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Born in Scotland; died at Rossmarkie, c. 572. Saint Moluag was educated in the monastery school of Bangor in Ireland and then returned to his native land as a missionary. (Some say that he was actually from Ulster and may have been an O'Neill.) The Cistercian Bernard of Clairvaux in his biography of his close friend Malachy of Ireland tells us that the monk Moluag of Bangor was the founder of 100 monasteries in Scotland. In fact, Moluag ranked alongside Saint Columba as a missionary: While Columba was the apostle to the Gaels; Moluag evangelized the Picts. His main work as a bishop was the evangelization of the Hebrides. Inevitably, legends have grown around his name according to which there was a rivalry between Moluag and Columba, but it appears that they worked among to distinct national groups.

Moluag actually arrived about a year before Columba in Scotland. He was accompanied by Saint Comgall, an Irish Pict, who presented him to King Brude to obtain his authority for the mission. Columba, incidentally, had Comgall perform the same service for him. It is possible that King Brude preferred Moluag to Columba, and that is what led Moluag to concentrate more on the Picts. It would be quite natural that the Pictish king might have some reservations about the Ulster prince Columba, who was a natural leader of the Gaelic people in Scotland. Whatever happened, the two missionaries gradually brought an end to the armed conflict between the two nations.

The blackthorn crosier (Bachuill Mor) of Saint Moluag is in the possession of the Campbells, dukes of Argyle, who traditionally carried it with them into battle. His shrine was at Mortlach. On the island of Lewis, the custom persisted, despite the Scottish reformers' attempts to stop it, until the 19th century of conducting a ritual service of intercession to Moluag at his titular church Teampall Mo Luigh. Although the cultus of Moluag decreased together with the power of the Pictish people he evangelized, there are many memorials to Moluag in the form of ancient churches and placenames. Kilmoluag is a common example. The name "Luke," which is very common among men in Scotland, is reliably stated to be derived from Moluag.

Saint Moluag is invoked against insanity and his intercession sought to heal wounds (Benedictines, Montague).


Another Life

http://www.cushnieent.force9.co.uk/CelticEra/Saints/saints_moluag.htm


The Islanders talk about Moluag as if they had just recently met him out shopping on the mainland - and they are mostly presbyterian!

His Abbatal Bell is in Edinburgh and his Stone Chair is nestled in the rocks at Lismore (Lios-mor - Big Garden) and a flower is named for him. There are not many dedications of churches in his name: There is one of them at Kentallen-by-Duror - and there is another in the Outer Isles.

Holy Father Moluag - Pray for us.

A Modern Pilgrim's Pilgrimage to Lismore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CeltList/message/32513



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