This little-known Saint was one of the most active of the numerous Irish
proselytizers who underwent the white martyrdom (self-imposed exile) in
what is now Scotland. Unfortunately there is no known extant life or
hagiography of this saint, so details of his life must be gleaned from
other sources. There are numerous citations of this Saint in various
Irish Annals and
Martyrologies.
St. Maelrubha was born near Derry, Ireland in 642. His father was of
the Cenel nEogain (the clan of Eoghan), making the saint eighth in line
of direct descent of the famous Niall of the Nine Hostages. According
to legend, Niall was responsible for the abduction of the St. Patrick to
Ireland from Britain. Regardless, this lineage made St. Maelrubha a
distant cousin of St. Columcille. His mother was of the Cruithne, a
Pictish race that settled in the north of Ireland, and a niece of St.
Comgal of
Bangor.
St. Maelrubha entered the monastery at Bangor, Ireland in his youth and
departed for the land of the Northern Picts in 671. In the Felire of
Aengus his mission is recorded,
Into Scotland with purity after leaving
every happiness went our brother Maelrubba.
He probably put in
initially on the isle of Islay and worked his way up the west coast of
Scotland over the course of the next two years. He eventually settled
in Appurcrossan, now known as Applecross, and in 673 St. Maelrubha
established his famous monastery that was his base in converting the
Picts to Christianity.
If one goes on placename dedications, this athlete for Christ roamed far
and wide. Sites bearing his name, or some form of his name, range as
far north as Loch Broom, as far south as Islay, as far west as Harris,
and up the Great Glen toward Inverness.
From his monastery Maelrubba founded many churches in the glens and
islands of north-west Scotland, but the Gaelic place names make it
difficult to distinguish between the dedications to Maelrubba and those
to the honour of Our Lady, the suffix of endearment Mo or Ma almost
always being added to his name. His name, shorn of the suffix, means
the red priest.
Certainly the chapel on the island in Loch Maree,
where there is also a spring of water with healing powers, is one of his
foundations, and the Celtic cross in the churchyard at Kilmory Knap by
Loch Sween is in his territory. In the Middle Ages the area round his
abbey at Applecross was privileged, and even now the parish in Gaelic is
A'Chromraich, The Sanctuary.
St. Maelrubha fell asleep in the Lord in the year 722 at the advanced
age of eighty, and although the Irish traditions are that he died of old
age, the Scottish assert that he was killed by the Danes, the Black
Gentiles. In the Aberdeen Breviary the legend says that he died at
Urquart in the Black Isle, on the eastern side of the county of Ross and
Cromerty, and for three days he lay severely wounded comforted by
angels. A bright light hovering over the dying saint attracted a priest,
who was able to give him the viaticum, and later a church was built over
the place. His body was buried in his church at Applecross, and a carved
stone markes the site of his grave.
Due to the proximity of Applecross to the Isle of Skye and his numerous
works on the island, St. Maelrubha is considered to be the patron saint
of the southern and central portions of the island (St. Columcille has
the upper portion). On his journeys to the island from Applecross, St.
Maelrubha most likely put in at Ashaig in the Strath district. This
location is considered to be one of the earliest Christian sites on the
island and there is a stone-covered well bearing his name, Tobar na
Marui, at the site.
According to accounts, in his advanced years St. Maelrubha tried to rise
from sitting one day by grabbing ahold of a branch of an ash tree. While
rising, the tree was uprooted and a spring gushed forth and the water
from this spring possessed healing powers. Another tree stood close to
the well upon which the Saint would hang a bronze bell to gather the
faithful. As with the well, the bell possessed miraculous powers in that
it would ring of its own accord when the Saint was preparing to speak.
It was also at that location that the Saint would mount the Rock of the
Book, Creag naLeabhair, known today as the Pulpit Rock. There is
another healing spring associated with this Saint on an island in the
Loch Maree (Maree is the anglicization of the Scots' Gaelic Maoil
Ruibhe, of Maelrubha).
There is another location farther down the Strath district on Skye, on
the Strathaird peninsula, that bears the Saint's name. This site is
known as Kilmarie (again, an anglicization of the Scots Gaelic.) All
that remains of the site today is a small
enclosed burial ground. Nearby is a cave where, according to local
accounts, St. Maelrubha would preach to the faithful in inclement
weather. Finally, there is also a small loch close to the Kilmarie where
the Saint was said to have subdued a creature like that of the Loch Ness
(cf. Vita Columbae by Adam, book 2, section 27
http://www.usu.edu/~history/norm/columb~1.htm).
Following the Saint's repose, the land for six miles around his
monastery was considered sacred and protected. Today the land is called
in Gaelic A'Chomraich, The Sanctuary. The staff of the Saint was
believed to have existed at Kilvary in Argyll. Guarding this staff was
the duty of the Dewars of Scotland. Unfortunately, the staff
disappeared around the time of
the Reformation in Scotland.
This Life kindly supplied by Maelrubha Donley
Another Life of St. Maelrubha
(Ma-Rui, Molroy, Errew, Summaryruff, also Sagart-Ruadh)
An abbot and martyr, founder of Abercrossan, b. 642; d. 21 April, 722.
He was descended from Niall, King of Ireland, on the side of his father
Elganach. His mother, Subtan, was a niece of St. Comgall the Great, of
Bangor. St. Maelrubha was born in the county of Derry and was educated
at Bangor. When he was in his thirtieth year he sailed from Ireland for
Scotland, with a following of monks. For two years he travelled about,
chiefly in Argyll, and founded about half-a dozen churches then settled
at Abercrossan (Applecross), in the west of Ross. Here he built his
chief church and monastery in the midst of the Pictish folk, and thence
he set out on missionary journeys, westward to the islands Skye and
Lewis, eastward to Forres and Keith, and northward to Loch Shinn,
Durness, and Farr. It was on this last journey that he was martyred by
Danish vikings, probably at Teampull, about nine miles up Strath-Naver
from Farr, where
he had built a cell. He was buried close to the River Naver, not far
from his cell, and his grave is still marked by
a rough cross-marked
stone
The tradition, in the
Aberdeen Breviary, that he was killed at
Urquhart and buried at Abercrossan is probably a mistake arising from a
confusion of Gaelic place-names.
Maelrubha was, after St. Columba, perhaps the most popular saint of the
north-west of Scotland. At least twenty-one churches are dedicated to
him, and Dean Reeves enumerates about forty forms of his name. His death
occurred on 21 April, and his feast has always been kept in Ireland on
this day; but in Scotland (probably owing to the confusion with St.
Rufus) it is kept on 27 August.
Extract from the
Catholic Encyclopaedia, copyright © 1913 by the
Encyclopaedia
Press, Inc.
o Site of Saint Maelrubha's church
http://www.cushnieent.force9.co.uk/photogallery1.html