Diocese of St Davids

The Diocese of St Davids is a diocese of the Church in Wales, a church of the Anglican Communion. The diocese covers the historic extent of Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, together with a small part of western Glamorgan. The episcopal see is the Cathedral Church of St David in the City of St Davids, Pembrokeshire. The present cathedral, which was begun in 1181, stands on the site of a monastery founded in the 6th century by Saint David.

The diocese is divided into the three archdeaconries of St Davids, Carmarthen and Cardigan (additionally, Mones Farah was collated on 12 August 2018 as Archdeacon for New Church Communities ). The bishop's residence is Llys Esgob in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire.

History
The history of the diocese of St Davids is traditionally traced to that saint (Dewi) in the latter half of the 6th century. Records of the history of the diocese before Norman times are very fragmentary, however, consisting of a few chance references in old chronicles, such as Annales Cambriae and Brut y Tywysogion (Rolls Series).

Originally corresponding with the boundaries of Dyfed (Demetia), St Davids eventually comprised all the country south of the River Dyfi and west of the English border, with the exception of the greater part of Glamorganshire, in all some 3500 sqmi. Until 1852 the diocese also included some parishes in Herefordshire.

The diocese assumed its current extent in 1923, when the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon was created from the eastern part of the diocese.

The office of Bishop of St Davids has existed since the founding of the cathedral. The See is currently vacant, since the retirement of Joanna Penberthy, who was the first woman ordained a bishop in the Church in Wales. On 17 October 2023, Dorrien Davies, Archdeacon of Carmarthen, was elected to become the next Bishop; the confirmation of his election (by which he legally became Bishop) was on 29 November and his episcopal consecration is scheduled for 27 January 2024 at Bangor Cathedral.

In 2019 the diocese began to reorganise its churches into 23 Ministry Areas, plus the Cathedral. This process was completed in 2021 and the ministry areas are now coterminous with the deaneries.

Archdeaconries and deaneries
On 12 August 2018, Mones Farah was collated as an extra archdeacon without a territorial archdeaconry: the Archdeacon for New Church Communities.

Mones Anton Farah (born 1964) is a Palestinian-born Anglican priest. He trained for the ministry at Trinity College, Bristol before receiving ordination in the Church in Wales: he was deaconed on 26 June 1988 and priested on 25 June 1989. Farah served his title as assistant curate at Aberystwyth before becoming Chaplain to the University of Wales, Lampeter in 1991. He moved to England in 1998 to become a Team Vicar in Great Baddow, returning to Aberystwyth in 2014 as priest-in-charge. Alongside his current role as archdeacon, he is also a Canon of St Davids Cathedral.