ON SAINT KENNOCHA, VIRGIN IN SCOTLAND.
AROUND THE YEAR 1007
CommentaryKennocha, Virgin in Scotland (St.)
BHL Number: 4643
[1] In the Scottish Breviary of the Church of Aberdeen St. Kennocha the Virgin is commemorated with this eulogy: It is fitting to celebrate in the church of God with due honor the solemnity of Kennocha, the venerable spouse of Christ and Virgin dedicated to God, and her outstanding virtues while she lived compel that it be honored with worthy praises every year among the other festivals of the Saints, St. Kennocha to be venerated every year, as at the present time the frequent devotion of faithful Christians, venerating her kindly and devoutly, and the signs and miracles openly put forth by the working of divine power, famous for miracles: persuade and induce. For to those who approach her tomb devoutly, healings of diseases not rarely come from it. But the higher integrity of her life, holy and pleasing to God, and grateful and acceptable to men, teaches, proclaims and confesses that she is now crowned in the heavens, and her outstanding deeds themselves show it. For she was born of the eminent blood of the Scots, adorned with all virtues: chaste in body, comely of face, and remarkable for an exceedingly becoming form; modest, gentle, temperate, chaste and pious, and lovable above the other virgins of that country: and she was said to be so instructed in every virtue of character that there was nothing beyond, especially and uniquely for the nobles and Princes of the world; so much that various nobles asked her of her parents to be taken in marriage, she spurns marriage, and desired it effectually. But she, spurning all these, affirmed that she had Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, as her spouse, and declared that He alone was to be served. What more? Persuaded by her parents, no blandishments of the world, no adversity of it, finally no tribulation could draw her back from the love of the heavenly fatherland. she suffers very many adversities for the faith of Christ, And again, urged by hunger, want, exile, banishment, the persecution of the wicked, and, what remains, the threat of death, to worship idolatry, she could not be torn away, removed or turned aside from the most fervent love of Christ, whom she chose above all things for her perpetual spouse: but, as if armed with powerful bands of virtues, she remained and persevered immovable. This Blessed Kenoca, a Virgin untouched in mind and body, purchased the precious pearl in heaven by very small alms; she is banished into exile. and because, banished by her parents, she did not abound in riches, she readily gave and offered herself, as gold tried by fasts, vigils and prayers, to redeem it; and so she tamed the vices of the flesh and its stains with virtues, and, subjugating them, put them to flight, so that they had no place of dwelling in her. And since for the love of the heavenly kingdom she abandoned earthly power, spurning the marriage of a royal bed, she gave herself to voluntary poverty. Wherefore, without doubt, because she despised the wedlock of an earthly King, she was made the spouse of the eternal King, reigning with Him and the Angels in heaven, and sought after with Him in the world. For it is therefore fitting that we who venerate with due honors some temporal Virgin in this world should much more supplicate with devout prayers this Virgin pleasing to God, the holy and glorious Kennoca, that she, by her merits, may render us, gathered by her example in the name of Christ, acceptable to God at the future judgment. But Blessed Kennoca, in holy old age, she dies. full in the number of her days, with the Angels looking on, entered the ethereal heavens, and in the Church of St. Kennoca, called Kyle, she is held and venerated until now in great veneration. Thus far the Aberdeen Martyrology.
[2] her name in the Martyrologies, On this day Lahier in the Menology of Virgins mentions the same: Hermann Greven in his additions to Usuard names her Keuoca, and Dempster in the Scottish Menology, but by a typographical error, wrote Kenneir, but in the Index Kennotha. Ferrarius and Arthur du Monstier in the Gynaeceum Sacrum transcribed the error. Camerarius, citing also the Aberdeen Breviary, refers her to the 10th of March, adding this eulogy. On this same day also St. Kennocha the Virgin, celebrated in Kyle, a province of Scotland, and on 10 March with eulogies. as one who burned with the greatest zeal for propagating the religious and monastic discipline among the monasteries of Virgins of the Kyle people: to whom also was added great purity of life, and a most tender affection of soul toward the poor and orphans: nor were various miracles lacking, with which Christ adorned His spouse: whence too various churches dedicated to this Virgin are to be seen even in the Eastern tract of Scotland, and one stands not far from Glasgow. She is said to have passed to Christ about the year of Christ one thousand and seven, while Malcolm the second, King, was ruling the Scots. There is extant a very ancient prayer by which the Scots have been accustomed to implore the patronage of St. Kennocha. O God, lover and author of chastity, by the prayers of Thy Virgin St. Kennocha grant us that purity of mind and body through which we may be able to escape eternal corruption. Through our Lord, etc.