Heard about this crazy little stone chapel built in to the side of a cliff in Wales called St Govan's Chapel. There were so many things about it that caught my eye, I had to do some research. First of all, there's the name: Govan. Yes, I may share names with this guy! Legends put him in the 6th century & identify him as either a saint from Ireland searching for the family of his mentor, Sir Gawain from the Round Table living out his post-knighthood days, or a thief.
I love the diversity of these possibilities. Yeah, there's this Saint living in a cave in those limestone cliffs over there and he's either an Irish holy man, a knight from King Arthur's court, or a reformed outlaw, we aren't really sure which one. But we're going to remember this hermit, celebrate him, and in 700 years we're going to build a stone chapel over his cave. Oh, and the stairway from the top of the cliff down to the chapel will mystically have a different amount of steps whether you ascend or descend.
This is what I love about these Celtic Christian legends. There are so many wonderful little oddities, so many bones to build our own stories onto. Today, we'd probably try to take the various legends about St Govan and try to merge the stories into one. But I prefer them contradicting each other. He was either a sinner or a saint, a warrior who had turned to peaceful introspection or a man who found the cave by hiding from pirates. It really doesn't matter -- Gavin, Gawain, or Govan -- whatever his name, whatever his story, he found shelter in a place, he met God in that place, and we can go to that same place (or perhaps our own) to find our own shelter and to have our own experience with the Divine.
