8--St. Triduana, Virgin, 7th or 8th century.
St. Triduana devoted herself to God in a solitary life at Rescobie in
Angus (now Forfarshire). While dwelling there, a prince of the
country having conceived an unlawful passion for her is said to have
pursued her with his unwelcome attentions. To rid herself of his
importunities, as a legend relates, Triduana bravely plucked out her
beautiful eyes, her chief attraction, and sent them to her admirer.
Her heroism, it is said, procured for her the power of curing
diseases of the eyes. Many instances are related of such miracles
worked after her death.
St. Triduana died at Restalrig in Lothian, and her tomb became a
favourite place of {143} pilgrimage. Before the Reformation it was
the most important of the holy shrines near Edinburgh. On account of
this prominence her church was the very first to fall a victim to the
fanatical zeal of the Puritans. After being honoured for a thousand
years her relics were desecrated by the destruction of her shrine.
The General Assembly, decreed on December 21, 1560, that "the Kirk of
Restalrig, as a monument of idolatrie, be raysit and utterlie castin
downe and destroyed." An interesting discovery was made in 1907 in
connection with this church, which had long been used as a
Presbyterian place of worship after restoration. An octagonal
building, standing near, was thought to have been a Chapter House in
Catholic times; it was filled with earth and rubbish, after having
served as a burial place, and a mound of earth surmounted it on the
outside on which trees had rooted. The Earl of Moray, superior of the
village, offered to restore the church to its original state, and,
when examined by competent authorities, the supposed Chapter House
was found to be a beautiful little Gothic chapel with groined roof
supported {144} by a central pillar, similar to the building which
once covered St. Margaret's well at Restalrig. Further explorations
proved that the little octagonal building had evidently been raised
over the miraculous well of St. Triduana, so much scoffed at by
Reformation satirists. Steps led down to the water, thus covered in,
and a chapel, which must have formed an upper story above the well,
is thought to have been the "Triduana's Aisle" alluded to in ancient
documents. The building has now been thoroughly restored after its
original form and is regarded as a valuable monument of antiquity.
Thus do more enlightened ages condemn the foolish fanaticism of
bygone days!
This saint was honoured in various parts of Scotland, and her name
has undergone so many changes in the different districts as to be
often unrecognisable. It occurs under the various forms of Traddles,
Tredwell, Tradwell, Trallew, Trallen, etc.
Among these dedications are Kintradwell in Caithness and Trad lines
in Forfarshire. Near the island of Papa Westray in the Orkneys is St.
Tredwell's Loch, and on the east side of {145} the loch is a small
peninsula containing the ruins of a little building measuring 20 feet
in length and 22 feet in breadth, known as St. Tredwell's Chapel. At
Rescobie a fair used to be held on her feast-day, but in the
beginning of last century it was transferred to Forfar. It was known
as "St. Trodlin's Fair." Relics of this saint were honoured in
Aberdeen Cathedral in Catholic ages. Devotion to St. Triduana has
been revived in the modern Catholic church at Restalrig.