is neither so clear nor so splendid as the story of richer cathedrals, whether those of the 'Old Foundation', üke Salisbury or Lincoln, which have always been served by canons, or those of the 'New Foundation', üke Canterbury or Gloucester, which were Formerly Dean und Bishop of Llandafftaken from monks and given to canons in Henry VIII's time. But it is a story even more venerable than theirs; it reaches back further than that of any English cathedral, and it shows us, in many forms and in many ages, an attempt, hampered often by poverty, sometimes gallant, sometimes all too half-hearted, to maintain the 'work of God'. The ministers of Llandaff Cathedral must be one of the oldest fraternities on British soil. Their church begins fourteen centuries ago, in the Welsh country of the British people, during the days when heathen Saxons were over-running England; it ends as the mother of a great diocese containing well over a third of the population of Wales.A strong and persistent traditionconnects the founding of the first church on the site of the present cathedral with the preaching of the great St. Teilo, who came to Llandaff from West Wales about the year 560. Teilo was a leader in that great move-ment of revival and missionary work which took place among the British people in Wales and beyond the seas during the sixth century. The method was that of a monastic camp and outposts; the bishop made his chief monastery where he could obtain a good sitea Llanand he planted his men out at any spot where lesser Llans might be given him, for there were as yet no diocesan boundaries. Usually the Llan took its name from the leader to whom it was given, but Teilo's Llan took its name from its