#scots-irish

I know that religion can be used for good and for bad. I know that in some cases men use religion to justify abuse.

However, what.the.actual.FUCK is Christianity today doing saying that Scots-Irish Appalachians and southerners have a “greater propensity for violent behavior”!

On 10th March 560, St Kessog, the Irish missionary was killed.

The feast day of St Kessog, the nation’s ‘first’ Patron Saint, has been largely forgotten but he played a vital role in the assertion of Scottish independence in 1314. It was to him that Robert the Bruce is supposed to have prayed for guidance on the eve of the Battle of Bannockburn.

As with all stories this old and some not so old, there are differing stories, one such says he was the son of the King of Cashel in the royal family of Munster. One day, while playing with the sons of visiting chiefs all the children drowned in an accident except Kessog.

The grief, anger and search for someone to blame among the visiting families caused a major falling-out but, after a night of praying, Kessog is said to have brought all the children back to life and averted a possible war.

Another version has him as born in Strathclyde, and travelling to Ireland, to study, before returning to Scotland. But since, at that time, the two peoples were so closely inter-related, and since there was a great deal of travelling between the two places, it perhaps doesn’t matter that we will never know for sure. He was believed to be a disciple of St Patrick.

The stories all seem to agree that a Pictish chief had men murder him near an ancient druid site, the site of his death used to be marked by a cairn but it has long gone.

His name crops up in communities as widespread as Auchterarder, Comrie, Callander, Glen Finglas, Strathearn and Inverness where the Kessock Bridge replaced the former Kessog’s ferry, he was particularly associated with the Village of Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond, where a church is dedicated to him.

Fionnghuala [a cappella]

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Finally. A Scotsman singing Fionnghuala clearly and just slowly enough to where you can get a good pronunciation of the words. But God help you still if you can't read Gaelic or know any of the rules at all. This is a song for Scots Gaelic speakers. The Irish sing it so fast it's like slinging Colcannon (mashed potatoes for Americans) from the whirling blades of a mixer...The song is about how chill the Mighty Finn was. That's all the translation you need.

Happy St Patrick’s Day.

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and always will be, however a long standing theory is that he was born in what is now Scotland. It makes sense, several of our saints, most notably Columba, are said to have been from Ireland, so why not?  A 2018 delves into the matter in depth, but the theory is by no means new.

It is said his father, whose name was Calpurnius, was in a respectable station in life, being municipal magistrate in the town in which he lived. What town this was, however, is not certainly known, whether Kilpatrick, a small village on the Clyde, five miles east of Dumbarton, Duntochar, another small village about a mile north of Kilpatrick, or Dumbarton itself. But these are only the areas quoted in what is now Scotland I wont go into the ones saying England.

His father is supposed, (for nearly all that is recorded of the holy man is conjectural, or at best but inferential,) to have come to Scotland in a civil capacity with the Roman troops, under Theodosius. His mother, whose name was Cenevessa, was sister or niece of St Martin, bishop of Tours; and from this circumstance, it is presumed that his family were Christians.

He was captured as a teenager by Niall of the Nine Hostages who was to become a King of all Ireland.

He was sold into slavery in Ireland and put to work as a shepherd. He worked in terrible conditions for six years drawing comfort in the Christian faith that so many of his people had abandoned under Roman rule.

Patrick had a dream that encouraged him to flee his captivity and to head South where a ship was to be waiting for him. He travelled over 200 miles from his Northern captivity to Wexford town where, sure enough, a ship was waiting to enable his escape.

Patrick’s devotion to Ireland started with a dream which he wrote about as…..

“I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: ‘The Voice of the Irish.’ As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea-and they cried out, as with one voice: 'We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.’”

The vision prompted his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years, and was later ordained a bishop and sent to take the Gospel to Ireland.

Patrick arrived in Slane, Ireland on March 25, 433. There are several legends about what happened next, with the most prominent claiming he met the chieftan of one of the druid tribes, who tried to kill him. After an intervention from God, Patrick was able to convert the chieftain and preach the Gospel throughout Ireland. There, he converted many people -eventually thousands - and he began building churches across the country.

He often used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity and entire kingdoms were eventually converted to Christianity after hearing Patrick’s message.

Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, travelling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

He died at Saul, where he had built the first Irish church. He is believed to be buried in Down Cathedral, Downpatrick. His grave was marked in 1990 with a granite stone.

Saint Patrick’s Day is observed on 17 March, the supposed date of his death. It is celebrated inside and outside Ireland as a religious and cultural holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; it is also a celebration of Ireland itself, although recent events have meant it will be more subdued than normal. I once read many years ago that there is more alcohol in the world sold on St Patrick’s Day than any other day of the year, and I quite believe that, but again am not getting into an argument.

Find out more about the paper from the link below https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/saint-patrick-born-scotland

October 23rd 1921 saw the death of John Boyd Dunlop who re-invented the pneumatic tyre. 

There are, of course, many Americans who think that Charles Goodyear invented tyres – he didn’t, but he did invent and patent the process of vulcanisation which made solid rubber tyres and many other rubber products more viable.

Dunlop was a Scottish vet living in Belfast, he had carried out several scientific experiments with rubber, especially rubber tubing for veterinary usages, but it was a problem with his nine-year-old son Johnny’s tricycle that led Dunlop to his great breakthrough. Wee Johnny Dunlop complained that when he rode his bicycle to school the cobbled streets made his bottom sore. Dunlop solved his son’s problem by “inventing” a pneumatic tyre, but then it became clear that this tyre was faster - the lad kept winning cycle races. There was a famous cycle race on the Queen’s College playing fields on 18th May 1889 and Dunlop persuaded the cycle champion Willie Hume to use the new tyres. Willie won the race and everybody wanted the tyres, and so the Dunlop Rubber Company was formed.

What Dunlop did not realise was that 43 years earlier another Scot had patented almost the same thing. Robert Thomson  was given a workshop by his father where he invented all sorts of things. In 1845 Thomson patented what he called aerial wheels. There were no bicycles then, so it would not have been a bicycle tyre that he invented. There were no internal combustion engines either, just a few steam carriages, and otherwise horse-drawn carriages and carts. However, Thomson did some elegant experiments. He fitted his tyres to a carriage and, in Regent’s Park in London, had it pulled side by side with an ordinary carriage. He showed it was much easier to pull the one with pneumatic tyres.

All the watching journalists thought it would be slower because the tyres were soft. It was easier to pull and also silent - it did not make the noise of a carriage. The pneumatic tyres were a huge success but there was no market at the time - rubber was very expensive in the 1840s.

Dunlop’s patent was granted on 7th December 1888 though the existence of Thomson’s earlier patents in France and the USA meant he could not claim to have invented the idea – his process, however, was recognised in its own right and there soon came proof that Dunlop’s tyres were revolutionary, as the champion Irish cyclist Willie Hume won almost every race he entered. The days of solid bicycle tyres were numbered.

September 23rd is the Feast day of St  Adamnan.

Adamnan was born of royal blood in County Donegal sometime around 624. His name means "Little Adam." Educated by local monks, he became a novice at the monastery of Iona. Eventually, when he was about 55, he rose to become the ninth abbot of the abbey at Iona. He must have been an outstanding leader, because he was also chosen to serve as "president" of all of the monasteries that had sprung out of the missionary work of St. Columba.

As a matter of fact, Adamnan wrote the life of Columba. The book consists of 24 chapters filled with marvels and miracles.

Adamnan was active in the politics of his day. He gave sanctuary to Prince Aldfrid when the throne of Northumbria, England was in dispute. Later Aldfrid became king and Adamnan was able to negotiate the release of Irish captives who had been kidnapped by English pirates. When the Celtic church argued whether to switch to the Roman rule, Adamnan was a leader of the movement to go with the Roman Easter  and other Roman practices. This upset fellow monks and he found his welcome at Iona considerably cooler and spent much of his time elsewhere.

He visited two of England's great monasteries, including Jarrow, where his contemporary, the historian, Bede, lived. On a visit to Ireland, Adamnan convinced the Irish to adopt the Roman date for Easter. Seven years before his death, he attended the council of Birra and convinced the Irish kings to adopt the principle, known as Adamnan's Law, which said that women, children, monks and other non-combatants were to be spared during war and no longer taken prisoner.

Among Adamnan's other work was to write a book about Palestine and other distant lands, called On the Holy Places. He based its descriptions on interviews with Bishop Arculf, who had visited the Middle East as a pilgrim and made notes. Shipwrecked on the coast of England, Arculf had taken shelter with Adamnan.

In his time, Adamnan was arguably as important as Columba, but by so effectively establishing the historical reputation and cult of Columba, his contribution is now somewhat overlooked.

Most of St Adamnan legacy is in his native Ireland, here in Scotland we have a beautiful little church at  Kilmaveonaig, which nestles on the hillside above Bridge of Tilt, Perthshire

November 12th is St Machar’s day, the patron saint of Aberdeen.

Saint Machar was a son of Fiachna, a Prince of Ulster and his wife Finchoenia. His parents where probably Christians for Machar was baptised by Saint Columba who named him Mocumma or Mochonna (= My Follower).  His infancy was marked by Divine Favours.  Eventually Machar or Mocumma became a pupil and gifted disciple of Saint Columba, and in 563, at the age of 22 accompanied his master to Iona.

  Saint Columba then sent Machar to evangelise the Isle of Mull. He preached the Gospel, baptised, and healed the sick so successfully that much envy was aroused amongst his colleagues. Columba advised Machar to withdraw from Iona and go to the Picts to preach, convert and baptise.

After three days Machar and his colleagues landed in North Scotland, where a Christian - Farquhar - directed him to a community on a machair that is now Old Aberdeen.  Machair is the Celtic term for level ground near water. The ancient poem explains:

Saint Machore then thankfully

His gifts took and al the place by Sought to and fro til he fand.

A stead til hyme was gaunand (= suitable)

Besyde a riverbank that rane

Into the sea and lyk was thane

As it a byschopis staf had bene

Til his disciples can he say. 

Lo here myn dwellingplace for aye.

For my master to me can tel.

And so began the work of Machar amongst the Picts which had a span of over ten years; and the foundation of the first St.  Machar’s Church.

By the 11th century the modest thatched hut on the banks of the river Don had become a larger, more permanent. stone church dedicated to St. Machar. In 1136 King David I—the “Sair Sanct” founded the Bishopric of Old Aberdeen and selected St. Machar’s foundation for his Cathedral. The Cathedral of St. Machar was rebuilt, but not fully completed, by Bishop Matthew Kyninmund shortly after 1164 and further major alterations were made in 1286 and 1424. Certainly in these early turbulent centuries the Cathedral was rebuilt, decayed, and then rebuilt several times. However, in 1495 King James IV created the Charter of the Cathedral City of Old Aberdeen, and the final form of the Cathedral emerged in 1518.