his name is possibly identical {13} with the Irish name Faelchu. He is said by the Aberdeen Breviary to have left his native land to spread the Roman Faith in Scotland, where he was raised to the episcopal rank. He voluntarily took upon himself a life of great austerity to satisfy for his own sins and those of others. His evangelical labours were devoted to the northern parts of the country chiefly. He lived in a little house woven of reeds and wattles, for his attraction was towards everything poor and humble. His simple and holy life and the miracles he worked had an immense influence in spreading the light of faith amongst the ignorant and half-barbarous people to whose welfare he had devoted himself, and many were converted to the Truth.

He is said to have died in extreme old age; angels standing round his death-bed. The old churches of Dunmeth and Logie Mar in Aberdeenshire were dedicated to this saint. The former parish is now included in that of Glass. Two miles below Beldorny in that parish are St. Wallach's Baths and a ruined chapel called Wallach's Kirk, while in the neighbourhood of the latter is St. Wallach's Well, which up to {14} recent times was a recognised place of pilgrim age. An annual fair was formerly held in his honour at Logie; it is commemorated in a provincial rhyme:

  "Wala-fair in Logic Mar
   The thirtieth day of Januar."

30—St. Glascian or Maglastian, Bishop.

Scottish calendars give short notices of this saint, who is said to have been an illustrious and saintly bishop during the reign of King Achaius, a Scottish king contemporaneous with Charlemagne. Very few particulars can be ascertained as to his life. All that is at present known of him is gathered from the traces of his cultus which remain in various districts of the country. Thus the parish of Kinglassie, near Kirkcaldy, seems to have been named after him, and in the neighbourhood is a spring of fine water known as St. Glass's Well. There is another well named after him at Dundrennan (Kirkcudbrightshire). Kilmaglas, now known as Stachur, in Argyleshire, indicates another dedication to this saint. His feast is noted in the Breviary of Aberdeen on this day. {15}

31—St. Adamnan of Coldingham, A.D. (about) 686.

In the monastery of Coldingham, over which St. Ebba presided, was a monk of great sanctity and austerity named Adamnan. It is not certain whether he was a native of Scotland or not. In his youth Adamnan had led a life of great licentiousness, and being converted by the grace of God from his evil ways was moved with a desire to do penance for his sins. Accordingly he sought the counsel of a certain Irish priest, to whom he made a general confession and confided his desire of entering upon a penitential life. So deep was his sorrow that he expressed himself ready to accept any penance his director might impose, even to spending whole nights in prayer, or fasting for a week continuously. The priest having imposed upon him the penance of taking food twice only in a week until he should see him again, departed into Ireland, and died there before Adamnan was able to consult him a second time. Taking this as a sign of God's Will that he was to persevere in his heroic course of penance, Adamnan resolved to continue to the end the hard life begun by the counsel of the Irish priest. Having become {16} a monk at Coldingham after his conversion, he lived there for many years, and was made one of the priests of the monastery. He died in the odour of sanctity after being favoured with the gift of prophecy.

St. Mittan.

All that is known of this saint is that a fair, called after him, was held formerly at Kilmadock in Perthshire, on January 31st., which must consequently have been his feast day.

FEBRUARY

1—St. Darlugdach, Virgin, A.D. 524.

This saint was an Irish virgin who was educated to the monastic life by the great St. Bridget, the glory of Ireland. She is said to have visited Scotland during the reign of King Nectan and to have presided over a community of religious women attached to a church which that King had built at Abernethy and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. By some writers St. Bridget herself is said to have led the monastic colony to Scotland, but this is by no means {17} clear. It is true that great devotion was shown towards her, and many Scottish churches and wells bear her name, but this may be accounted for by the close connection with Ireland which subsisted in those early times. Her relics, too, were venerated at Abernethy.

St. Darlugdach did not remain in Scotland, as she succeeded her friend and patroness St. Bridget as Abbess of Kildare, where she died.

3—St. Fillan or Faolan, Abbot (8th century).

He was the son of St. Kentigerna, and consequently of Irish birth, and is said to have taken the monastic habit at Taghmon, in Wexford, under the rule of St. Fintan-Munnu; later on he came to Scotland. After spending some time with his uncle St. Comgan at Lochalsh, where Killillan (Kilfillan) bears his name, the saint devoted himself to the evangelization of the district of Perthshire round Strathfillan, which is called after him, and where he was greatly venerated. The success of the Scots at Bannockburn was attributed to the presence of the arm of St. Fillan, which was borne by its custodian, the Abbot of Inchaffray, on the {18} field of battle. The crozier of the saint is still in existence; it is preserved in the National Museum, Edinburgh. This also, as one of the sacred battle-ensigns of Scotland, is said to have been present at Bannockburn. A small bell which formerly hung in his church in Strathfillan is now in the museum of the Antiquarian Society in Edinburgh. Several traces of the saint are to be found in the district in which he preached. Killallan, or Killellen, an ancient parish in Renfrewshire, took its name from him; it was originally Kilfillan (Church of Fillan). Near the ruins of the old church, situated near Houston, is a stone called Fillan's Seat, and a spring called Fillan's Well existed there until it was filled up, as a remnant of superstition, by a parish minister in the eighteenth century. Other holy wells bore his name at Struan (Perthshire), Largs and Skelmorlie (Ayrshire), Kilfillan (Wigtonshire), Pittenweem (Fifeshire), etc. A fair used to be held annually at Houston and another at Struan, both known as Fillan's Fair. In Strathfillan are the ruins of St. Fillan's chapel, and hard by is the Holy Pool, in which the insane were formerly bathed {19} to obtain a cure by the saint's intercession. Scott refers to it in Marmion (Cant. I. xxix):

  "St. Fillan's blessed Well,
   Whose spring can frenzied dreams dispel
   And the crazied brain restore."

Pope Leo XIII re-established the saint's feast in Scotland.

4—St. Modan, Abbot, 8th century.

This saint, whose missionary labours benefited the west coast of Scotland, was the son of an Irish chieftain. He crossed over from his native land, like so many others of his countrymen, to minister to the spiritual wants of the many Christians of Irish race who at that time formed an important part of the population of the district to which he came.

A short distance from the site of the old Priory of Ardchattan, near Loch Etive, may still be seen the remains of his first oratory. It bears the name of Balmodhan (St. Modan's Town); a few paces from its ruins is a clear spring called St. Modan's Well, and hither within the memory of persons still living came many a pilgrimage in honour of the saint. A {20} flat stone near was known as St. Modan's Seat. It was broken up for building materials by Presbyterians not many years ago.

The ruins are situated amid