Saint Moluag
Encyclopedia
Saint Moluag, (also known as Lua, Luan, Luanus, Lugaidh, Moloag, Molluog, Molua, Murlach), was a Scottish missionary, and a contemporary of Saint Columba
, who evangelized the Picts
of Scotland
in the sixth century. Saint Moluag was the patron saint
of Argyll
as evidenced by a charter in 1544, from the Earl of Argyll, which states "in honour of God Omnipotent, the blessed Virgin, and Saint Moloc, our patron".
, was an Irish noble of the Dál nAraide
and was educated in Bangor
, Ireland
under Saint Comgall
.
Tradition states that the rock on which Moluag stood, detached itself from the Irish coast and he drifted across to the island of Lismore
, in Loch Linnhe
. According to the Irish Annals
, in 562 C.E., Moluag beat Saint Columba in a race to the large island of the Lyn of Lorn
in Argyll
. Now called the Isle of Lismore
, WS Skene claims it was the sacred island of the Western Picts
and the burial place of their kings whose capital was at Beregonium, across the water at Benderloch
.
Moluag was accompanied to Scotland by Comgall (like Moluag, an Irish Pict), who presented him to King Brude of the Northern Picts to obtain permission to carry on his mission of spreading Christianity
. It is speculated that King Brude preferred Moluag to Columba because of Columba's close relation to the Gaelic leadership of Dál Riata
, this could explain why Molaug evangelized largely Pictish areas and Columba stayed within the sphere of Dál Riata influence.
After founding an island monastery
on the Isle of Lismore, Moluag went on to found two other great centres in the land of the Picts at Rosemarkie
and Mortlach. These were his three centres of teaching, and it is significant that all three were to become the seats of the Roman Catholic Sees of the Isles, Ross and Aberdeen. It is claimed in the biography of Saint Malachy
that Moluag was the founder of 100 monasteries in Dark Ages Scotland.
Moluag died in Rosemarkie
, Scotland on June 25, 592. The Annals of Ulster
record the death of Lugaid of Les Mór in 592: "Obitus Lugide Lis Moer."
Moluag is said to have been buried at Rosemarkie on the Moray Firth
, though his remains were later transported to Lismore, and honoured in the cathedral which bore his name.
The Coarb, or successor, of Saint Moluag, is the Livingstone chief of the Clan MacLea
. This Livingstone family of Lismore had long been the hereditary keepers of the crozier of the saint. The bell of Saint Moluag was in existence until the sixteenth century when it disappeared during the Reformation
. An ancient bell found at Kilmichael Glassary, Argyll
was thought to have been the lost bell.
. Nevertheless the feast day of Saint Moluag (June 25) was restored in 1898 by Pope Leo XIII
.
He is one of the 48 Saints referred to in the Lorrha ("Stowe") Missal used by Churches of Ireland, Scotland, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy: "Saint Lua of Lismore, Pray for us".
Other sites include churches at Clatt and Tarland
, in Aberdeenshire
; and also churches on Skye
, Mull
, Raasay
, Tiree
, and Pabay
. At Alyth
in Perth and Kinross
the ruins of a church, known today as "The Alyth Arches" were built on the site of am older sixth century church dedicated to the saint.
At Mortlach in Banffshire
, where some of his relics were preserved, an abbey was founded in 1010 by Máel Coluim II of Scotland, in thanks for a victory in which the Scots
had invoked the aid of Saint Moluag.
On Lewis Saint Moluag was invoked for cures from madness.
At Clatt there was held annually "St. Mallock's Fair", which lasted eight days. At Tarland there was a "Luoch Fair" which is thought to have been in honour of Saint Molaug, and at Alyth "Simmalogue Fair" was celebrated.
Saint Columba
-Saints:* Columba , Irish Christian saint who evangelized Scotland* Columba the Virgin, also known as Saint Columba of Cornwall* Columba of Sens* Columba of Spain* Columba of Terryglass* Sancta Columba -Schools:...
, who evangelized the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in the sixth century. Saint Moluag was the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
as evidenced by a charter in 1544, from the Earl of Argyll, which states "in honour of God Omnipotent, the blessed Virgin, and Saint Moloc, our patron".
Life
Moluag, born in IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, was an Irish noble of the Dál nAraide
and was educated in Bangor
Bangor Abbey
Bangor Abbey was established by Saint Comgall in 558 in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and was famous for its learning and austere rule. It is not to be confused with the even older abbey in Wales on the site of Bangor Cathedral. Bangor Abbey was a centre of learning which trained...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
under Saint Comgall
Saint Comgall
Saint Comgall, an early Irish saint, was the founder and abbot of the great Irish monastery at Bangor , who flourished in the sixth century.-Life:...
.
Tradition states that the rock on which Moluag stood, detached itself from the Irish coast and he drifted across to the island of Lismore
Lismore, Scotland
Lismore is a partially Gaelic speaking island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. This fertile, low-lying island was once a major centre of Celtic Christianity, with a monastery founded by Saint Moluag and the seat of the Bishop of Argyll.-Geography:...
, in Loch Linnhe
Loch Linnhe
Loch Linnhe is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland....
. According to the Irish Annals
Irish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...
, in 562 C.E., Moluag beat Saint Columba in a race to the large island of the Lyn of Lorn
Lorn
Lorn may refer to:* John Lorn McDougall , Ontario businessman and political figure* John Lorn McDougall, Sr. , businessman and political figure in Canada West* Lorn, New South Wales, Australia...
in Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
. Now called the Isle of Lismore
Lismore, Scotland
Lismore is a partially Gaelic speaking island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. This fertile, low-lying island was once a major centre of Celtic Christianity, with a monastery founded by Saint Moluag and the seat of the Bishop of Argyll.-Geography:...
, WS Skene claims it was the sacred island of the Western Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
and the burial place of their kings whose capital was at Beregonium, across the water at Benderloch
Benderloch
Benderloch is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.Benderloch lies on the A828 road in the coastal area of Appin, Argyll, Scotland. Its railway station closed in 1966.Benderloch forms part of the Lynn of Lorn National Scenic Area, one of 40 in Scotland....
.
Moluag was accompanied to Scotland by Comgall (like Moluag, an Irish Pict), who presented him to King Brude of the Northern Picts to obtain permission to carry on his mission of spreading Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. It is speculated that King Brude preferred Moluag to Columba because of Columba's close relation to the Gaelic leadership of Dál Riata
Dál Riata
Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...
, this could explain why Molaug evangelized largely Pictish areas and Columba stayed within the sphere of Dál Riata influence.
After founding an island monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
on the Isle of Lismore, Moluag went on to found two other great centres in the land of the Picts at Rosemarkie
Rosemarkie
Rosemarkie is a village on the south coast of the Black Isle peninsula in northern Scotland.-Geography:Rosemarkie lies a quarter of a mile east of the town of Fortrose...
and Mortlach. These were his three centres of teaching, and it is significant that all three were to become the seats of the Roman Catholic Sees of the Isles, Ross and Aberdeen. It is claimed in the biography of Saint Malachy
Saint Malachy
Saint Malachy was the Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and a vision of the identity of the last 112 Popes...
that Moluag was the founder of 100 monasteries in Dark Ages Scotland.
Moluag died in Rosemarkie
Rosemarkie
Rosemarkie is a village on the south coast of the Black Isle peninsula in northern Scotland.-Geography:Rosemarkie lies a quarter of a mile east of the town of Fortrose...
, Scotland on June 25, 592. The Annals of Ulster
Annals of Ulster
The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...
record the death of Lugaid of Les Mór in 592: "Obitus Lugide Lis Moer."
Moluag is said to have been buried at Rosemarkie on the Moray Firth
Moray Firth
The Moray Firth is a roughly triangular inlet of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotland...
, though his remains were later transported to Lismore, and honoured in the cathedral which bore his name.
The Coarb, or successor, of Saint Moluag, is the Livingstone chief of the Clan MacLea
Clan MacLea
The Clan MacLea is a Highland Scottish clan, which was traditionally located in the district of Lorn in Argyll, Scotland, and is seated on the Isle of Lismore. There is a tradition of some MacLeas Anglicising their names to Livingstone, thus the also refers to clan as the Highland Livingstones...
. This Livingstone family of Lismore had long been the hereditary keepers of the crozier of the saint. The bell of Saint Moluag was in existence until the sixteenth century when it disappeared during the Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
. An ancient bell found at Kilmichael Glassary, Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...
was thought to have been the lost bell.
Veneration as a saint
In the early Middle Ages the term Saint simply meant a Christian, hence the term Communion of SaintsCommunion of Saints
The communion of saints , when referred to persons, is the spiritual union of the members of the Christian Church, living and the dead, those on earth, in heaven, and, for those who believe in purgatory, those also who are in that state of purification.They are all part of a single "mystical body",...
. Nevertheless the feast day of Saint Moluag (June 25) was restored in 1898 by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
.
He is one of the 48 Saints referred to in the Lorrha ("Stowe") Missal used by Churches of Ireland, Scotland, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy: "Saint Lua of Lismore, Pray for us".
Legacy and dedications
Several churches were dedicated to Saint Moluag, including:- St. Moluag's Cathedral (Kilmoluag), Lismore;
- Teampull MholuaidhTeampull MholuaidhSt Moluag's church is a 13th Century temple in the village of Eoropie in Ness in the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.The church has a basic T shaped structure, with two small chapels on either side of the main body of the church. The southern chapel can only be accessed from outside...
, LewisLewisLewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
;
Other sites include churches at Clatt and Tarland
Tarland
Tarland is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and is located five miles northwest of Aboyne, and 30 miles west of Aberdeen. Population 540 ....
, in Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
; and also churches on Skye
Skye
Skye or the Isle of Skye is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate out from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillin hills...
, Mull
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
, Raasay
Raasay
Raasay is an island between the Isle of Skye and the mainland of Scotland. It is separated from Skye by the Sound of Raasay and from Applecross by the Inner Sound. It is most famous for being the birthplace of the poet Sorley MacLean, an important figure in the Scottish literary renaissance...
, Tiree
Tiree
-History:Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland....
, and Pabay
Pabay
Pabay is a Scottish island just off the coast of the Skye.-Geography:Pabay is an island in the Inner Sound of Skye, north of Broadford. It lies south of Longay and east of the larger Scalpay....
. At Alyth
Alyth
Alyth is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, situated under the Hill of Alyth five miles northeast of Blairgowrie. The village has a population of 2,301...
in Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...
the ruins of a church, known today as "The Alyth Arches" were built on the site of am older sixth century church dedicated to the saint.
At Mortlach in Banffshire
Banffshire
The County of Banff is a registration county for property, and Banffshire is a Lieutenancy area of Scotland.The County of Banff, also known as Banffshire, was a local government county of Scotland with its own county council between 1890 and 1975. The county town was Banff although the largest...
, where some of his relics were preserved, an abbey was founded in 1010 by Máel Coluim II of Scotland, in thanks for a victory in which the Scots
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
had invoked the aid of Saint Moluag.
On Lewis Saint Moluag was invoked for cures from madness.
At Clatt there was held annually "St. Mallock's Fair", which lasted eight days. At Tarland there was a "Luoch Fair" which is thought to have been in honour of Saint Molaug, and at Alyth "Simmalogue Fair" was celebrated.