Saints -- Scotland; Scotland -- Church history -- Biography
His nephew, St. Fillan (see February 3), built a church in his honour
at Lochalsh. There were also many other dedications to this saint in
Scotland. Among them were {148} Kilchowan in Kiltearn (Ross and
Cromarty), Kilchoan or Kilcongan in the island of Seil, St. Coan in
Strath (Skye), Kilquhoan in Ardnamurchan, Kilchoan in Knoydart, etc.
The church of Turriff in Aberdeenshire was dedicated to him, and the
annual fair on his feast-day was called "Cowan Fair." A hospital of
St. Congan was founded at that place in 1272 by the Earl of Buchan,
consisting of a collegiate establishment for a warden and six
chaplains. Thirteen poor husbandmen of Buchan were maintained there.
King Robert the Bruce added to its endowment. Some of the remains of
this institution are known as "The Abbey Lands." Leo XIII. restored
St. Comgan's feast to the Scottish calendar in 1898.
St. Fyndoca, Virgin.
No particulars of this saint's life remain to us. Her feast occurs
in the Breviary of Aberdeen on this day. She seems to have been
specially venerated in the diocese of Dunblane. An old charter of
the thirteenth century mentions a chapel dedicated to St. Fyndoca at
Findo Cask, near Dunning, in Perthshire; a fair was {149} formerly
held there for eight days from the saint's feast. There are ruins
of an old building known as the chapel of St. Fink at Bendochy,
near Coupar Angus; this was probably one of her dedications.
17--St. Rule, Abbot, (about) 6th century.
An old legend, long accepted as history, but rejected altogether by
modern critics, makes this saint the bearer of the relics of St.
Andrew from Patras in Achaia to Scotland in the fourth century. The
story relates that Rule, when engaged in his duties as custodian of
the apostle's shrine, was favoured with a Heavenly vision, in which
an angel commanded him to set aside certain of the relics--among them
an arm-bone and three fingers of the Apostle--and to conceal them for
a time in a certain spot indicated. Another vision later on directed
the holy man to set sail with the relics in a north-westerly
direction "towards the ends of the earth," and when the vessel should
be in danger of shipwreck on a northern coast to recognise that as a
sign that a church should be built near that spot in honour {150} of
St. Andrew, where the relics should be enshrined. St. Rule is said to
have carried out the command in company with many fellow voyagers,
and to have founded the church of St. Andrew's, where he lived more
than thirty years after his landing. A cave on the sea coast hard by
still bears his name. He is said to have retired there for prayer.
The old church of St. Rule, with its quaint, slender tower, was the
first cathedral of the city, which formerly bore the saint's name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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