Saint Serf or Serbán (''Servanus'') () is a saint of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Serf was venerated in western Fife. He is called the apostle of

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

, with less historical plausibility. Saint Serf is connected with Saint Mungo's Church near Simonburn,

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

(off the Bellingham Road, north of Chollerford). His feast day is 1 July.

Legends

David Hugh Farmer wrote that the legend of Serf is "a farrago of wild impossibilities" stating that Serf was the son of Eliud, King of

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

, and his wife Alphia, daughter of a King of

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

. Childless for a long time, they at last had two sons: the second was Serf. Serf came to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, carrying with him such a reputation for sanctity that he was elected and served as

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

for seven years. He travelled to

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

after vacating the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

, returning to Scotland. There, he met

Adomnán Adomnán or Adamnán of Iona (; , ''Adomnanus''; 624 – 704), also known as Eunan ( ; from ), was an abbot of Iona Abbey ( 679–704), hagiographer, statesman, canon jurist, and Christian saint, saint. He was the author of the ''Life ...

, Abbot of Iona, who showed him an island in Loch Leven (later called St Serf's Inch). At the time, this island was part of the

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

kingdom of ''Fib'' (

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

). Serf founded the eponymous St Serf's Inch Priory on the island, where he remained seven years. The priory was a community of Augustinian canons. It was founded from St. Andrews Cathedral Priory at the initiation of King David I of Scotland in 1150. From the 15th century onwards the priory began to be referred to as "Portmoak". After more than four centuries of Augustinian monastic life, the first Protestant king of Scots,

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

, granted the priory to St Leonard's College,

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

. Today, there are only a small amount of remains left of the priory. The centre of his ministry (and possibly of his activity) was

Culross Culross (/ˈkurəs/) (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cuileann Ros'', 'holly point or promontory') is a village and former royal burgh, and parish, in Fife, Scotland. According to the 2006 estimate, the village has a population of 395. Originally, Culross ...

, which according to tradition, was founded by the saint. At Dunning, in Strathearn, he is said to have slain a

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

with his pastoral staff. "Finally, after many miracles, after divine virtues, after founding many churches, aint Serf having given his peace to the brethren, yielded up his spirit in his cell at Dunning, on the first day of the Kalends of July; and his disciples and the people of the province take his body to Cuilenross ulross and there, with psalms and hymns and canticles, he was honourably buried."

Serf and Mungo

Saint Serf is said to have been a contemporary of Saint Mungo, also known as Saint Kentigern, though he could not have lived at the same time as both

and Mungo. A legend states that when the British princess (and future saint) Theneva (Thenaw) became

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

before marriage, her family threw her from a

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

. She survived the fall unharmed, and was soon met by an unmanned

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

. She knew she had no home to go to, so she boarded the boat; it sailed her across the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is a firth in Scotland, an inlet of the North Sea that separates Fife to its north and Lothian to its south. Further inland, it becomes the estuary of the River Forth and several other rivers. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate ...

to land at Culross where she was cared for by Saint Serf; he became foster-father of her son, Saint Kentigern (Saint Mungo).Hunter-Blair, Oswald. "St. Kentigern." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 6 May 2014
/ref> Another legend states that Mungo restored a pet robin of Serf's to life. The bird had been killed by some of his classmates who had planned to blame him for its death.

Churches

Saint Serf is a relatively common dedication for churches in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and Central Scotland. The name also attaches to schools in the area.

Notes

External links

Kingdom of Fife Tourist BoardVideo footage of St Serf's at Dunning
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serf 6th-century Christian saints 6th-century Scottish people Northern Brythonic saints Medieval Scottish saints Year of birth uncertain 583 deaths