Saint Cathan, also known as Catan, Cattan, etc., was a 6th-century Irish monk revered as a
saint
In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
in parts of the Scottish
Hebrides
The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scotland, Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Ou ...
.
Source material
This saint appears in the ''
Aberdeen Breviary'',
Walter Bower
Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotl ...
's ''
Scotichronicon
The ''Scotichronicon'' is a 15th-century chronicle by the Scottish historian Walter Bower. It is a continuation of historian-priest John of Fordun's earlier work '' Chronica Gentis Scotorum'' beginning with the founding of Ireland and thereby ...
'', and the ''
Acta Sanctorum
''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, organised by the saints' feast days. The project was conceived and ...
''. A number of placenames in western Scotland are associated with him.
Gaelic Christianity
He is said to have been one of the first
Irish missionaries to come to the
Isle of Bute, then part of the Gaelic Kingdom of
Dál Riata
Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) () was a Gaels, Gaelic Monarchy, kingdom that encompassed the Inner Hebrides, western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland, on each side of the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North ...
.
Very little is known of him; he is generally mentioned only in connection with his more famous nephew
Saint Blane, who was born on Bute and later proselytized among the
Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples in what is now Scotland north of the Firth of Forth, in the Scotland in the early Middle Ages, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be gleaned from early medieval texts and Pic ...
. Both saints were strongly associated with Bute and with
Kingarth monastery, which became the center of their cults.
[Mackinlay, p. 104.]
A number of churches were dedicated to Cathan across Scotland's western islands.
* ''Tobar Chattan'', or Cathan's Well, at Little Kilchattan on Bute may represent the site of Cathan's original church.
[
* Other churches, now in ruins, include St Cathan's Chapel on Colonsay,
* ]Kilchattan Chapel
Kilchattan Chapel (''St Cathan's Chapel'') is a ruined medieval chapel near Ardminish, Isle of Gigha, Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and ...
on Gigha, and
* Kilchattan Church on Luing
Luing ( ; ) is one of the Slate Islands, Scotland, Slate Islands, Firth of Lorn, in the west of Argyll in Scotland, about south of Oban. The island has an area of and is bounded by several small skerries and islets. It has a population of aroun ...
. The Luing church served the historical Kilchattan parish; the modern Kilchattan Church was built at Achafolla in 1936.
Cathan is said to have lived for a time at the monastery at Stornoway
Stornoway (; ) is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides (or Western Isles), and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.
The town's population is around 6,953, making it the third-largest island town in Scotlan ...
on the isle of Lewis, and his relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...
s are said to have been housed at a chapel founded by Clan MacLeod
Clan MacLeod ( ; ) is a Scottish Highlands, Highland Scottish clan associated with the Isle of Skye. There are two main branches of the clan: the MacLeods of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Harris and Dunvegan, known in Gaelic as ' ("seed of Tormod") an ...
on the same island.[Mackinlay, p. 105.]
Impact
Landscape
Cathan's name survives in the various toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
s in the area containing the element ''Chattan'' (where the first consonant is lenited
In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them "weaker" in some way. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language ...
), such as:
* many places called Kilchattan ("Church of Cathan")
* Ardchattan
Ardchattan and Muckairn is a civil parish within Argyll and Bute in Scotland. It lies north of Oban, bordering Loch Etive and includes Glen Ure, Glen Creran, Barcaldine, Benderloch, Connel, Bonawe and Glen Etive. At the 2001 census, Ardch ...
("Cathan's Heights")
* the village of Kilchattan Bay
Kilchattan Bay is a village on the Isle of Bute, Scotland. It lies on the island's southern end, along the coast road at the foot of a steep hill called the ''Suidhe Chattan'' which shields the village from the prevailing westerly wind. The vill ...
* Little and Mickle Kilchattan farms
* names of the hill of ''Suidhe Chattan''
* Suidhe Chatain Hill in Bute.
all on Bute.[
]
Feast day
His feast day is 17 May.
Later Highland clan development
Several families on Bute bore the honoured name of Mac-gill-chattan—son of the servant of Catan and on account of the frequent occurrence of names similarly connected with those of saints who had churches dedicated to them in this vicinity e.g., Mac-gill-munn, Macgill-chiaran, Mac-gill-mhichell,—and connected with church offices, Mac-gill-espy (bishop), Mac-gill-Christ etc.
Cattanachs are said to be families that followed or were originally servants or Coarbs of this saint and include founder families such as Macbean, MacPherson, and MacPhail[
]
Notes
References
*
*
*
* "The Statistical Account of Buteshire", 1822, from ''Creag Dubh'', No. 18 (1966)
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cathan
Medieval Irish saints
Medieval Scottish saints
6th-century Irish Christian clergy
Irish expatriates in Scotland
History of Argyll and Bute
People from the Isle of Bute
6th-century Christian saints
6th-century Scottish bishops