3--St. Kevin or Coivin, Abbot, A.D. 618.
This Irish saint has been compared by ancient writers to St. Paul the
Hermit, on account of his holiness of life. He founded the celebrated
monastery of Glendalough, in Wicklow County; it became in after ages
a bishop's see. He lived to the age of 120 years.
St. Kevin was greatly honoured in Scotland as well as in his native
country. It is said, that he lived for a time in Scotland. Traces of
a devotion to him are certainly found in the western part of the
country. In the parish of Southend, Argyllshire, are the remains of a
small building called St. Coivin's Chapel. Kilkivan (in the parish of
Campbelltown) is named after him, and a cave there is known as "St.
Kevin's Bed."
6--St. Colmoc or Colman, Bishop, A.D. 500.
He was an Irish saint, who became Bishop of Dromore, and was renowned
for miracles. There is no record of St. Colmoc having ever {88} lived
in Scotland, but Scottish writers number him among the saints of the
country, and the dedications still existing in his honour show that
he had some connection with that kingdom. The monastery of
Inchmahome, for instance, a priory of Austin Canons on an island in
the Lake of Monteith, Perthshire, is named after him. Another
dedication is Kilmochalmaig, the site of an ancient church on the
west coast of Bute. The remains of a pillar with a sculptured cross
may still be seen there. Portmahomack in Tarbet, Easter-Ross, refers
either to this saint or to St. Colman, patron of the church of Tarbet
(see February 18). A chapel in the burial-ground of Kirriemuir
(Forfarshire) bore the name of St. Colmoc.
9--St. Colum Cille or Columba, Abbot, A.D. 597.
The apostle of the northern regions of Scotland was born in Ireland
in A.D. 521. Both father and mother were of royal race. Though
offered the crown of his native province, Columba preferred rather to
enrol himself in the monastic state. He studied in the schools of
Moville, Clonard, and Glasnevin, and in course {89} of time was
ordained priest. At twenty-five years of age he founded his first
monastery at Derry; this was to be the precursor of the hundred
foundations which Ireland owed to his zeal and energy. In these
monasteries the transcription of the Holy Scriptures formed the chief
labour of the inmates, and so much did Columba love the work that he
actually wrote three hundred manuscripts of the Gospels and Psalms
with his own hand.
But Columba was not destined to remain in Ireland. From his earliest
years he had looked forward to the time when he might devote himself
to missionary efforts for the benefit of those who knew not the
Christian faith. In the forty-second year of his age he exiled
himself voluntarily from his beloved country to preach the Gospel to
the pagan Picts. The story of his having been banished from Ireland
for using his influence to bring about a bloody conflict between
chieftains is rejected by the greatest modern historians as a fable.
Early writers speak of the saint as a man of mild and gentle nature.
On Whit Sunday, A.D. 563, St. Columba {90} landed with twelve
companions on the bleak, unsheltered island off the coast of Argyll,
known as _Hii-Coluim-Cille_ or Iona. For thirty-four years the saint
and his helpers laboured with such success, that through their
efforts churches and centres of learning sprang up everywhere, both
on the mainland and the adjacent islands. Iona became the centre
whence the Faith was diffused throughout the country north of the
Grampians. The monastic missionaries were untiring in their efforts.
They penetrated even to Orkney and Shetland.
On Sunday, June 9, A.D. 597, St. Columba was called to his reward. He
died in the church, kneeling before the altar and surrounded by his
religious brethren. His remains, first laid to rest at Iona, were
afterwards carried over to Ireland and enshrined in the Cathedral of
Down by the side of those of St. Patrick and St. Bridget. All these
relics perished when the cathedral was burned by Henry VIII's
soldiers.
St. Columba was a man of singular purity of mind, boundless love for
souls, and a gentle, winning nature which drew men irresistibly to
{91} God. His labours were furthered by Divine assistance, which was
evidenced by numerous miracles. Among the saints of Scotland he takes
a foremost rank, and in Catholic ages devotion to him was widespread.
The churches dedicated to him are too numerous to mention. He himself
founded no less than fifty during his residence in the land which he
had chosen as the scene of his labours. Annual fairs were held on his
feast at Aberdour (Fife), Dunkeld each for eight days Drymen
(Stirlingshire), Largs (Argyllshire), and Fort-Augustus
(Inverness-shire). St. Columba's holy wells were very numerous, for
an old Irish record relates of him: "He blessed three hundred wells
which were constant." In Scotland they are to be traced at Birse
(Aberdeenshire), Alvah and Portsoy (Banffshire), Invermoriston
(Inverness-shire), Calaverock (Forfarshire), Cambusnethan
(Lanarkshire), Alness (Ross-shire), Kirkholm (Wigtonshire), and on
the islands of Garvelloch, Eigg and Iona.
St. Baitan or Baithen, Abbot, A.D. 600.
He was cousin to St. Columba, and accompanied him from Ireland to
Scotland. From {92} his childhood he had been that saint's disciple
and companion, and St. Columba had a special affection for him. He
was appointed superior of the monastery established in Tiree, but at
St. Columba's death succeeded him as Abbot of Iona. There he remained
only four years, death calling him away, as he had previously
foretold to his monks, on the anniversary of their father and
founder. St. Baitan was buried in St. Oran's Chapel on Iona. His bell
was still preserved in Donegal up to a few years since, and it was a
common practice of devotion to drink from it. In the same district is
St. Baitan's River, to which flocks and herds were brought to drink
on the saint's festival.
St. Baitan is said to have spent his time either in reading, praying,
or serving his neighbour. Even during meals he used constantly to
implore the Divine aid in the words of the Psalmist: "O God, come to
my assistance." During labour his mind was always raised to God. So
mortified was he that it was said that the impression of his ribs
through his woollen tunic used to mark the sandy beach of Iona when
he lay down to rest himself there. {93}
12--St. Ternan, Bishop, A.D. 431.
This saint was born in the Mearns of noble parents. St. Palladius,
who evangelised that district, is said to have been directed to
the child by an angel, in order that he might ad minister baptism.
Ternan grew up to manhood, embraced the clerical state, and in
due time became a bishop. He is said to have fixed his residence at
Abernethy, where he died. He was buried at the place now known as
Banchory-Ternan, Kincardineshire, where a fair is still held annually
on his festival. More than a thousand years after his death the head
of the saint was venerated there by one who has testified to the
existence at the time of the skin upon the skull in the part where it
had received the episcopal consecration. Up to the Reformation two
other valuable relics of the saint were preserved in that same
church. One was the copy of St. Matthew's Gospel, which belonged to
St. Ternan, encased in a cover adorned with gold and silver; the
other was the saint's bell. This latter is thought to have been
identical with an ancient bell which was dug up near the present
railway station at Banchory in the {94} making of the line. It has
unfortunately been lost sight of.
The churches of Slains, in Aberdeenshire, and Arbuthnott and Upper
Banchory, in the Mearns, were dedicated to St. Ternan. At Taransay,
in Harris, and at Findon, in the Mearns, were chapels of the saint;
the latter place possessed a holy well called by his name, and there
was another at Slains.
20--St. Fillan ("The Leper"), 6th century.
This saint was a native of Ireland, and is honoured in that country
also on this day. Animated with the desire for solitude in a strange
country, or else with missionary zeal, he passed over to Scotland and
settled in the district known as Strathearn. No particulars of his
life are known.
Several remains speak of devotion shown to this holy man. The village
of St. Fillans (Dundurn), in the parish of Comrie, was dedicated to
him, and from him took its name; his holy well is there still. In the
vicinity is a conical hill about 600 feet high, which is called
Dunfillan. At the summit is a rock which goes {95} by the name of
"St. Fillan's Chair"; from it he is said to have blessed the country
round. The old church of Aberdour, Fifeshire, now in ruins, was named
after St. Fillan. A well hard by, known as the Pilgrims Well, was
renowned as late as the eighteenth century for curing diseases of the
eye. It is thought to have been dedicated to the patron of the
church. The hospital of St. Martha, for the benefit of pilgrims, was
founded there in 1474, and was served by Sisters of the third Order
of St. Francis from 1487 up to the Reformation.
21--St. Cormac, Abbot, 6th century.
St. Cormac was another Irish saint. From his early youth he followed
a monastic life, and eventually became a disciple of St. Columba. In
after years he became Abbot of Dearmagh, now known as Durrow, in
King's County. This charge he resigned in order to give himself to
missionary life. He had always been of a brave and enterprising
nature, and more than once in his missionary career his zeal led him
to venture on the high seas, in quest of some pagan land where he
might preach the Faith, {96} or of some desert region where he might
live in closer communion with God.
In one of his journeys he visited St. Columba at Iona, and afterwards
sailed as far as the Orkneys, where the pagan people were minded to
put him to death. But one of the chiefs had long before made a solemn
promise to St. Columba, who had seen in vision the coming of Cormac
to the islands and his threatened death, that no harm should happen
to him in the Orkneys. This intervention was successful.
Neither the place nor time of St. Cormac's death is known with any
certainty, but an ancient Irish tradition asserts that he returned to
Durrow and was buried there.
A fragment still exists of the "Crozier of Durrow", which is
considered to be the most ancient relic of its kind now extant. It
is believed to have belonged to the founder of Durrow, the great
Columba, and to have been given by him to his disciple, Cormac.
22--St. Suibhne, Abbot, A.D. 772.
This saint was the sixteenth Abbot of Iona. There had been before him
another abbot of {97} the same name. Suibhne, pronounced "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 God.
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 (pronounced _Lua_) became changed,
as in many other cases, by the addition of the title 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-Glassary, Argyllshire, has been thought to be the lost
treasure. The feast of this saint was restored by Leo XIII. in 1898.