Yr Oedd Gardd
Wythnos Fawr 2024 yng Nghadeirlan Deiniol Sant ym Mangor yng nghwmni R. S. Thomas
Yn y fan lle croeshoeliwyd ef yr oedd gardd, ac yn yr ardd yr oedd bedd newydd nad oedd neb erioed wedi ei roi i orwedd ynddo. Felly, gan ei bod yn ddydd Paratoad i’r Iddewon, a chan fod y bedd hwn yn ymyl, rhoesant Iesu i orwedd ynddo. • Ioan 19:41-42
Cyd-gerddwn gamre’r Wythnos Fawr eleni yng Nghadeirlan Deiniol Sant yng nghwmni R. S. Thomas, y bardd o offeiriad o Esgobaeth Bangor ac un o brif lenorion crefyddol yr 20fed ganrif.
Bardd y Groes a’r distawrwydd llethol yw R. S. Thomas i gynifer ohonom, ond canu wna cynifer o’i gerddi am faddeuant a phrynedigaeth. Ac, fel y cyfarfu Mair Fadlen â thagwyddoldeb yn yr ardd ar fore’r Pasg, felly y mae yntau, hefyd, yn aml yn cael cipolwg ar faddeuant a phrynedigaeth ar y llethrau geirwon a’r perthi bodlon sydd o’n cwmpas yma yng Ngogledd-Orllewin Cymru.
Yn guriad cyson i’n Hwythnos Fawr yn y Gadeirlan, cynigir defod sy’n gyforiog o addoliad a cherddoriaeth bob nos am 6.00pm o Sul y Blodau hyd Noswyl y Pasg. Bydd beirdd ac ysgolheigion o fri yn arwain ein defosiwn; a chomisiwn cerddorol eleni, a berfformir am y tro cyntaf ar nos Wener y Groglith, yw Yr Oedd Gardd gan Alex Mills – gosodiad corawl o gerddi R. S. Thomas heb eu cyhoeddi a nas gwelwyd mohonynt o’r blaen, wedi’u dethol o’i lawysgrifau a gedwir yn archif Canolfan Astudiaethau R. S. Thomas ym Mhrifysgol Bangor.
There Was a Garden
Holy Week 2024 at Saint Deiniol’s Cathedral in Bangor with R. S. Thomas
Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation, and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there. • John 19:41-42
Our observance of Holy Week at Saint Deiniol’s Cathedral this year is accompanied by R. S. Thomas, a priest-poet of the Diocese of Bangor and one of the 20th century’s great religious writers.
Often seen as the poet of Cross and silence, much of R. S. Thomas’s work also explores forgiveness and redemption. And, as Mary Magdalen met eternal life on Easter morning in the garden, so he, also, often glimpses that same forgiveness and redemption midst the rugged and beautiful creation that surrounds us here in North-West Wales.
As a steady beat to our Holy Week, a devotional observance rich in worship and music is offered at the Cathedral every evening at 6.00pm from Palm Sunday to Easter Eve. Distinguished poets and scholars will guide our devotions; and this year’s musical commission, premiered on the evening of Good Friday, is Alex Mills’s There Was a Garden – a choral setting of unpublished and previously unseen poems by R. S. Thomas drawn from his manuscripts held in the archive of the R. S. Thomas Study Centre at Bangor University.