Kessog, Kessogus, or Makessock, was born at Cashel, the capital of
Munster, of the line of the Kings of Ireland, and miracles are attributed
to his early years. He is depicted with bow and arrow as patron of the
warriors of Leven and patron saint of Cumbrae. He lived as hermit in the
island of Inch-ta-vanach, in Loch Lomond, and was martyred at Luss, where
a cairn, Cam Machaisog, remained till 1796. (Anderson's Early Christian
Times, I., 212). His day is 10th March, and the date of martyrdom, 520.
Coming between the times of S. Patrick and S. Columba, S. Kessog and
several saintly contemporaries are the fruits of the fervour of the
former and the pioneers of the latter. The doctrines and rites of these
earlier missionaries are described in Hewison's Bute, I., 118-131. S.
Kessog's bell was preserved and honoured in Lennox in the 17th century.
Besides Auchterarder, the Churches of Comrie, Callander, Luss, and
Cumbrae were dedicated to S. Kessog. Callander has a fair on the 21st
March=10th March (old style), called Fel-ma-chessaig, and the site of the
old kirk, on a conical hill, is called Tom-na-chessaig. Cumbrae has a
Kessog's Fair on the third Wednesday in March. Kessog Ferry, at
Inverness, is another memorial of the Saint; so is the Strathearn name of
M'Isaac, Makisaig, and Kessack. The old Kirk of S. Makessok lies in a
hollow to the north of modern Auchterarder, whose church dates only from
about 1660, and was enlarged in 1811. Makessock's Well still exists on
the farm of East Kirkton, beside the old glebe and manse, which are now
part of that farm, having been "excambed" about 1800.
There is a dedication to S. Mungo connected with Auchterarder, but as it
seems not to have been a distinct building, we may consider it to have
been only an altar, or side chapel, in the Church of S. Makessog. (The
evidence for the S. Mungo dedication is "Historians of Scotland, Vol. V.,
p. xc."; also New Statistical Account, Perth, 290.) Craigrossy paid dues
to S. Mungo's altar in Glasgow. (Historians of Scotland, V., 357, and
Orig. Par., I., 2.) The name Mungo has a marked currency in Strathearn.
I have known six examples.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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