Samson of Dol

Description

Saint Samson of Dol (also Samsun; born c. late 5th century) was a Christian religious figure who is 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.
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.
Samson was the son of Amon of Demetia and Anna of Gwent, daughter of Meurig ap Tewdrig, King of Glamorgan and Gwent. His father’s brother married his mother’s sister so that their son Saint Magloire was Samson’s cousin twice over. 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.
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. 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.