Part 1 (1/2)

A Calendar of Scottish Saints.

by Michael Barrett.

INTRODUCTION

The t.i.tle of Scottish, applied to the holy ones whose names occur in these short notices, must be understood to refer not so much to their nationality as to the field in which, they laboured or the localities where traces of their _cultus_ are to be found. The Calendar here submitted does not pretend to be exhaustive; the saints therein noted are those who appear prominently in such records as remain to us and in the place-names which still recall their personalities.

In this new edition much additional information has been inserted, and many emendations made to render the Calendar as complete as possible.

The chief sources relied upon in the compilation of the work are:

_The Breviary of Aberdeen_, drawn up by Bishop Wm. Elphinstone, and printed in 1509.

Dr. Forbes' _Kalendars of Scottish Saints_.

_Origines Parochiales Scotiae_.

Dr. Skene's _Celtic Scotland_.

Canon O'Hanlon's _Lives of Irish Saints_.

Cardinal Moran's _Irish Saints in Great Britain_.

_New Statistical Account of Scotland_.

The date at the head of each notice is generally that of the death of the saint concerned.

JANUARY

1--St. Ernan, Abbot, A.D. 640.

The Saint whose feast is celebrated on this day was a disciple of the great St. Columba, and is said by Colgan, the renowned Irish scholar, to have been his nephew. What connection the saint had with Scotland is not clear. He may have laboured for a time there under St. Columba, but he became Abbot of Drumhome in Donegal. On the night St. Columba went to his reward, as we are told by that saint's biographer, St. Ad.a.m.nan, Ernan was favoured with a vision in which the saint's death was revealed to him. St. Ernan died in his Irish monastery at an advanced age in the year 640. The church of Killernan, in Ross-s.h.i.+re, is named after him. Another dedication to this saint is thought by some to be Kilviceuen in Mull.

4--St. Chroman or Ghronan, A.D. 641.

On account of the destruction of so many ecclesiastical records at the Reformation, many {2} particulars regarding some of our Scottish saints have been irrevocably lost. This is the case with the holy man before us. All that we know of him may be told in a few words. He lived in the Cunningham district of Ayrs.h.i.+re, where he was revered during life and venerated after death for his great sanct.i.ty. On his deathbed we are told he kept continually repeating those words of the 83rd Psalm, ”My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the Living G.o.d.”

7--St. Kentigerna, Recluse, A.D. 733.

Like so many holy souls whose lives drew down the grace of Heaven upon the land, St. Kentigerna was of Irish race. Her brother, St.

Comgan, succeeded their father, a prince of Leinster, in the government of his territory. Meeting with violent opposition from the neighbouring princes, on account of his just and upright Christian rule, St. Comgan was obliged to fly the country, and together with his widowed sister, who had been married to an Irish prince, took refuge in Scotland. St. Comgan devoted himself to monastic life, and {3} Kentigerna retired to an island in Loch Lomond to live as an anch.o.r.ess. Here in her solitary cell, on the hilly, wooded isle which is now called in memory of her _Innis na Caillich_ (the Nun's Island), she spent many years of the remainder of her life. The island became the seat of the old parish church of Buchanan, which was dedicated to her, and in the graveyard, which is still in use, are many tombs of the chiefs and ill.u.s.trious men of the clan MacGregor. The church has been long in ruins. St.

Kentigerna died in 733. Her feast is to be found in the Aberdeen Breviary.

11--St. Suibhne (Sweeney), Abbot, A.D. 656.

This saint was an Abbot of Iona who died in the odour of sanct.i.ty when he had been Superior of that monastery for about three years.

14--St. Kentigern or Mungo, Bishop, A.D. 603 or 612.

The ancient kingdom of c.u.mbria or Strathclyde extended from the Clyde to the Derwent in c.u.mberland. It had been evangelised by St.

Ninian, but, in the course of two centuries, through constant warfare and strife, the Faith {4} had almost disappeared when, in the middle of the sixth century, St. Kentigern was raised up to be its new apostle. The saint came of a royal race, and was born about A.D. 518. He was brought up from childhood by a holy hermit of Culross called Serf, who out of the love he bore the boy changed his name of Kentigern (signifying ”lord and master”) to that of Mungo (the well beloved). It is under the latter name that he is best known in Scotland. It should be noted, however, that the benefactor of the young Kentigern, though possibly bearing the same name, cannot be identified with the well-known St. Serf of Culross, who, according to modern historians, must have flourished in a later century. At the completion of his education Kentigern fixed his abode at Cathures, now known as Glasgow, and was joined by many disciples, who lived under his rule in a kind of monastic discipline. His holy life caused him to be raised--much against his will--to the episcopal state. He fixed upon Glasgow for his see, and ruled his flock with all the ardour and holiness of an apostle.