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 shore 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.
Adamnan.
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 pass several times round it
before disbanding to spend the day in amusements. 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. Marianus 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
Marianus 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 passed through Ratisbon. A holy hermit who
was living there persuaded Marianus 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 Marianus 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. Marianus
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 passed
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
circumstances 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 associations 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.
The history of the early life of this saint is involved in obscurity.
There are various legends relating to it; but recent historians
reject them as spurious. St. Thenew was the mother of St. Mungo or
Kentigern; she is said by Jocelin in his life of St. Mungo (written
in a later age) to have been befriended by St. Serf, and baptised by
him, when she was cast ashore near his dwelling. The fact, however,
is disputed by modern critics, on account of chronological
difficulties.
At an early period a chapel dedicated to St. Thenew existed in
Glasgow; but at the {110} Reformation it was destroyed. The street
leading to this chapel was known for centuries as "St. Thenew's
Gate"; it is now called Argyll Street. The chapel had been popularly
styled "San Theneuke's Kirk," and its name still survives in the
corrupted form of "St. Enoch's"--the modern designation of an
important square in the city with its large railway station and
hotel. Close by the chapel was a holy well bearing the saint's name.
22--St. Dabius or Bavins, Priest.
Some historians have maintained that this saint was a native of
Ireland; but the Scottish tradition affirms that he was born in
Perthshire, and that he became a recluse in his native parish of
Weem, where he built a small chapel.
The shelf of the great rock of Weem, upon which the chapel formerly
stood, is still called "Chapel Rock." A holy well hard by is called
after the saint.
This well was once much frequented by pilgrims. It was a common
opinion that St. Dabius would grant any wish made there if an
offering were thrown into the water. When the well was cleaned out
some years ago a large number of coins was discovered; these were
{111} evidently offerings of the kind. There was an ancient burial
ground at Weems which bore the name of the saint, and on his
feast-day a fair was held annually there.
The name Kildavie (Church of Davius) which is found in the parish of
Kilblane, in Bute, and also in the parish of Kilninian, in Mull,
testifies to ancient churches in honour of St. Davius in those
localities. The Church of Kippen, Stirlingshire, is also dedicated to
this saint, under the designation of "Movean."