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Saintly bones put to the test

Roger Dobson
Wednesday 18 December 1996 00:02 GMT
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Bones found in a casket at St David's Cathedral in Wales are being tested to see if they could be the relics of the principality's patron saint.

Tiny slivers of the bones have been taken, for examination and dating, to a radio-carbon accelerator unit at Oxford University, which will use techniques similar to those applied to the Turin Shroud and other artefacts.

The bones were found in a 4ft casket, with other relics, by workmen in the 19th century - but have not been scientifically tested before.

The Right Rev Huw Jones, the Bishop of St David's and the 126th incumbent since the saint, said yesterday that he was excited at the possibility of linking the remains to his ancient predecessor, who died in 601, was canonised by the Pope in 1120 and whose relics disappeared in 1538.

"In the 16th century there was a determined effort to break up the cult of St David, and the official shrine and relics disappeared," he said.

"Until then, pilgrimages here had a high profile. Three pilgrimages to St David's were the equivalent of one to Jerusalem and two were the equivalent of one trip to Rome."

The casket was found hidden in the walls of the cathedral in west Wales. Inside were the bones of three people, including leg and thigh bones that have been linked by some to the saint.

The dating exercise is expected to take two months and will establish if the bones are from the same period as St David. The tests will renew interest in a saint who is little-known outside Wales, but whose name lingers in scores of Welsh villages called Llandewi.

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