A Calendar of Scottish Saints Part 6

This saint was the sixteenth Abbot of Iona. There had been before him another abbot of {97} the same name. Suibhne, p.r.o.nounced "Sweeney", is identical with an Irish appellation not uncommon in our day.

25--St. Moluag or Lughaidh, Bishop. A.D. 592.

This saint was born in Ireland and became a monk in the renowned abbey of Bangor. He was so fervent a follower of monastic life that, as St. Bernard testifies, he founded no less than a hundred monasteries. Fired with missionary zeal, he left his native land to preach to the pagans of Scotland. Tradition says that the rock on which he stood detached itself from the Irish coast and became a raft to bear him across the waters to the island of Lismore, in Loch Linnhe, where he landed. St. Moluag converted the people of the island to Christianity, and then moved into Ross-shire, where he built many churches, dedicating them to the Mother of G.o.d.

He lived to extreme old age, and died at Rosemarkie on the Moray Firth. Here he is said by some to have been buried, but his relics must in that case have been afterwards translated to Lismore; for his remains were honoured in the cathedral there, which was H {98} called after him.

Great devotion was shown to this saint in Catholic ages both in Scotland and Ireland. There were many dedications to him in Scotland.

At Lismore, the cathedral of Argyll bore his name. Other churches were dedicated to him at Clatt and Tarland, Aberdeenshire; Mortlach, Banffshire; Alyth, Perthshire; also in Skye, Mull, Raasay, Tiree, Pabay, Lewis and other islands. An ancient burial ground at Auchterawe, near Fort Augustus, styled Kilmalomaig, is called after this saint. In these dedications his name appears in various forms.

The original Celtic name Lughaidh (p.r.o.nounced _Lua_) became changed, as in many other cases, by the addition of the t.i.tle of honour _mo_, as a prefix, and the endearing suffix _ag_.

At Clatt was held annually for eight days "St. Mallock's Fair", and at Tarland "Luoch Fair". Others were held at Ruthven (Forfarshire) and at Alyth; at the latter place the fair was styled "St.

Malogue's". At Mortlach, where some of the saint's relics were preserved, an abbey was founded in 1010 by Malcolm II. in thanksgiving for a victory obtained over the Danes in that place, after the Scottish army {99} had invoked the aid of Our Lady and St.

Moluag. His holy well was nearby.

The crozier of the saint is now in the pos session of the Duke of Argyll; it was long kept by its hereditary custodians, a family named Livingstone, on the island of Lismore. The bell of St. Moluag was in existence up to the sixteenth century; but disappeared at the Reformation. An ancient bell, discovered in 1814 at Kilmichael-Gla.s.sary, Argyllshire, has been thought to be the lost treasure. The feast of this saint was restored by Leo XIII. in 1898.

JULY

1--St. Servan or Serf, Bishop, 6th or 8th century.

Much that is legendary has become mixed up with the history of this saint, and it is difficult to fix upon what is authentic.

He founded a monastery at Culross, Fifeshire, where he lived in great veneration on {100} account of his virtues and miracles. He is said to have befriended the mother of S. Kentigern when she was cast on the sh.o.r.e near his dwelling, and to have baptised and educated her child. A very ancient life of St. Serf, however, places him a century later than St. Kentigern, and makes him contemporary with St.

Ad.a.m.nan.

On account of the many difficulties presented by conflicting traditions, it has been suggested that two saints of the same name have lived at Culross in different centuries.

St. Serf died at Culross in extreme old age, and was buried there.

Within the grounds belonging to Lord Rosslyn at Dysart is pointed out the cave where the saint is said to have encountered and overcome the devil. The name Dysart (desert), which marked his place of retreat, became afterwards extended to the town which grew up there. The cave of the saint became a favourite place of pilgrimage.

The churches of Monzievaird-Perthshire, and Alva-Stirlingshire, were dedicated to this saint, and at each place is a well called by his name. Another well of his called "St. Shear's Well" exists at Dumbarton. All three were {101} considered miraculous. St. Serf's Fairs were formerly held at Culross, Abercorn (Linlithgowshire) and Aberlednock (Perthshire).

At Culross a custom prevailed from time immemorial for the young men to perambulate the streets in procession, carrying green boughs, on the 1st of July each year. The Town Cross was decorated with garlands and ribbons, and the procession would pa.s.s several times round it before disbanding to spend the day in amus.e.m.e.nts. This was doubtless the remains of a procession in honour of the saint. At the accession of George III. the population, being strong Hanoverians, began to celebrate that King's birthday on June 4th, and to avoid too many public holidays, the procession of July 1st, the signification of which has become lost, was transferred to the King's birthday. It survived the accession of Queen Victoria, but has now probably fallen into disuse.

3--St. Killen, Abbot, A.D. 752.

This saint was the fourteenth Abbot of Iona. The old church of Laggan, near Loch Laggan, Inverness-shire, was dedicated to St.

Killen. {102}

4--St. Maria.n.u.s Scotus, Abbot, A.D. 1088.

The monastery of St. James, Ratisbon, owes its first beginnings to this saint. Most historians are now agreed in maintaining that Maria.n.u.s was a native of Ireland, which for many centuries bore the designation of Scotia. The holy man with several companions entered a Benedictine monastery at Bamberg. Some time afterwards, when on a pilgrimage to Rome, they pa.s.sed through Ratisbon. A holy hermit who was living there persuaded Maria.n.u.s to forego his visit to Rome and take up his abode in Ratisbon. He obeyed the injunction, and founded a monastery in connection with the Church of St. Peter, which the nuns to whom it belonged made over to him.

After the death of Maria.n.u.s a larger abbey was built in honour of St.

James and St. Gertrude which eventually became peopled by Scotsmen, and became, after the Reformation, an important seminary for the education of clergy for mission work in Scotland. This venerable abbey was appropriated by the Bavarian Government about the middle of the nineteenth century, a compensation of L10,000 being paid to the Scots College in Rome. {103}

A valuable MS. consisting of selections from the homilies of the Fathers of the Church, in the actual handwriting of St. Maria.n.u.s himself, was presented to the Benedictine Abbey, Fort-Augustus, by the last survivor of the community of the Scots Monastery, Ratisbon, and is one of the greatest treasures of the Fort-Augustus library.

6--St. Modenna, or Medana, Virgin, A.D. 518.

This saint was an Irish virgin, who received the monastic habit from St. Patrick himself, and was a dear friend of St. Bridget. She took up her abode in Scotland, where she founded many monasteries for women. Some of these foundations were in Strathclyde, but the greatest of them was in Galloway, at the place now styled Kirkmaiden (formerly Kirkmedan), where St. Medan's Well and Cave may still be seen.

St. Modenna is said to have lived to the age of 130 years and to have died at Longforgan, near Dundee, after having made during the course of her long life three pilgrimages to Rome, barefoot and clad in hair-cloth.

Edinburgh probably takes its name from Medana. Her sanctuary, marking, it was said, {104} one of her monastic foundations, and known as "St. Edana's," was a place of pilgrimage long before the time of King Edwin who was once supposed to have given the city its designation. The discovery of the foundations of a much more ancient building under St. Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, in 1918, seems to corroborate the statement in an ancient Latin life of this Saint of the erection by her of a church on the top of Edinburgh Rock, while it strengthens the tradition of the origin of the name, Edana's Burgh. Maiden Castle is really Medan's (or Medana's) Castle.

A new Catholic church, situated in St. Meddan's Street, Troon, was erected in 1911 and dedicated to this saint in conjunction with Our Lady.

7--St. Palladius, Bishop, A.D. (about) 430.

St. Prosper of Aquitaine tells us that this saint was a Roman deacon who was sent by Pope Celestine I. to those Irish who were already Christians, that he might be their bishop. After founding several churches in Ireland, and meeting with opposition from the pagans there, he left that country for Scotland, where he founded churches in the Mearns. He died at Fordun, and his relics were still preserved there {105} in 1409, when the Archbishop of St. Andrews placed them in a new and costly shrine adorned with gold and gems. The ruins of his chapel are still to be seen there and a well bears his name.

"Paldy Fair" is still held at Auchinblae in the parish of Fordoun (Kincardineshire); it formerly lasted eight days.

Pope Leo XIII. in his Bull concerning the restoration of the Scottish hierarchy in 1878, refers to the share of St. Palladius in the evangelisation of the country. "St. Palladius," he says, "deacon of the Roman Church, is said to have preached the Faith of Christ there (in Scotland) in the fifth century."

The same Pontiff, in 1898, restored this saint's feast to Scotland.

11--St. Drostan, Abbot, 6th century.

This saint was of Scottish birth, being descended from King Aidan of Dalriada, the friend of St. Columba. He was sent over to that saint, then in Ireland, to be educated and trained for the religious state.

He eventually became a monk at a monastery known as Dalquongal, of which in course of time he became abbot. After some time he pa.s.sed over to {106} Scotland where he lived as a hermit near Glenesk, in Angus. He afterwards entered the monastery of Iona, and while dwelling under the rule of St. Columba accompanied that saint to the district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire, and was made by him abbot of the monastery of Deer, which St. Columba founded on land given to him by the ruler of the district, whose son had been restored to health during a severe illness by the saint's prayers. The name Deer is said to have originated in the tears (_deara_) shed by Drostan when he parted from his beloved master.

St. Drostan preached the gospel in the district of Inverness-shire known as Glen-Urquhart which in Catholic ages bore the name of "St.

Drostan's Urquhart." Here a plot of ground, said to have been cultivated by the saint when he lived there as its apostle, is still known as "St. Drostan's Croft." In St. Ninian's Chapel, in the glen, was preserved the saint's cross, and the custodian of the relic had the use of the "Dewar's (or keeper's) Croft" as a reward for his services.

St. Drostan died in his monastery of Deer and was buried at Aberdour where miracles {107} were wrought at his tomb. Many churches in the North of Scotland bore his name; in Caithness were Halkirk and Cannisbay; in Angus, Edzell and Lochee; in Inverness-shire, Alvie and Urquhart; in Banffshire, Aberlour and Rothiemay; in Aberdeenshire, Deer and Aberdour. At Westfield in Caithness is St. Drostan's Burial Ground; at Lochlee is "Droustie's Meadow" and "Droustie's Well."

Other wells bore his name in various districts. One was at Aberlour, and there were five between Edzell and Aberdour.

St. Drostan's Fairs were held each year at Rothiemay, Aberlour (for three days) and Old Deer. The last named, which formerly lasted for eight days, is still kept up. This is one of the few instances in which the old fair day of Catholic times has survived. In too many cases these remnants of Catholic ages disappeared during the last century. Pope Leo XIII. restored the feast of this saint in 1898. It was formerly celebrated in Scotland in December.

12--St. Donald, Hermit, A.D. (about) 716.

A local tradition speaks of the sojourn of this saint in the Glen of Ogilvy, in Forfarshire, {108} where he lived a secluded life for some years. He was not, strictly speaking, a hermit, as his nine virgin daughters shared his solitude, and spent their time like St. Donald in the almost constant practice of prayer and contemplation. No reliable record remains of the course of his life or of the date and circ.u.mstances of his death.

18--The Nine Maidens, 8th century.

These were the daughters of St. Donald, mentioned above.

During the lifetime of their father, these maidens lived with him in strict seclusion in the Glen of Ogilvy. Having devoted their youth to the Religious Life, they were loth to return to the world when their father's death left them without a protector. They accordingly entered the monastery for women which St. Darlugdach, an Irish nun and the friend of St. Bridget (or as some say St. Bridget herself), had founded at Abernethy. Here they spent the remainder of their lives.

There were many dedications in Scotland to these saints. The ancient church of Finhaven in Forfarshire, a chapel at Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, {109} called the "Chapel of the Nine Maidens," and another, bearing a like designation, at Tough, in the same county, are some of them.

Other a.s.sociations are still to be found in the many holy wells which are called after them, at Strathmartin, Glamis and Oathlaw (Forfarshire), Old Aberdeen and Pitsligo (Aberdeenshire), Newburgh (Fife) and Mid-Calder (near Edinburgh).

These saints were honoured together in Catholic ages on this day.

St. Thenew or Thenog, A.D. 514.