Marnan

ON ST. MARNAN, BISHOP IN SCOTLAND.

Marnan, Bishop in Scotland (Saint)

BHL Number: 5544

FROM THE ABERDEEN BREVIARY.

[1] Aberdeen (which Camden writes signifies in British the mouth of the Don) is a maritime city of Scotland in the province of Mar, formerly, while the orthodox religion flourished, adorned with a Bishopric: whose Breviary was printed in the year 1509, In the Bishopric of Aberdeen, at the expense of Walter Chepman, a citizen of Edinburgh. The Lessons excerpted from it, or short Lives of the Scottish Saints, exist at Douai in the Scots seminary of the Society of Jesus, from which we obtained a copy of them. At the first day of March St. Marnan, Bishop, is usually venerated on March 1: the eulogy of St. Marnan, Bishop and Confessor, is read in them: but its first part is drawn from a homily of St. Maximus, which is usually recited in the common of a Confessor Pontiff. Then these words concerning his burial and relics are appended:

[2] "At length, weighed down by the infirmity of his body, in holy old age he sent his most holy soul before him to penetrate the heavens, and in the church of Aberkerdour, buried at Aberkerdour, he heals the sick, which now stands fortified and ramparted by the most beautiful river Deveron, he is buried with fitting honor: and there he rests to this day, by the working of God, daily granting health to the sick. His glorious head, moreover, on every Sunday throughout the year, while the people and Clergy pray suppliantly and lights are lit, is customarily washed, and it is the practice for that water to be carried to the infirm and to those ill with any sickness whatever: and when it is drunk by them it is of the very greatest help to their infirmities, and very many receive health from it through the merits of the blessed man.

[3] "It happened indeed that certain most wicked men of evil thoughts, inflamed rashly with fury and anger, carried off certain ecclesiastical goods annexed to the same Church of Abirkerdour. Being admonished meanwhile by the Diocesan Prelate those injurious to his church are marked with infamy: to make satisfaction to the blessed man and his Church, which they had injured, they came there with bare feet, carrying candles in their hands, but struck by fear and not by love of the Saint; (wonderful to say!) candles of this kind in their hands, though often put to the fire by every device, could not give forth any light: but when taken from their hands, they were lit at once. A tyrant, moreover, was striving to uproot by force a certain tree from the territory of the same Church of Lochellis, in the diocese of Aberdeen,

and it was uprooted by a certain peasant: who, when he had lightly seized it on his back and carried it to the edge and boundaries of the same Church land, set the tree down there, slightly tired. When he tried again to carry it further beyond, that tyrant with each of his servants was unable to carry it because of its excessive weight; and having left it there, a parish Clerk of that Church carried it alone back to its original place — the same tree that the tyrant himself with all his men had been unable to move.

[4] So far the Breviary. From which it seems clearly to be gathered that in whichever church St. Marnanus was first entombed, in that same one his remaining relics were preserved, and his head was accustomed to be washed in water, which was then efficacious for the cure of diseases. But in which province of Scotland the place called Aberkerdor, or Aberkerdour, watered by the Duvern river, may be found, I have not yet been able to ascertain. David Camerarius, book 3, On the Piety of the Scots, whether he died in Annandale, writes that St. Marnanus, after various labors undertaken in the Scottish Church, died in Annandale, a province of Scotland near England, and presently adds: Moray had the head of St. Marnanus, was his head preserved in Moray? which was customarily carried about with the greatest pomp and honor (especially with the noble and ancient tribe of the Inneses accompanying, who bore the most tender affection toward Marnanus) to beseech God for fine weather. But Moray, commonly called Murray, is far distant from Annandale, beyond the Caledonian forest. We are easily led, however, to believe that he was buried in that province or another nearby, since the name Inverness, of a once powerful fortress in that region, is in some way related to the river Duvern, by which the Church of Aberkerdour is said to have been protected and enclosed, and also to the river Findhorn. Although beyond those shores there is also the river Earn, which flows into the Tay estuary: whether the same may be the Duvern is not easy for outsiders to divine. The same Camerarius mentions the Church of Aberkerdour; but I am not sure whether he does not make it distinct from the place of burial and the place that preserved the head, although he acknowledges it as famous for his relics. There exists, he says, the Church of Aberkerdour, watered by the river Duvern, famous in the name of Marnanus, for pilgrims going to the sacred relics of Marnanus there. pilgrimage to his relics.

[5] Concerning the age and deeds of St. Marnanus we have found nothing certain thus far. For we cannot fully approve what the same Camerarius writes He is said to have obtained a victory for King Aidan in these words: St. Marnanus, Bishop and Confessor, under whose leadership and counsel Aidan, the 48th King of the Scots, not without a miracle, won a victory over Ceolwulf, King of the East Saxons, and Ethelfrith, King of Northumbria. For King Aidan being terrified by the unexpected multitude of the infidel Saxons, the Scots had already nearly lost heart, when the holy Marnanus exhorted the soldiers, struck with fear, to place all their hope in Christ the Lord, the God of armies, and with their foreheads fortified by the saving sign of the Cross, fearless, calling upon Jesus Christ, to charge against the enemy. It was done as Marnanus had commanded: and with such spirit they rushed upon the enemy (fortified by the sign of the Cross and calling upon Christ Jesus) that they wrought great slaughter, with Ceolwulf and Vitellius, leaders of the Saxons, being slain, and the rest turned to flight. This victory was to be attributed to the banner of the Cross and to the prayers of Saints Columba (who, though at the greatest distance on the island of Iona, also announced it with a prophetic spirit) and Marnanus — this was the one voice of all. as also St. Columba: This author seems to follow the Scottish historians Hector Boece, John Leslie, and George Buchanan, who however do not mention St. Marnanus, and make many errors while recounting the various wars of King Aidan against Ethelfrith, King of Northumbria, but not against King Ethelfrith, stirred up by the Northumbrian himself, when Bede seems to recognize only one, and that one initiated by Aidan himself. For thus he writes in book 1 of the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, chapter 34: In these times the most brave and most glory-seeking King Ethelfrith ruled over the kingdom of the Northumbrians, who more than all the other English Primates laid waste the nation of the Britons... Whence Edan, King of the Scots who inhabit Britain, moved by his successes, came against him with an immense and strong army, but was defeated and fled with a few. Indeed, in the most famous place called Degsastan (that is, by whom Aidan was defeated in the year 603 the stone of Degsa), almost his entire army was slain. In which battle also Theobald, brother of Ethelfrith, was killed together with all the army which he himself led. Which war Ethelfrith completed in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 603, the eleventh year of his reign, which he held for twenty-four years; moreover, in the first year of Phocas, who then held the pinnacle of the Roman government. Nor from that time did any of the Kings of the Scots dare to come into Britain in battle against the English nation even to this day. So says Bede. But if Ethelfrith had provoked that war, why did he not use the victory and invade Aidan's kingdom? And how could St. Columba then have directed his prayers for the Scots, when he had died six years earlier? For as Bede testifies, book 3, chapter 4, St. Columba came from Ireland to Britain in the year 565, six years after the death of St. Columba, and died after about thirty-two years from the time when he went to Britain to preach.

[6] But the Scottish writers wonderfully confuse these matters: some say Aidan died one year before St. Columba; others that, having heard of the latter's passing, he was seized more by grief than by disease, and soon died. So says Hector. Buchanan subscribes to this, yet admits that Aidan was afflicted with a defeat, but in the eleventh year after that victory, likewise in Northumbria, the one inflicted by Ethelfrith, which Columba announced to his companions on the island of Iona. It is certain, on the testimony of St. Adamnan in the Life of St. Columba, that Aidan won a victory while St. Columba with his monks was praying to God for him. For thus he writes in book 1: "When the holy man was on the island of Iona, he suddenly says to his attendant Diarmait: Ring the bell. by whose prayer he had conquered earlier, Roused by its sound, the Brothers run swiftly to the church, the holy Prelate himself going before. To whom, there, on bended knees, he begins: Now let us pray the Lord earnestly for this people and for King Aidan, for at this hour they have entered into battle. And after a short interval, going out of the oratory and looking up to heaven, he says: Now the barbarians are turned to flight, and to Aidan, however unhappy, victory has yet been granted." perhaps over Ceawlin in the year 590, James Ussher, from certain annals, thinks that that battle took place in the year 590, and that two years later, as Fordun, cited by him, has it, Ceawlin, the most powerful King of the West Saxons, was then afflicted by the Britons with a very great slaughter. But these things may be inquired into on the 9th of June, at the Life of St. Columba. It will be enough here to have shown that all these things are narrated confusedly by the Scots. For when Camerarius writes that Ceulin, King of the East Saxons, was with Ethelfrith, who died in the year 693, in which Ethelfrith was made King, he is mistaken, having rashly followed Buchanan: for there was no King of that name among the East Saxons. There was a most powerful King of the West Saxons, Ceawlin, whom others call Ceulin and Cenlin. He perished in the year 593, as the Saxon Chronology, the Worcester chronicler, and others have it. In which same year Ethelfrith, having obtained the kingdom of Northumbria, at first fiercely defended his own, as William of Malmesbury has it. He never, therefore, waged war against the Scots together with Ceawlin, who died about the same time: rather, at length in the eleventh year of his reign, Edan, King of the Scots (says the same author), envying his successes, drove him, though reluctant, into war. So much for that battle, at which St. Marnan is said to have been present, without the testimony of any other writer.