Machar was a 6th-century Irish

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 ...

active in Scotland. A Bishop of Irish origin, Machar is said to have been a former nobleman, baptized by St Colman. He came to Iona with Columba and preached in Mull and later ministered to the Picts around Aberdeen. For this reason he was described anachronistically as the first Bishop of the see of Aberdeen. His legend, however, in the Aberdeen breviary makes him "Archbishop of Tours", appointed by Gregory the Great for the last few years of his life. This story deserves no credence. Water from his well was used for baptism in Aberdeen Cathedral. A few dedications survive from this area.Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 1978 Much of what is claimed to be known about St Machar derives from the

Aberdeen Breviary The ''Aberdeen Breviary'' () is a 16th-century Scottish Catholic breviary. It was the first full-length book to be printed in Edinburgh, and in Scotland. Origin The creation of the Aberdeen Breviary can be seen as one of the features of the growi ...

, a work compiled in the late fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries, long after the traditional date of Machar's life. It is therefore hard to assess its reliability. One recent theory is that St Machar and St Mungo were the same person, on the grounds of a possible link between their names (Colm Ó Baoill, ''St Machar - some linguistic light?'', Innes Review XLIV, p. 1-13).

Commemoration

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church (building), church in Aberdeen, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a Kirk ...

in Aberdeen is named in his honour. The Cathedral's font by Hew Lorimer depicts the saint baptising converts. The Machar oil field in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

is named after the saint. There is also a St Machar Academy in Aberdeen, situated on St Machar Drive. Machar is the patron saint of Aberdeen in the Scottish Episcopal

Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney The Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Created in 1865, the diocese covers the historic county of Aberdeenshire, and the Orkney and Shetland island groups. It shares with the Roman Ca ...

. His feast day is 12 November. St Machar's, Ranfurly church in

Bridge of Weir Bridge of Weir is a village within the Renfrewshire council areas of Scotland, council area and wider counties of Scotland, historic county of Renfrewshire (historic), Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying within the Gryf ...

is named in his honour after a minister from St Machar's cathedral became the minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machar Christianity in Aberdeen Irish Christian monks Irish Christian missionaries 6th-century Christian saints 6th-century Irish bishops Medieval Irish saints Medieval Scottish saints Irish expatriates in Scotland