ON THE HOLY MARTYRS ADRIAN, BISHOP OF ST. ANDREW'S, STOLBRAND, BISHOP, GLODIAN, GAIUS, AND MANY OTHERS, IN THE ISLAND OF MAY IN SCOTLAND.
AROUND THE YEAR 870.
Preliminary Commentary.
Adrian, Bishop of St. Andrew's, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Stolbrand, Bishop, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Golodian, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Gaius, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Many others, Martyrs in the Island of May in Scotland
[1] With savage cruelty, the Danes or Norsemen ravaged the provinces of Gaul and Britain in the ninth century after Christ's birth. And indeed in Britain, that is, England and Scotland, Hinguar and Hubba, petty kings or leaders of the Danes, raged most cruelly in the slaughter of people of every sex, age, and rank, but especially of persons consecrated to God, about whom we shall treat on April 2 at the Life of St. Ebba the Abbess, and on November 20 at the Life of St. Edmund the King and Martyr, When the Danes devastated England and Scotland in the 9th century, and elsewhere. Of these, Matthew of Westminster writes at the year 870: In the Year of Grace 870, an innumerable multitude of Danes landed in Scotland, whose leaders were Hinguar and Hubba, men of dire wickedness and unheard-of strength. Attempting to bring the whole borders of England to destruction, they slaughtered all boys and old men whom they encountered, and ordered matrons, nuns, and virgins to be handed over for mockery. And shortly afterward he introduces St. Ebba speaking thus to her nuns about them: There have recently come to our regions the most wicked pagans, ignorant of all humanity, who, scouring every place of this region,
sparing neither the female sex nor the age of little children, they destroy churches and ecclesiastical persons, prostitute holy women, and crush and consume everything in their path.
[2] Among these is recorded as having been slain, along with very many others, St. Adrian, who is believed to have been Bishop of St. Andrews in Scotland. His Archdeacon was St. Monan, about whom we treated on the first day of March. Moreover, just as the acts of the latter, so the martyrdom of St. Adrian is narrated by the Aberdeen Breviary, printed about a hundred and fifty years ago. Light is shed upon this by what Hector Boethius writes in book 10, folio 206: The ferocity of the Danes, he says, did not rest there, but plundered everything, sacred and profane: for the Danes, not yet having professed the true religion, bitterly detesting the worshippers of Christ, stripped and burned the sacred temples and sought out the priests for punishment. Whence the English, then inhabitants of Lothian, and the Scottish people of Fife, and raging especially against ecclesiastics, struck with immense fear, left their fields and villages and went elsewhere, to save their lives. At that time in those regions there was a great number of pious men, spreading the Christian doctrine everywhere. The impiety of the Danes, having visited them with much slaughter, pursued them; the greater part of these pious men, with Adrian, the chief Bishop of the Scots, St. Adrian, Bishop, with many others flees to the Island of May: fled to the Island of May (which lies almost in the middle of the crossing between Fife and Lothian) where there was then a distinguished monastery of monks, to escape the impending danger. Some, however, though few, hiding in caves and grottos, sustaining their lives sparingly and harshly, escaped the slaughter.
[3] But neither the reverence of the place nor the innocence of the men restrained the Danes where they were slain, from destroying that most holy company, after burning the monastery, with unheard-of tortures. This is the venerable cohort of Martyrs which, in our own time, on the Island of May, in England and Scotland, the most faithful people honor with the highest reverence. The place was made venerable and distinguished by the multitude of people flocking thither, afterward famous for miracles: with God in His goodness adding daily more miracles. From so great a multitude, these few names survive: Adrian, the venerable Bishop, Glodian, Gaius (as others say) Monan, Archdeacon of St. Andrews, Stolbrand, Bishop. The rest (for what reason is not clearly known) have not come down to our age. Some writers say that these most holy Martyrs of Christ were of Hungarian origin, were they natives? fleeing to Scotland from the ferocity of the heathens which was raging in Germany at the same time, crossing over for the sake of preserving their religion: others say they were gathered from Scots and English in common. But wherever they came from, that by custom they were Scots, that they taught true piety by word and deed, that they constantly suffered martyrdom for the name of Christ, were enrolled among the Saints, and daily grant benefits to those who piously seek them, can be unknown to no one who knows that region. So far Hector. Leslie also mentions them, though somewhat more briefly, in book 5 under King Etho LXXII: where he adds St. Monan, whom we said on March 1 is regarded as a Confessor, to the Martyrs; as also does Hector, who nevertheless seems to hesitate whether he was a Martyr, or whether he is the same as Gaius or not: Unless perhaps he wished to write: Gaius, or (as others would have it) Caius, Monan, etc.
[4] What is narrated about St. Adrian in the Aberdeen Breviary is somewhat amplified by David Camerarius, perhaps from the Chronicles of the monastery of Scone which he cites. Certainly what in the Breviary are said to be Danes who could not endure the Saints' living preaching and unceasing confession of the most glorious name of Christ, etc. He explains thus: When the Danes were overturning all sacred things in Scotland, Hadrian confronted them, and while he proclaimed the excellence, holiness, power of miracles, and majesty of the Christian faith; certain barbarians, greatly admiring the singular modesty and most pleasant gravity of the servant of God's speech, gradually began not only to be affected toward Christian doctrines, but also to profess them publicly, did St. Adrian convert some Danes there? having abjured the worship of idols. Nevertheless, the holy Hadrian's thirst for souls, and the remarkable fruit and benefit in preaching the Gospel of Christ, aroused no small envy among the chief men of the Danes. Whence they also beheaded him, after the most sacred mysteries had already been performed, while he was praying to God (and saying, Lord Jesus, whom I have loved, whom I have known, and for whom I willingly die, receive me your servant), on the Island of May, which is seen in the estuary of the Forth.
[5] And after a few lines, he says: There stands on the aforesaid Island of May, in honor of Christ and His holy Martyrs, a most ample monastery of squared stone: a church is also seen, which is frequented with great devotion by the faithful people, especially by women hoping to have offspring. He meant, I think, to write: There was an ample monastery, There stood a monastery, etc. For that monastery was already destroyed a hundred and fifty years ago, when the Aberdeen Breviary was printed: and even if after that time it was (which I do not think) rebuilt, it would have been demolished again by the Calvinists, but long since destroyed, or adapted to profane uses. Hector also does not mention the monastery, because at the time when he too was writing, it existed: he only testifies that the place was famous for the crowds flocking there and for miracles. But what the same Hector writes, that there was then a distinguished monastery of monks on May, when the Saints took refuge there, I believe is not yet confirmed by the testimony of any ancient writer: since in the cited Breviary the Saints are said to have wished to dwell on the Island of May, where, after the multitude of demons and wild beasts had been expelled, it might become a place of prayer, etc. It is therefore more credible, as is affirmed in the same place, nor was it built except after the slaying of the Saints: that on the Island of May a monastery was built in honor of Almighty God and His holy Martyrs.
[6] These Martyrs are also celebrated by George Conaeus in book 1 on the twofold state of religion among the Scots, in these words: I would seem more unjust if, while reviewing others, I should pass over in silence Adrian and Stolbrand, Bishops, their praise among many writers, and distinguished Martyrs of Christ, who together with Gaius the Archdeacon and many others, whose names are written in the book of life, were killed by the pagan Danes (who had then invaded Britain with such ferocity that they spared neither age nor sex) on the Island of May, situated at the mouth of the Firth of Forth, for their constancy in professing the Christian faith, and were crowned with martyrdom.
[7] Moreover, the anniversary commemoration of these Martyrs is inscribed not only in the Breviary, which we said was committed to print a hundred and fifty years ago, anniversary memorial on March 4: as a clear evidence of their more ancient veneration, but also in the Calendars of certain more recent authors: namely in the Calendar of Adam King, in the New Catalog of Saints of Philip Ferrari, which are missing from the Roman Martyrology: yet only the name of St. Adrian is expressed by each. His companions, with names (which we have already reviewed from the historians) omitted, Thomas Dempster added in the Scottish Menology in this manner: On the Island of May, of Adrian, the chief Bishop of the Scots and Martyr, who, slain by the invading Danes, along with many thousands of both sexes and every rank, passed to heaven. The same author in his Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish nation, how many were there? book 1, chapter 18, writes that it was recorded by some unknown author that there were two thousand Martyrs who gained the palm with St. Adrian. The Aberdeen Breviary seems to indicate that there were six thousand six hundred.
[8] Of these, after St. Adrian, the chief seems to have been the holy Bishop Stolbrand, as Hector Boethius, John Leslie, Thomas Dempster, and David Camerarius name him: was St. Stolbrand a writer? in our copy of the Aberdeen Breviary, he was "Stobrandus," by the carelessness, I think, of the copyist. Camerarius places his feast day on August 20, without any authority: I believe, so that that day would not lack some Scottish Saint. Dempster celebrates him as famous for published books, as also all his companions: for he writes that this one composed Commentaries on the book of Job, 1 book. On the fall of the Pictish kingdom, 1 book. A History of Britain, 1 book. And that a fragment of this last survives in the library of the Most Christian King, as he himself had once learned from Isaac Casaubon. To St. Adrian he attributes these books: On Christian Constancy, 1 book. On Humility, to monks, 1 book. was St. Adrian? A Commentary on the Scriptures, 1 book.
[9] St. Glodian, Martyr, is named by the Breviary, Hector, and Dempster; was St. Glodian? by the last he is reported to have written a Chronicle of the Picts, 1 book. St. Gaius (as Conaeus calls him, who also makes him an Archdeacon) is elsewhere Gaius, and a Martyr; in the Breviary alone, a Confessor. It is doubtful, as we said before, was St. Gaius a Martyr? whether Boethius, cited above, means him to be the same who is Monan, or wrote Gaius, or Caius as others would have it, but through the copyist's carelessness two words were erased. Camerarius places him on June 11, citing no authority or reason. Dempster (citing Boethius, but generously exaggerating what he had transmitted) says he wrote one book of Sermons, and that these were consumed in a fatal fire by Knox, in our own memory indeed.
[10] Finally, St. Monan was a companion of St. Adrian, and indeed his Archdeacon: and St. Monan, who is venerated on March 1? and he is reckoned among the Martyrs by Boethius, Leslie, and Dempster, which we refuted on March 1, together with Colgan's vain conjecture, who suspects that a certain Mannanus, because in some Irish Martyrology he is called a vigorous champion, is for that reason St. Monan, and has added in the same notes Tiaanus or Tianus, whom the Scots call Adrian and venerate on March 4, while he himself places both on February 23: yet he mentions neither on March 1 nor on the 4th.
[11] Moreover, St. Adrian was one of the first Archbishops of the Scots and Picts in the city of St. Andrews. St. Adrian, Bishop of St. Andrews. Kenneth, King of the Scots, subjugated the Picts (as we related on March 1, when we treated of St. Monan) and joined that kingdom to his own around the year of Christ 840. And then, says that author in book 10, he transferred the Pontifical See, long belonging to the Picts, Was the See translated there from Abernethy by King Kenneth? from the town of Abernethy, which he destroyed with fire and sword, to the Temple of Regulus. From that time onward, this town came to be called St. Andrew's: and those who held the sacred office there for several subsequent periods were called the chief Bishops of the Scots. Buchanan subscribes to Hector in book 6, treating of the same King Kenneth: The Episcopal See, which the Picts had established at Abernethy, he transferred to the Shrine of Regulus, which posterity preferred to call the Shrine of Andrew.
[12] William Camden treats of the same Metropolis in his description of Scotland, where he discusses the County of Fife, and reports that the more ancient name of the place, as ancient documents have it, was Regimund, which (as he says) signifies the Mount of St. Regulus. It is reported that St. Regulus brought some relics of St. Andrew there, at the time when the rest of the Apostle's body was conveyed from Achaia to Constantinople by order of Caesar Constantius. About St. Regulus himself and his companions we shall speak elsewhere. Camden adds from those same ancient documents: Oengus, or Ungus, indeed it existed before, and was the principal one of the Picts: King of the Picts, gave to God and to St. Andrew, that
it should be the head and mother of all churches in the kingdom of the Picts. It was not therefore Kenneth, King of the Scots, nephew of Oengus's sister, who transferred the See there from Abernethy, which seems to have existed there before Oengus, but it was decreed by him that its Bishop should hold primary authority among the other Bishops of the Picts: although otherwise, as the same Camden records, the Bishops of St. Andrews, equally with the other Bishops of Scotland, were subsequently consecrated by the Archbishop of York, whose Bishop then became Primate of Scotland. until, with James III interceding, on account of the frequent wars between the Scots and the English, Pope Sixtus IV constituted the Bishop of St. Andrews Primate and Metropolitan of all Scotland. The same is narrated more fully in the Appendix to Hector Boethius's History by John Ferrerius of Piedmont, who writes that Patrick Graham was then made the first Archbishop and Primate of the whole kingdom.
LIFE
From the Aberdeen Breviary.
Adrian, Bishop of St. Andrews, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Stolbrand, Bishop, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Golodian, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Gaius, Martyr in the Island of May in Scotland (St.)
Many others, Martyrs in the Island of May in Scotland. BHL Number: 3746
[1] In the regions of Hungary, the province of Pannonia, St. Adrian born of royal stock in Pannonia, the distinguished athlete of Christ, Hadrian, was born: whose great faith, and how great his merits before God, both the works of divine power and his glorious death clearly demonstrated. This holy man, born of royal stock, in his youthful years, since he had an immense maturity of mind, and on account of the remarkable qualities of his distinguished life, was raised to the rank of Bishop. Where, devoted to divine service, he becomes Bishop: how many outstanding deeds and accomplishments, how many acts of integrity he performed, how many souls he won for the Lord, the abundant multitude of clergy and secular people who set out with him attests. This divine Father, after long labors he sets out to the Picts, and toils spent in his own regions around the divine flock, wishing to benefit other peoples as well, having taken with him a venerable retinue, set forth on pilgrimage out of zeal for the Christian religion: to the eastern parts of Scotland, which were then occupied by the Picts, he arrived by ship, having with him six thousand six hundred Confessors, clergy, with many companions, and common people: among whom were these notable ones, Glodian, crowned with illustrious martyrdom, Gaius and Monan, radiant Confessors, Stobrand, and others adorned with the insignia of the highest priesthood. The names of the rest are written in the book of life in purple blood. These men, brought with Bishop Adrian to the kingdom of the Picts, performed many signs, and he preaches the faith: constantly mixing words of salvation among the people: and they benefited many.
[2] But afterward, intent on works of virtue on the Island of May, they desired to have their dwelling there alone: on the Island of May he devotes himself to piety: where, after the multitude of demons and wild beasts had been expelled by the glorious servants of God, the place might become one of prayer, full of all holiness. There, devoting themselves to vigils and prayer, they spent some time attentively, and afterward, attentive when the savage fury of the Danes raged, who had destroyed nearly all of Britain, which is now called England; where the holy Confessors of God fought with the weapons of spiritual warfare against the pagan nation. he is killed by Danish pirates in hatred of the faith, Whose living preaching and unceasing confession of the most glorious name of Christ the Danes could not endure, seizing arms, they rushed with raging swords upon the sacrifice of God, Adrian: whom, fighting for the law of their God even unto death, they crowned with glorious martyrdom along with his companions. And, with his companions: that the words of the Prophets might again be verified concerning them, where the inconsolable Rachel is said to have wept for her children, against so heavenly, so holy a multitude, persevering in the confession of Christ, the most wicked and most cruel executioners made their assault; they all fell like sheep, slain by the most savage swords on the Island of May. Jer. 31:15 Where the Martyrs of God, who in this world loved one another in life, were not separated in death: for one spirit was always in them, and one faith.
[3] On the aforesaid Island of May, in honor of Almighty God a monastery was then built there: and His holy Martyrs, a monastery built in ancient times with fine stone masonry had existed, which was destroyed by the assault of wars by the English nation. But there still remains a church, a temple frequented in hope of offspring: often visited by the faithful people, on account of so many miracles of power, day by day: where women who come hoping to have children are not disappointed. There also remains a most celebrated cemetery, where the bodies of that legion, as if a supracelestial chorus, whitened by rosy blood, rest. a celebrated cemetery.