Born in Rome, Italy; died at Rosmark, Scotland, c. 630. Early in the
eighth century, about the year 710, King Nectan of the Picts sent to
Coelfrid at Wearmouth asking for guidance over the new usages that had
been agreed fifty years before at the Council of Whitby. He also asked
for help in building a church "in the Roman Style" which he wanted to
dedicate to St Peter. Coelfrid who was abbot of the double monastery of
St Peter Wearmouth and St Paul Jarrow, sent back a long letter
explaining the Roman method of determining the date of Easter and how
the tonsure favoured in the Western Church differed from the Celtic one.
This letter is recorded in full by Bede and it is probable that he
composed it for his abbot.
With the letter Coelfrid sent a group of monks led by a Pict called
Curitan who was zealous for the Roman way and had chosen for himself a
Latin name, Bonifacius. This particular name seems to have been a
popular one for those with good relations with the Holy See and was
given to Winfrid by Pope Gregory II in 718. Pope Boniface V had written
letters to King Edwin of Northumbria and S. Ethelburga his Queen to
support the mission of S. Paulinus which would be remembered at
Wearmouth. It was however the desire to model their lives on that of
Christ, who the Apostle Peter said,"went about doing good" (bene
faciendo) and whom he adjured Christians to follow,"to eschew evil and
do good" (faciat Bonum), that made the name so attractive to those who
wanted to be right with the successors of Peter.
Curitan and his party sailed up the Tay and landed at Invergowrie where
they built a church. The site of this church is marked by ruins at Dargie
and Kingoody is a corruption of Kill Curdy. An ancient carved stone
from this site is now in the National Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh
and one of the three figures on it probably is of St. Curitan. Having
met with King Nectan, Curitan then moved on to Forfar and the church he
built at Restenueth is thought to be the one the King had desired taking
the name of Egglespether, Peter's Church.
The monks now journeyed northward to the Murray Firth and there on the
Black Isle at Rosemarkie St. Curitan settled, reviving the community
started by St. Molnag. Here was built another of the numerous churches
dedicated to St Peter for which the mission was responsible. The later
Cathedral for the Diocese of Ross at Fortrose is also dedicated to St
Peter but this time he is linked with S. Curitan under his name
Boniface.
The breviary of Aberdeen is obviously confused by the name Boniface and
asserts that Curitan was an Israelite who had been Pope but left Rome to
preach in Scotland. It also claims that he consecrated a hundred and
fifty bishops, ordained a thousand priests, baptised thirty six thousand
converts besides building a hundred and fifty churches. There is no
doubt that he did a great deal to bring the Celtic church into the orbit
of Western Catholicity, doing for Scotland what St. Wilfrid and St.
Benedict Biscop did for England. He was a strong advocate for the Roman
cause at the Synod of Birr in 697.
At Invergowrie there is a great stone called the Paddock or Greystone
and local folklore maintains that it is one of the rocks hurled by the
devil at St. Curitan's band of missionaries coming up the river. The
other is an island in the Tay and the story implies that the devil knew
that their message was the truth. St. Curitan died at Rosemarkie and was
buried before the altar of his church there. A number of place names in
Glen Urquhart has his name in the Gaelic Churadain but others have the
derivative Curdy
(
Towill,
Barrett,
Bede).