A Calendar of Scottish Saints Part 10

Among the Irish saints who benefited Scotland, the ill.u.s.trious contemporary and dear friend of his biographer, St. Bernard, must not be omitted. St. Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, twice visited Scotland. On his return from one of his visits to Rome, he stayed with King David I., and by his prayers restored to life the monarch's son, Prince Henry, who was in danger of death. During this visit, St.

Malachy erected an oratory of wattles and clay on the sea-sh.o.r.e near Port Patrick. St. Bernard relates that the saint not only directed the work but laboured with his own hands in its construction. He blessed the cemetery adjoining, which was arranged according to Irish usage, within a deep fosse. The second visit to Scotland was shortly before St. Malachy {158} set out on that last journey to the continent from which he never returned, dying on November 2nd, 1148, in St. Bernard's own Abbey of Clairvaux. He had set his heart on founding a monastery in Scotland at a place called _Viride Stagnum_, "The Green Lake," situated about three miles from the present town of Stranraer. There he marked out the boundaries, and established a community brought from one of his Irish houses. St. Bernard alludes to a monastery in Scotland as the last founded by St. Malachy, and this is undoubtedly the one referred to. Later on, this monastery, which acquired the name of Soulseat (_Sedes Animarum_), was peopled by Premonstratensian Canons, brought from St. Norbert's own house of Premontre. It became known in after ages as Saulseat.

St. Nidan, Bishop, about the 6th century.

He was one of the Welsh disciples of St. Kentigern, and probably accompanied him on his return to Scotland (see pp. 47-8). He is said to have evangelised the part of Deeside round Midmar, of which he was the patron. {159}

St. Englatius, Abbot, A.D. 996.

This saint, whose feast-day appears in the calendar of the Aberdeen Breviary, is a.s.sociated with the parish of Tarves in Aberdeenshire, where he is known by the name of Tanglan. There is a "Tanglan's Well" in the village, and a "Tanglan's" Ford on the river Ythan.

St. Baya or Vey, Virgin, about the 9th century.

She is said to have inhabited the island of Little c.u.mbrae, where she lived in solitude surrounded by birds and beasts. The ruins of an ancient chapel, called that of St. Vey, are still to be seen, and the saint is believed to have been buried there. Tradition tells us, in proof of her love of solitude, that when the Rector of Dunbar attempted to carry off St. Baya's relics, a furious storm arose through the saint's intervention, and compelled him to desist. Kilbag Head in Lewis is probably named after a church dedicated to this saint.

St. Maura, Virgin, about the 9th century.

This saint was a friend of St. Baya, and used to visit her upon her island for spiritual converse. {160} She is said to have governed a very austere community of virgins consecrated to G.o.d. She died at Kilmaura (Church of Maura) in Ayrshire.

6--St. Methven.

There are no particulars extant concerning the life of this saint, and it is therefore impossible to determine the time in which he flourished. A church bearing the name of St. Methven formerly stood in the parish of Fowlis Wester, in Perthshire. A fair used to be held there on this day in each year, locally known as St. Methvenmas Market. The day itself was observed as a holiday. Like most of such remains of Catholic merry-makings, the custom has long disappeared.

8--St. Moroc, Bishop.

Some writers maintain that this saint was formerly Abbot of Dunkeld.

His name certainly survives in that neighbourhood in Kilmorick, where a spring is called St. Mureach's Well. Another church named after this saint was at Lecropt, near Stirling, and here his {161} body is said by tradition to have been laid to rest. Kilimrack (Beauly) has been sometimes ascribed to this saint, but the more reliable authorities give it as one of Our Lady's dedications. The period in which St. Moroc flourished is not known with any degree of certainty.

St. Gervadsus or Gernadius, Hermit, A.D. 934,

This saint was of Irish nationality. Longing for a life of entire seclusion from the world, he left his native land and took up his residence in Scotland. He is said to have lived many years as a hermit in the province of Moray, and in corroboration of the tradition a cave was formerly pointed out in the parish of Drainie, near Elgin, known as "Gerardin's Cave," it was situated on the height behind the modern Station Hotel at Lossiemouth. For many centuries this habitation was intact. It had an ancient Gothic doorway and window-opening, but these were demolished more than a hundred years ago by a drunken sailor. Since 1870 the whole face of the cliff known as "Holyman's Head," including the cave, has {162} been quarried. No trace now remains of the spring of water there, called "Gerardin's Well," from which the anchorite drank a thousand years ago.

It is said that a monastery was founded by this saint at Kennedar, in the same parish of Drainie where he a.s.sociated himself with many fellow-soldiers in Christ, and built a church under the direction of angels. The remains of Kineddar Castle, a residence of the Bishops of Moray, may still be seen there. Tradition tells that on stormy nights, the saint was wont to pace the beach below his cell, lantern in hand, to warn off vessels from the dangerous rocks. This is commemorated in the Lossiemouth Burgh seal, which represents the saint with his lantern and bears the motto: _Per noctem lux_. A Presbyterian church erected at Stotfield (Lossiemouth) in recent years bears the name of "St. Gerardine."

12--St. Machar or Moc.u.mma, Bishop, 6th century.

This saint was the son of Fiachna, an Irish chieftain, and was baptised by St. Colman. In his youth he became a disciple of the great St. {163} Columba, and when that saint went to Scotland, Machar accompanied him, together with eleven other disciples. After some years he was made a bishop, and was sent by St. Columba with twelve companions to preach to the pagan Picts of Strathdon, in the northeast of Scotland. It is said that his holy master commanded him to found a church in the spot where he should find a river forming by its windings the shape of a bishop's pastoral staff. Such a configuration he found in the river Don, at the spot now known as Old Aberdeen. Here he accordingly fixed his seat, and the cathedral that rose from the humble beginnings of a church inst.i.tuted by Machar now bears his name.

Besides the old Cathedral of Aberdeen, there are in the same county two parishes, formerly joined in one, which are known as New and Old Machar, respectively. At Kildrummie, in Aberdeenshire, is a place called (after the saint) "Macker's Haugh." There is St. Machar's Well, near the cathedral, at Old Aberdeen; the water used always to be taken for baptismal purposes to the cathedral. {164}

At Corgarff, in Strathdon, is another spring known as _Tobar Mhachar_ (the well of St. Machar); miracles were formerly obtained there. Of this spring the legend is related of a priest, in time of famine, drawing from it three fine salmon which lasted him for food till supplies came from other quarters.

St. Machar's feast was restored to Scotland by Pope Leo XIII. in 1898.

13--St. Devenick, about the 6th century.

Tradition tells that this saint was a contemporary of the former, and preached the Gospel in Caithness. A legend relates that his body was borne for burial to Banchory Devenick, in Kincardineshire, in accordance with his continually expressed desire to rest in the district of St. Machar, whom he had tenderly loved during life. A church was afterwards built over his relics, and named after him.

Criech, in Sutherlandshire, was probably another of his churches, if he is the saint known there as St. Teavneach. Besides a fair of great antiquity, known as "Dennick's", held at Milton of Glenesk, Forfarshire, another at {165} Methlick, Aberdeenshire, held in November about this date, bore the same name; this implies that the respective churches are dedicated to him, as fairs bearing saints names had their origin in all instances in the concourse of people a.s.sembled for the celebration of the patronal feast of a church. St.

Devenick's Well is near Methlick church.

15--St. Machutus, or Malo, Bishop, A.D. 565.

The Aberdeen Breviary gives on this day the feast of the British saint who became one of the apostles of Brittany and is commemorated there by the town of St. Malo.

There is no record of this saint's residence in Scotland, but his _cultus_ flourished there, possibly on account of his connection with St. Brendan (see May 16). Lesmahago, the site of a Benedictine monastery, takes its name from him, the t.i.tle being a corrupt form of _Ecclesia Sti. Machuti_ (Church of St. Machutus). Wigtown church, also, was dedicated to this saint.

16--St. Margaret, Queen, A.D. 1093.

It is impossible here to say much in detail of {166} the life of the saintly queen who is regarded as one of the heavenly patrons of the Kingdom of Scotland; but to omit all notice of her would make our calendar incomplete. It will be sufficient to note briefly the chief events of her life. St. Margaret was granddaughter to Edmund Ironside. Her father, Edward, having to fly for his life to Hungary, married Agatha, the sister-in-law of the king. Three children were born to them. When Edward the Confessor ascended the English throne, Prince Edward returned with his family to his native land, but died a few years after. When William the Conqueror obtained the crown, Edgar, the son of Edward, thought it more prudent to retire from England, and took refuge with his mother and sisters at the court of Malcolm III. of Scotland, having been driven on the Scottish coast by a tempest. Malcolm, attracted by the virtue and beauty of Margaret, made her his bride, and for the thirty years she reigned in Scotland she was a model queen. The historian Dr. Skene says of her: "There is perhaps no more beautiful character recorded in history than that of {167} Margaret. For purity of motives, for an earnest desire to benefit the people among whom her lot was cast, for a deep sense of religion and great personal piety, for the unselfish performance of whatever duty lay before her, and for entire self-abnegation she is unsurpa.s.sed, and the chroniclers of the time all bear witness to her exalted character." Her solicitude for the nation was truly maternal.

She set herself to combat, with zeal and energy, the abuses which had crept into the practice of religion, taking a prominent part--with her royal husband as the interpreter of her southern speech--in many councils summoned at her instigation. She loved and befriended clergy and monks, and was lavish in her charity to the poor. Her own children, through her training and example, were one and all distinguished for piety and virtue. Her three sons, Edgar, Alexander and David, were remarkable for their unparalleled purity of life: David's two grandsons, Malcolm IV. and William, and William's son and grandson, Alexander II. and III., were n.o.ble Catholic kings. Thus did the influence of this saintly queen extend {168} over the s.p.a.ce of two hundred years and form monarchs of extraordinary excellence to rule Scotland wisely and well.

St. Margaret died on the 16th of November at the age of forty-seven.

Her body was buried with that of King Malcolm, who had been killed in battle only four days before her own death, in the church they had founded at Dunfermline. At the Reformation her relics were secretly carried into Spain, together with the remains of her husband, and placed in the Escurial. Her head, with a quant.i.ty of her long, fair hair, was preserved for a time by the Scottish Jesuits at Douai. The sacred relics disappeared in the French Revolution. Fairs on the saint's feast-day, known as "Margaretmas," were held at Wick, Closeburn (Dumfries shire) and Balquhapple (now Thornhill) in Kincardineshire. St. Margaret's Well at Restalrig near Edinburgh, was once covered by a graceful Gothic building, whose groined roof rested on a central pillar; steps led down to the level of the water. It is thought to have been erected at the same period as that covering St.

Triduana's Well in the same place. {169}

When the North British Railway required the spot for the building of storehouses, the well-house was removed to Queen's Park, where it still stands, but the spring has disappeared (see October 8th).

Innocent XII. at the pet.i.tion of James VII. (and II.) in 1693, placed St. Margaret's feast on June 10th, the birthday of the King's son James (stigmatised the "Old Pretender"), but Leo XIII., in 1898, restored it for the Scottish calendar to the day of her death.

18--St. Fergus, Bishop, 8th century.

This saint, a Pict by nationality, is said to have been for many years a bishop in Ireland. Moved by a desire to benefit the pagans of the northern districts of Scotland, he left Ireland and returned to his own land, accompanied by a few priests and clerics, and settled in Strathearn. Here he founded three churches, which he dedicated to St. Patrick. Pa.s.sing north wards he visited Caithness, and after preaching the Gospel there for some time he travelled to Buchan, where he built a church at Lungley, a place afterwards known as St.

Fergus. Finally {170} he moved on to Glamis, in Forfarshire, where he founded another church, and it was here that he ended his life and was buried.

Several dedications to this saint are to be found in the northern and eastern parts of Scotland. The churches of Wick and Halkirk, in Caithness; Dyce and St. Fergus, in Aberdeenshire; and his well, called "Fergan Well," at Kirkmichael, in Banffshire, famous for its miraculous efficacy in curing skin diseases: all these bear witness to the devotion borne towards St. Fergus by Scottish Catholics in past ages. An annual fair was held at Glamis on his feast-day (known as "Fergusmas"), and continued for five days. Another fair took place at Wick.

Other proofs of his connection with Scotland are seen in the traces of the three churches founded by the saint in Strathearn: Strogeth-St.-Patrick, Blackford-St.-Patrick, and Dolpatrick.

The head of St. Fergus was venerated in the Abbey of Scone, where James IV. provided a silver reliquary for it. His arm was preserved at Aberdeen, in the old cathedral. {171}

The pastoral staff of the saint, long treasured at St. Fergus, in Buchan, is said to have calmed a storm on that coast. No traces now remain of it.

An ancient image of St. Fergus existed at Wick until 1613, when it was destroyed by a minister, who was drowned by the indignant people for his action. The saint's holy well was honoured there. He is thought to be the same "Fergus, the Pict, Bishop of the Scots," who took part in a Synod in St. Peter's at Rome under Pope Gregory II. in A.D. 721.

Pope Leo XIII. restored the feast of St. Fergus in 1898.

26--St. Christina, Virgin, A.D. (about) 1085.

This saint, though brought into close connection with the country, was not of Scottish lineage. She was the sister of St. Margaret, and therefore the daughter of Edward the Etheling. Together with her mother Agatha, sister to the Queen of Hungary, Christina took the veil in the Benedictine Abbey of Romsey, in Hampshire. Here both royal ladies became distinguished for holiness. Matilda, daughter {172} of St. Margaret, was educated by her aunt at Romsey.

She became known as the "good Queen Maud" after she had married Henry I. of England. St. Christina died in the odour of sanct.i.ty about the year 1085.

27--St. Oda or Odda, Virgin, about 8th century.

She is said to have been a daughter of a Scottish king. Having the misfortune to lose her sight, she made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Lambert the martyr, at Liege, to implore the help of that renowned wonder-worker. Her faith was rewarded by a cure, and Oda resolved, in grat.i.tude for the favour, to dedicate herself to G.o.d in the religious state. She therefore retired to a hermitage in Brabant, where she spent her remaining years in prayer and penance, winning from Heaven many graces for the people of that district. After her death her relics were enshrined in a collegiate church in the town of Rhode, and she became the chief patron of the place.

It is remarkable that the feast of this saint was inserted in the calendar drawn up for the Scottish Episcopal Church by order of {173} Charles I. St. Oda's supposed royal descent is thought to have won for her this distinction.

28--St. Callen.

Nothing more is known concerning this saint than the facts that the church of Rogart, in Sutherlandshire, was dedicated to St. Callen, and a fair, known as "St. Callen's Fair," was formerly held there on this day.