Community Life
Rooted in the Celtic Tradition
The Order of St David is rooted in the Celtic and Benedictine traditions, weaving together the contemplative depth of the desert with the wild, wind-swept faith of the saints of Britain and Ireland. Prayer, scripture, and simplicity form its daily rhythm, and in all things it seeks the living God.
HOSPITALITY & SERVICE
The Rule of St Benedict famously instructs: “Let all guests who arrive be received as Christ.” Members of the Order embrace this Benedictine value of hospitality according to their own circumstances.
LIFE IN COMMUNITY
Members of the Order live dispersed throughout the world, each in their own home. Yet they form a single community, united not by physical proximity but by shared consecration, common prayer, and charity.
Our Rule of Life
The Order draws from two great wells of Christian wisdom. The first is the Celtic monastic tradition of St David, with its emphasis on closeness to creation, joyful simplicity, and the awareness of what the Celtic saints called the thin places -- those moments and spaces where heaven seems very close to earth. The second is the Rule of St Benedict, one of the most enduring guides to Christian life ever written, with its gentle wisdom, its balance of prayer and work, and its call to stability and conversion of life.
Together, these two traditions shape a Rule of Life that is practical, grounded, and suited to people living in the modern world.
Prior General
Most Rev Felix Gibbins OSD
prior@orderofstdavid.org
Subscribe to our newsletter
The Order of St David © 2026.
The Order of St David is a Secular Institute of Consecrated Life erected under the Canon Law of the Ancient Apostolic Catholic Church
Prayer to St David
O God, who did call your servant David to be a preacher of the Gospel and a light to the people of Celtic communities, grant that we who honour his memory may follow his example: being joyful in faith, steadfast in hope, and faithful in the little things of daily life. Through the intercession of St David, may we drink deeply from the well of your grace, labour faithfully in your vineyard, and at the last come to that blessed rest where, with him and all your saints, we shall praise you for ever. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.