Saint Ninian Window St Mary's Parish Church Dundee Scotland
A bit about our national saints – St Ninian, St Columba, St ...
www.scmo.org/papalvisitscotland/...Scotland.../Scotland's%20Saints.doc
Tour Scotland video of the Saint Ninian stained glass window in St Mary's Parish Church on visit to Dundee.
Saint of the day: 16th September
St Ninian
A 5th century British bishop and apostle in Whithorn and Galloway, St Ninian is traditionally also the apostle of the Picts.
A number of inscribed Christian stones have been discovered by archaeologists around Galloway, which indicate that St Ninian lived there. Bede refers to him living at a monastery in the area near a church painted white. An anonymous 8th century poet wrote about him and the 12th century Ailred of Rievaulx wrote a life of this Scottish saint.
His shrine was a popular pilgrimage place for centuries, surviving up to the Reformation. By that time his cult had also spread to Kent and Denmark. In recent years pilgrims have again begun returning to Whithorn on this day. Since 1984, excavations have revealed a site of major importance.
A 5th century British bishop and apostle in Whithorn and Galloway, St Ninian is traditionally also the apostle of the Picts.
A number of inscribed Christian stones have been discovered by archaeologists around Galloway, which indicate that St Ninian lived there. Bede refers to him living at a monastery in the area near a church painted white. An anonymous 8th century poet wrote about him and the 12th century Ailred of Rievaulx wrote a life of this Scottish saint.
His shrine was a popular pilgrimage place for centuries, surviving up to the Reformation. By that time his cult had also spread to Kent and Denmark. In recent years pilgrims have again begun returning to Whithorn on this day. Since 1984, excavations have revealed a site of major importance.
Scotland’s
National Saints
ST
ANDREW
Andrew was a fisherman and the first disciple of
Jesus. He was a follower of John the
Baptist but when John heralded Jesus with the words “Behold the Lamb of God”
Andrew understood Christ was the Messiah.
He experienced first hand many of the miracles Jesus carried out in his
ministry. Jesus acknowledged Andrew and
his brother Simon (St Peter) on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and promised
to make them “fishers of men”. At that
point they both left their nets and followed him. After the Lord’s ascension to heaven
St Andrew preached in Greece. He is
said to have been put to death on a cross and continued preaching until the
moment of his death. He is also the
patron saint of Russia. Today, the
national flag of Scotland is called the St Andrew’s Cross. He is the patron saint of fishermen. Relics of St Andrew brought from Amalfi
in Italy to Edinburgh in the 1960’s are kept in St Mary’s Metropolitan
Cathedral.
Born: Early first century AD, Galilee
Feast day: 30 November
ST
NINIAN
Scotland’s
earliest known saint, recognised as bringing Christianity to Scotland. Although little is known about him, 397 AD is
celebrated as the year he began his mission in Scotland. Where Bethlehem is the Cradle of
Christianity, Whithorn in Galloway, where he settled, has become popularly
known as The Cradle of Christianity in Scotland. One legend about St Ninian tells of him
planting seeds which grew to fruition within a few hours, relieving his
monastery's food shortages. In 1871 an
incised cross was found in a cave in Whithorn where St Ninian was said to
live. An excavation in 1884 uncovered a
number of other crosses. The body of St Ninian was buried
in the church at Whithorn.
Born: 4th century AD
Feast
day: 16 September
ST
COLUMBA
Although
born in Ireland, St Columba has become one of Scotland’s best known
saints. After being banished from Ulster
he was granted the Scottish island of Iona.
From there he spread the message of the gospel around the highlands of
Scotland. Before his death in 597 AD he
and his monks had Christianised most of northern Scotland. The legend of the Loch Ness monster was
formed after the saint was said to have fought it off after it attacked a
fellow monk in the 6th century.
Today Iona has become a retreat for all sorts of people with buildings
restored. Actor Jeremy Irons will play
St Columba in a film due out next year called ‘End of Time’.
Born: 521 – Died:
597 AD
Feast
day: 9 June
ST
MUNGO
Mungo apparently had contact with St Columba in
Iona before the latter’s death in 597 AD. An early
story about Mungo is that he restored life to St Serf's pet robin, who had been
deliberately killed by young hooligans.
At the age of 25, Mungo began his mission on the site of modern Glasgow,
eventually becoming Bishop of Strathclyde. Glasgow's Cathedral along the Molendinar Burn is
the fourth to be built on the site of Mungo's seventh century wooden
church. According to legend Mungo did
not choose the church's site himself. He
found St Fergus dying by the roadside and placed him gently in an oxcart. Mungo instructed the oxen to take the cart
wherever God wanted and the oxen consequently stopped at a place blessed by
St Ninian about 200 years earlier.
Mungo buried Fergus there and built the church at the site. A sermon by St Mungo provided Glasgow's
motto: ‘Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the word and the proclaiming
of His name’. When a lawyer designed the
city's coat of arms in 1868, the motto was truncated to its first three words. When Pope John Paul II visited in 1982 he
echoed those words to a crowd of almost 300,000 in the city’s Bellahouston
Park. He is the patron Saint of Glasgow.
Born: 521 –
Died: 597 AD
Feast day:
13 January
ST
MARGARET
St Margaret is the only royal Scottish saint. She married the Scottish King Malcolm III and
lived a life of extraordinary piety, despite the lure of riches and
comfort. She carried out charitable works and personally served
orphans and the poor every day before she ate.
She worked to reform the Scottish Church by bringing it into line with
Roman practices. She was considered to
be an exemplary and just ruler and also influenced her husband and children to
follow her example. She died aged 47
after repeated fasting and abstinence took their toll on her health. She was buried alongside Malcolm in Dunfermline
Abbey and the reported miracles that took place in and around her tomb
supported her canonization in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV. She had eight children and is the patron
saint of mothers.
Born: 1046 – Died 1093
Feast day: 16 November
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