Source:Irish Ecclesiastical (Ancient Irish Missionaries)

"Ancient Irish Missionaries" Irish Ecclesiastical Journal (vol. 5)

ANCIENT IRISH MISSIONARIES.

Dear Sir,—There is a parish in Scotland with the early history of which the statistical writers of that country seem to have been hitherto unacquainted ; and there is a saint in the Irish calendar, the scene of whose devotions has not been previously ascertained by any Irish topographer. The parish is Applecross, and the saint is Maolrubha. These names are connected at a period of Church history when the diffusive spirit of Irish religion was at its height, and ecclesiastics were radiating from the island in all directions, some as missionaries, some as hermits, but all replete with such ardour, that while the former traversed France, Germany, and Italy, the latter made their way to Iceland, and even reached the great western continent. With the aspirants after the eremitical life, the great object was to discover a spot hitherto untrodden by human foot, and not likely afterwards to be disturbed by frequent visits. Thus Adamnan relates of one Cormac, "a soldier of Christ," how he desired "heremum in oceano quærere"(a) .

Without travelling quite so far, Maolrubha appears to have succeeded in finding a suitable place of retirement for meditation and prayer. Of this ecclesiastic's life, the only authentic particulars which have reached us are those which are gathered from the Irish calendars and annals. From the former we learn that he was the son of Subtan, the sister of Comghall, who was the founder and first abbot of Bangor, and grandson of Setna(b), who, as appears from the life of Comghall, was lord of a territory in Dalaradia, called Mourne, and now known as Magheramorne, in the neighbourhood of Larne, on the coast of Antrim(c). The Four Masters state that he became abbot of Bangor (d), but in this they have fallen into a mistake, as his name does not appear in the regular catalogue of abbots, nor do the older annalists record this of him ; they all, however, agree that he left Ireland, and sailed to Britain, in the year 671, and that in 673 he founded the church of Aber-crosan, in Scotland. They also accord in stating that he died, in 722, at his own church of Aber-crosan, on the 21st of April(e), aged eighty years, three months, and nineteen days. From which it follows that he was born in 642, and that he is more likely to have been grand-nephew, than sister's son, of Comghall, inasmuch as the latter was born in 517.

Three years before the departure of Maolrubha from Ireland, the country was visited by a clan of the Scottish Picts, called by Tighernach the " Filii," or " Gens Gartnait" (f), who who were probably the family of Gartnait, son of Donnel, who appears in the catalogue of the Pictish kings(g) as having reigned six years and a half, and whose death is recorded by Tighernach at the year 663. This clan was accompanied by the "Plebs Seith," probably the people of Skye(h), whose island lies off the coast, nearly opposite Applecross, and having remained two years, they returned in 670(i). Maolrubha, being of the Irish Cruithne, or Picts, by his mother's side, may have been invited over to Scotland by the Picts of that country, who had embraced Christianity under Bruide Mac Maelcon, in the time of Columbkill. However that may be, he sailed to Scotland the following year, and there founded his church of Abercrosan.

Fifteen years after the death of Maolrubha, the Irish annals record that of his successor : "Failbhe, son of Guaire, cowarba(k) of Maolrubha, of Aber-crosan, perished by shipwreck, together with the twenty-two persons who accompanied him"(l).

The connexion between Bangor and Applecross continued until 800, at which year the Irish annals record the death of "Mac-Oige, that out we lose sight of it in our records. of Apercrosan, abbot of Bangor," and from that out we lose sight of it in our records.

We now turn to Scotch writers for their account of this saint, and first in credit, though not in date, is Thomas Innes, in whose unpublished History of Scotland the following passage occurs :—

"About the same time lived among the Picts S. Maelrubius, or Mulruy, a religious man of great sanctity of life, who being slain by the Danes or Norwegians in an invasion they made in Ross, A.D. 721, was buried at Apelcross, and his memory celebrated as a martyr upon 21st of April"(m).

This testimony agrees with the Irish records both as to the year and day ; it differs, however, from other Scottish authorities, which assign a much later date, and place his festival on a different day. First in respectability is the Breviary of Aberdeen, where the office of S. Malrubius the Martyr occurs at the 27th of August, and furnishes the following account :-

"Cum non nulli malarum cogitationum viri de Norvagie regiunculo navigio Rossie confinibus applicarent, beatum audientes Malrubium alienam ab eorum gentilitate fidem predicantem, sanguinolentas in Dei unctum intulerunt manus, ac gladios de vaginis extrahentes funestos, beatum Dei virum tanquam agnum mansuetum et pium, pro Christi nomine patientem, crudelius quam narrari posset percusserunt, et vulneraverunt, et tanquam mortuum in campis silvestribus canibus et avibus devorandum reliquerunt. . . Corpusque ad basilicam que a vulgo dicitur Appilcroce transferri et ibidem tradi sepulture mandavit. At ne sanguis beati martyris pretiosus in terram effusus absque veneratione relinqueretur, illo in loco in honore martyris nostri sacratissimi ex inciso robore satis reverenter extructa est capella que postea in parochialem erigitur ecclesiam que in presens Vrquhard ab illius terre incolis vocitatur.

"Interim populo alia quamplurima contingebella bant fieri miracula. Dani adversus insulanos bella moventes, ad prefatam ecclesiam de Appilcroce navigio terram illam vi et armis expugnandam et depredandam arripuerunt. Verum quia terre circumvicine per sena a dicta ecclesia miliaria immunitatis beati viri meriti gaudet privilegio, eandem a quibuscunque minus juste depredari minime permittit. Dani vero de premissis certiorati, Dei vindictam non formidantes, in beati Malrubii contemptum, sacerdotibus et aliis ecclesie ministris in opprobrium datis, victualia et animalia cum quibus sese sustentare deberent vi et palam abstulerunt et rapuerunt, atque licet ciborum inedia astricti fuerant (justo Dei judicio) suis cum rapinis navibus festinârunt. Nam cum tanta prohibuit mora quod illo in territorio manducare nec bibere potuerant, velisque extensis mare minime agitato ventis, sed tranquillo , prospero, ut apparuit, cursu navigantes, videntibus cunctis eosdem mare omnes simul consumpsit et exsorbuit .

"Dehinc dum prefati insulani contra Rosseuses quosdam veteres excitarent inimicitias, cogitaverunt qualiter in eos vindicarent, inito eorum consilio, in magna virorum copia congregati, ignorantibus Rossiis qui cum in ecclesia beati Malrubii de Cortan annuam sancti viri celebrarent solemnitatem, insulani clam noctis sub silentio eosdem insidiarunt, atque igne ecclesiam præfatam incenderunt, in qua plusquam centeni Christiani viri et mulieres ferro et igne extincti sunt."(n)

In the preceding account there are some incongruities, which lead one to suppose that the memory of two different persons is here combined, and that on the faint tradition concerning the Irish Maolrubha is grafted the more vivid recollection of another saint of the same name, though of a later date and different place. This will account for the introduction of Urquhard, now called Urquhart, on Loch Ness, which in Gaelic went by the somewhat similar name of Urchudin-cill-na-chrossan. The Cortan also of this story, now called Cortio, is on the eastern side of Ross, near Dingwall, whereas Applecross is on the western shore.

The Martyrology of Aberdeen at the 27th of August thus commemorates the saint: "VI. Kal. Sept. Appilhors, Ross. Dioc. S. Malrubius"(o) ; and again, the Calendar of Aberdeen : "VI. Kal. Aug., Malrubii Abbatis et Martyris. ix. lect. med. lect. de sancto Rupho"(p).

In the office for the day, the third, fourth, and fifth lessons treat, not of Malruba, but of Ruffus of Ravenna, the disciple of Appollinaris . The introduction of his name, however, was probably owing to some similarity between it and Maolrubha's. A contributor to the "Acta Sanctorum" conjectured that the two names belonged to the same person, adding that Rufus, among the people of Ross, signified "a hermit." And it is a curious fact that an island opposite Applecross, on the shore of Rosshire, bears the name of "St. Rufus' Isle ;" and the tradition is preserved in the parish that the church lands were anciently conveyed away by the red priests of Applecross(q) ; in the subject of which tradition there is another version of the name Rufus.

Other Scotch writers agree as to the day with the Breviary of Aberdeen. Thus Camerarius : "Sanctus Malrubius martyr a Norvegis. Celebris habetur in Mernia"(r). So also Dempster of Murresk in his Menologium : "Julius xxvii. Marnæ, Malrubii eremitæ et martyris a Danis interfecti"(s). And again : "Augustus xxvii. In Scotia Malrubii eremitæ"(t). The same writer in his larger work says : -

"S. Malrubius, eremiticam vitam sanctissime professus, Danis sub Malcolmo II., Scotiam ferocissime incursantibus, ad Marnam, quam toties optavit martyrii palmam tandem recepit. Apices tantum operum invenio, cum ea perierint ; scripserat autem.
"De imitatione Sanctorum, lib. i .
"De Christiana Perfectione, lib. i.
" Vixit anno MXXIV. Recolitur ejus memoria die xxvii. Augusti”(u).

Bishop Keith, in his Calendar of Scotch Saints, misrepresents Mernia when he writes : " Aug. 27, S. Malrube, hermit, martyred by the Danes at Nairn in Scotland, 1024"(v).

The Bollandists notice the saint under the 27th of July, but they refer to the 27th of August for his life(w). Under the latter day they cite the lessons from the Breviary of Aberdeen, but fall into the same error as Bishop Keith, in marking, as the place of his martyrdom "Nairnune non procul ab Invernesso." The writer observes : "Basilicam Appilcroce, quæ occurrit in lectione 3, frustra quæsivi." It is conjectured by the same, that Melriga, another name for Maolrubha, was the same as Rufus(x).

Maolrubha is familiarly known among the peasantry by the name Summer-eve, or Sa-mareeve, evidently a corruption of "St. Maolrubha," and they have fairs on his day called Summer-eve fairs. His name is also to be recognised, in a contracted form, in the word Maree, the well-known name of a great lake in the parish of Gairloch, in Rosshire, north of Applecross. A tourist, in 1772, describing Loch Maree(y), has preserved the following curious tradition concerning the saint whose name it bears :-

"Land on that [little isle] called Inch Maree, the favoured isle of the Saint, the patron of all the coast, from Applecross to Loch Broon. . . . In the midst is a circular dike of stones, with a regular narrow entrance ; the inner part has been used for ages as a burial place, and is still in use. A stump of a tree is shewn as an altar, probably the memorial of one of stone ; but the curiosity of the place is the well of the saint, of power unspeakable in cases of lunacy. The patient is brought into the sacred island, is made to kneel before the altar, where his attendants leave an offering in money ; he is then brought to the well, and sips some of the holy water ; a second offering is made ; that done, he is thrice dipped in the lake ; and the same operation is repeated every day for some weeks ; and it often happens, by natural causes, the patient receives relief, of which the saint receives the credit. I must add, that the visitants draw from the state of the well an omen of the disposition of St. Maree ; if his well is full, they suppose he will be propitious ; if not, they proceed in their operations with fears and doubts ; but let the event be what it will, he is held in high esteem ; the common oath of the country is by his name. If a traveller passes by any of his resting places, they never neglect to leave an offering ; but the saint is so moderate as not to put him to any expense ; a stone, a stick, a bit of rag, contents him. This is the most beautiful of the isles ; the others have only a few trees sprinkled over the surface"(z).

With respect to the ecclesiastical remains of Applecross, the only information which I can gather is what is contained in the old statistical survey, which states that

"Close by the parish church are the remains of an old religious house, where the standard and soles of crucifixes are still to be seen"(a).

The story which is told in the Breviary of its being a sanctuary, is confirmed by the traditions of the place :-

"The ancient and only name by which it is known in the language of the country is Comrich, a Gaelic word signifying protection ; a name implying the immunity of the place in ancient times, this having been the seat of a cloister, and, as such, an asylum for all, who, either from persecution or merited punishment, fled for protection"(b).

With such a combination of evidence, direct and circumstantial, there can be no hesitation in identifying the modern Applecross, with the ancient Aper-crosan, especially as the liquid r is so frequently exchanged for l. We can therefore only estimate the antiquarian qualifications of the contributors to the Old and New Statistical Surveys of Scotland, who declare that

"Applecross is a fanciful designation, assumed by one of the proprietors of that part of the parish from which it derives its name. In commemoration of this, five apple trees were planted cross-ways, and have since, in form, been perpetuated by his successors."

This recherché etymology is somewhat of a piece with that which derives the name of a parish near Dublin, from the two English words Still-organ.

I have been at some pains to collect the preceding particulars regarding this saint, because his name occurs at a very interesting period of Irish history, where every contribution to our knowledge is deserving of attention, and because it must prove gratifying to every lover of his country to find another missionary treading in the steps of St. Columba, and earning, by the sanctity of his life, an amount of veneration which has left its traces on land and water, all round the ancient abode of his piety ; not that such cases were rare, but because Scotland has hitherto been backward in acknowledging that religious tie which once bound her to Ireland, as a daughter to a spiritual parent.

I am, yours, &c.,

William Reeves.

• (a) Vita S. Columba, lib. ii. cap. 42.
• (b) See the quotation from the Feilire of Engus, in Dr. Todd's Introduction to the Obits of Christ Church, p. 58 .
• (c) Reeves's Eccles. Antiq. p. 270.
• (d) Annals, A. C. 671, 721.
• (e) The Martyrology of the Church of the Holy Trinity agrees with other Irish authorities in placing his festival at this day :—"Et in Britannia ; sancti confessoris Maelrubai, xi. kal. Maii."-Obits and Martyrol. &c., p. 107 .
• (f) "Navigatio filiorum Gartwaith ad Hiberniano cum plebe Seith."-Tighernach, A. D. 668.
• (g) Irish version of Nennius, published by Irish Archæological Society, p. 164, lxxvi.; Fordun, Scotichron., lib. iv. cap. 12, (vol i. p. 189, ed. Goodall, Edinb. 1759.)
• (h) Adamuan calls this island Scia.- Vit. S. Columbæ, i. 33 ; ii. 26.
• (i) "Venit gens de Hibernia."-Tighernach, 670.
• (k) The Annals of Tighernach and Ulster render the Irish word comharba, "successor," by hares.
• (l) Tighernach, 737 ; Four Mast. 732 ; An. Ulster, 736 ; Colgan, Act. SS. p. 576, b. n. 3.
• (m) For this extract I am indebted to a distinguished Scotch antiquary, Joseph Robertson, Esq. of Glasgow.
• (n) Breviar. Aberdon. fol. lxxxix. This venerable formulary, which was in use in the extensive diocese of Aberdeen, was printed in the year 1509-10, and is now of such great rarity that only four copies, and no one of these perfect, are known to exist. It was printed at the press of Walter Chepman, and was published under the auspices of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen. It consists of two square volumes, about 5½ inches by 4. It is contemplated by the Spalding Club to reprint this valuable work under the able editorship of Mr. Cosmo Innes and Mr. Joseph Robertson, to the former of whom I am indebted for the above extract.
• (o) Registrum Episcopatus Aberdon. Vol. i. Præf. p. lxxxvi. (Spalding Club. Edinb. 1845.)
• (p) Regist. Episcopat. Aberdon. Vol. ii., p. 17.
• (q) Statist. Survey of Scotland. By Sir J. Sinclair. Vol. iii., p. 369. (Edinb. 1792.)
• (r) Dav. Camerarii Scoti, de Scotorum Fortitudine, p. 168. (Par. 1631.)
• (s) The Dempster Menolog., p. 18. (Bonon. 1622.)
• (t) Idem, Menolog., p. 21.
• (u) The Dempsteri Hist. Eccles. Gent. Scotor. Vol. i ., p. 450. (Edinb. 1829.)
• (v) Historical Catalogue of Bishops, p. 378, (Edinb. 1824.)
• (w) Acta SS., vol. xxxi. p. 352,
• (x) Acta SS., vol. xxxviii. pp. 131, 132.
• (y) This name varies in old records. In 1638, it is called Loch Maroy ; in 1673 Loch Mairray ; in 1697, Loch Marie. (Inquis. Special. Vicecom. Ross et Cromarty, nu. 87, 130, 162.) It is the distinguishing characteristic of the Saxon dialect in the northern provinces of Scotland (observes my correspondent, Mr. Robertson), to turn the sound of u or oo into e or ee, thus shoes become 'sheen,' moon' 'meen.' On this principle Malrubha would become Maree.
• (z) Pennant's Tour in Scotland, &c., part I. p. 330, (Chester, 1774.)
• (a) Stat. Survey of Scotland, by Sir I. Sinclair, vol. iii. p. 369, (Edinb. 1792.)
• (b) New Statist. Account of Scotland, vol. xiv. pt. 2, p. 99 (Edinb. 1845.)

People pages	• William Reeves (bishop) • Máel Ruba
Place pages	• St. Maelrubha's monastery at Aporcrosan
Related topics	• Timeline of Earl of Ross references

Timeline

Below is a list of events that are evidenced by this source. They should appear in the 'Timeline' section of articles about people and places involved in the events.

• July 1849 - William Reeves wrote a letter to the Irish Ecclesiastical Journal that begins, "There is a parish in Scotland with the early history of which the statistical writers of that country seem to have been hitherto unacquainted ; and there is a saint in the Irish calendar, the scene of whose devotions has not been previously ascertained by any Irish topographer. The parish is Applecross, and the saint is Maolrubha."
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Discussion

This is the communication mentioned in the first footnote of William Reeves's paper that was published 13 years later in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (vol. 3). Reeves was an Irish antiquarian and a Bishop of the Church of Ireland. His interest was in Saints and churches of Ireland and Scotland. His intent with this letter was to inform other antiquarians that the remains of an old religious house near the church in Applecross Parish, Wester Ross, were those of the church of Apor Crosán founded by Máel Ruba in 673.

The theory that Fearchar Mac an t-Sagairt, Earl of Ross, was descended from a family of lay-abbots of Máel Ruba's monastery at Applecross is presented as fact on many websites. But this is not a story that has been handed down through history or that can be corroborated by contemporary records. Reeves was the first to claim a direct connection between Fearchar and Applecross. The idea came from his research into the church of Apor Crosán. He includes his conclusion as part of his paper, Saint Maelrubha : His History And Churches, that was published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1862.

Source citation

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Sources

• . 5.
• Airt, Seán Mac; Niocaill, Gearóid Mac (1983). The Annals of Ulster (xv + 2 plates) (1st ed.). School of Celtic Studies (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies) – via Corpus of Electronic Texts.
• Moore, Norman (1896). "Reeves, William (1815-1892)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 47. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 417–418.
• McQueen, John (1792). "Parish of Applecross". In Sinclair, John (ed.). The statistical account of Scotland. Drawn up from the communications of the ministers of the different parishes. III. Edinburgh: William Creech. OCLC 1160054566.