Saint Blane (

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

''Bláán'', died 590) was a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

and

confessor In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecut ...

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 ...

, born on the

Isle of Bute The Isle of Bute (; or '), known as Bute (), is an island in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, United Kingdom. It is divided into highland and lowland areas by the Highland Boundary Fault. Formerly a constituent island of the larger County of ...

, date unknown; died 590. His feast is kept on 10 August.

Origin

Late (medieval) Scottish texts relate that his mother was Irish and that Saint Cathan was her brother. It was Cathan who saw to Blane's education in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

under

Saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

Comgall Saint Comgall (c. 510–520 – 597/602), an early Irish saint, was the founder and abbot of the great Irish monastery at Bangor in Ireland. MacCaffrey,James (1908). " St. Comgall". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Co ...

and

Kenneth Kenneth is a given name of Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a byna ...

. Blane eventually became a

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

, went to Scotland, and was eventually bishop 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 ...

. Blan apparently had holy earth transported from Rome. As he carried his precious burden up from Port Lughdach, through Glencallum, to the site of his chapel, the " rigwoodie," to which the creels of earth were suspended, from his neck, broke. He implored a native woman, then on her way to the shore to collect " moorach," little shell-fish, to assist him, only to meet a refusal. The irritated saint replied to the disobliging dame: "An uair a theid thu do an traigh Biodh am muir Ian ann," i.e., Whenever you go to the sea-shore may there be high tide. After his church was erected, he broadened this curse by enacting that no women were to obtain burial in his cemetery beside the men. An adjoining piece of ground was assigned to females and this custom of separate burial survived till 1661, when it was stopped by an injunction of the Presbytery of Dunoon. Several miracles are related to him, among them the restoration of a dead boy to life.O'Malia, Miles Joseph. "St. Blane." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 15 Apr. 2013
/ref> 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 ...

gives these and other details of the saint's life, which are rejected, however, by the

Bollandists The Bollandist Society (; ) is an association of scholars, philologists, and historians (originally all Jesuits, but now including non-Jesuits) who since the early seventeenth century have studied hagiography and the cult of the saints in Christia ...

. There can be no doubt that devotion to St Blane was, from early times, popular in Scotland. There was a church of St Blane in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

and another at Kilblane. In

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

, the place name Kilblain is thought to refer to a cell or chapel of St Blane.

Associated Places

There is a well in the

strath A strath is a large valley, typically a river valley that is wide and shallow (as opposed to a glen, which is typically narrower and deep). Word and etymology An anglicisation of the Gaelic word , it is one of many that have been absorbed i ...

, or valley, called Blane's Well and also a place in the neighborhood called Garcattoun, which might be named after his uncle, St Cathan. His name is recorded on the Scottish landscape at

Strathblane Strathblane (, ) is a village and List of civil parishes in Scotland, parish in the registration county of Stirling, situated in the southwestern part of the Stirling (council area), Stirling council area, in central Scotland. It lies at the foo ...

in the central lowlands from Loch Lomond to Dunblane. The highest authorities say the saint died in 590. The ruins of his church at

Kingarth Kingarth (; ) is a historic village and parish on the Isle of Bute, off the coast of south-western Scotland. The village is within the parish of its own name, and is situated at the junction of the A844 and B881. In the Early Middle Ages it wa ...

, Bute, where his remains were buried, are still standing and form an object of great interest to antiquarians; St Blane's Chapel is picturesquely situated about 800 metres from

Dunagoil Dunagoil is a vitrified fort or dun on the Isle of Bute – an Iron Age hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typ ...

Bay. The bell of his monastery is believed to be preserved at

Dunblane Dunblane (, ) is a town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links to much of the Central Be ...

Dunblane Cathedral Dunblane Cathedral is the larger of the two Church of Scotland parish churches serving Dunblane, near the city of Stirling, in central Scotland. The lower half of the tower is pre- Romanesque from the 11th century, and was originally free-stan ...

is said to have been founded on the site first used by St Blane.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blane 590 deaths History of Argyll and Bute History of Stirling (council area) People from the Isle of Bute 6th-century Christian saints 6th-century Scottish bishops Year of birth unknown Medieval Scottish saints