St David presented both a problem and an opportunity for Welsh Victorians. From the late Georgian era, his day had been marked by patriotic societies in Wales and elsewhere. Towards the middle third of the nineteenth century, however, the day appears to have lost some of its appeal.[1] There are probably many reasons for this noticeable, though far from universal, decline. As the saint’s day assumed greater prominence in the latter third of the century, it is possible to discern some reasons why his popularity dipped in the mid-nineteenth century. An examination of editorials, letters and reports in the English and Welsh-language press reveals how St David posed some weighty religious, political and historical questions.