Say halo to saints in Andrew's shadow

Published on Wednesday 23 November 2005 11:41

ALONG time ago in a faraway land, lived a humble fisherman named Andrew. He never visited Scotland, indeed it's debatable whether he even knew Scotland existed. Yet in a few days' time, Scots around the world will celebrate his life.

He became St Andrew, first disciple and first missionary of Christ, a saint who has been adopted by Scotland as its patron, whose death on the cross has been symbolised into our national flag and whose feast day - November 30 - gives Scots a nice excuse to have a dram.

To celebrate, First Minister Jack McConnell will no doubt make another of his now traditional St Andrew's Day speeches while, in every town across the globe with even the most tenuous connection to Scotland, dinners and balls will be held to mark the occasion.

Which is all be very well, unless you happen to have been St Baldred, St Margaret, St Triduana or St Adrian - just a handful of saints who have more than a passing connection with Scotland. Unlike St Andrew. Even Irish-born St Columba arguably had more of a claim to patron sainthood. At least he lived here.

"Saint Columba was a key figure of the Celtic period," explains Frances Mann, product development manager at Mercat Tours - which will unveil the secrets of Scotland's saints to Museum of Scotland visitors this weekend. "He came to Iona in 563 and set about converting the Picts."

Perhaps Scotland owes just as much to Columba for his services to tourism as to Christianity. Without Columba, there may have been no Loch Ness Monster. Legend has it that Columba was waiting to cross the River Ness when he saw a group of men, one of whom had been bitten by a monster in the loch. A man was sent to swim the lake to draw the monster to the surface, at which point Columba raised his hands. A cross appeared above the water as Columba urged the monster: "Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back with all speed."

"So much of what we now about saints is tied up in folklore and legend," adds Frances. "Because not many things were written down, it was all oral tradition. After years of Chinese whispers, it's hard to decipher what really did happen."

At least there is some solid evidence of Edinburgh's saintly Triduana - the fourth century beauty who gouged out her own eyes after finding herself the object of a Pictish prince's passion.

"The Pictish chieftain Nechtan admired her lovely eyes so much that he wanted to marry her," adds Frances. "But she was dedicated to God and wanted to put him off. So she skewered out her eyes and gave them to him on a thorn.

"She moved to Restalrig in Edinburgh and lived the rest of her life there. A well was established at St Margaret's Church - it's still there - and people believed you could cure diseased eyes by bathing them in the water."

Among the better known of Scotland's saints was an 11th century queen, who spurned the trappings of royalty to spend hours delivering food and money to the poor - even washing their feet.

St Margaret, whose chapel is at Edinburgh Castle, founded hostels, monasteries and churches, including Dunfermline Abbey where she is buried. St Margaret's Well is in Holyrood Park, having been moved there in 1859 from its original site at Jock's Lodge.

Saintliness ran in the family. Her sixth son, David, who became king of Scotland in 1124, also became a saint after founding dozens of churches and monasteries. Frances adds: "David also founded Holyrood. He went hunting on the forest around what became the site of Holyrood Palace and was thrown from his horse. He was about to be gored by a stag and prayed for salvation.

"A cross appeared between the stag's horns. He grabbed the cross and the stag vanished. He founded an abbey on the site in 1128 and the Canongate grew up around it."

While St Andrew, who died on the cross in Greece and whose remains were said - but never proven - to have been brought here in the fourth century, became our patron saint, there were others closer to home. St Mungo, also known as St Kentigern, was born in 518 in the Lothians and became the patron saint of Glasgow; while St Adrian, a ninth century saint from Fife, retreated to the Isle of May to live as a hermit, only to be killed by marauding Vikings.

Or consider Saint Baldred, who lived alone in an East Lothian cave in the eighth century. In May, it emerged that a farmer's plough had uncovered skeletal remains at Auldhame Farm near North Berwick. It looks directly towards the Bass Rock, where St Baldred lived until his death, when his body is said to have split into three, enabling all his congregations at Auldhame, Tyninghame and Prestonkirk to have him as their own.

Yet it is St Andrew, born in Galilee, crucified in Greece, who will remain Scotland's patron saint - for which spinsters should be grateful. For legend has it that young women seeking a husband should spend the day before Saint Andrew's Day noting the location of barking dogs: apparently their future husbands will come from that direction.

• Scotland's Saints is on at Hawthornden Court, Museum of Scotland on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 November at 1.45pm, 2.45pm and 3.45pm. The exhibition is free and suitable for all ages.