Dedication of Arbroath to shine light on Saint Vigeans

I am talking about the many saints of Scotland who have been venerated for centuries but who, simply because of their localised cult have largely been ignored.

There’s a reason for that. Many of the men and women who were acclaimed as saints during the time of the Celtic church were largely forgotten after the mediaeval Roman Catholic Church imposed its doctrines from the Vatican, a policy originally down to St Margaret, the Queen Consort of Malcolm Canmore.

The Celtic saints who spring to my mind because I have previously written about them include Kessog the sixth-century Irish missionary who worked between Loch Lomondside and Perthshire and died a martyr. There was also Marnock, also an Irish missionary and monk at Iona after whom Kilmarnock, Dalmarnock and even the Marnock oil field in the North Sea are named.

Venerated in his time alongside Columba of Iona himself was St Mirin, or Mirren, the founder of what became Paisley Abbey and who is the only Scottish saint after which a senior football club is named – St Johnstone is named after the evangelist.

The Dedication of Arbroath 

I am writing this before Christmas and it follows that I won’t be with you next weekend, so it is high time that I bring to your attention to a historical development involving one of those early saints that will be marked on December 29.

I suspect that St Vigeans is not a place known to many people outside Angus but it was central to the development of Christianity in the area around Arbroath and thus we all owe the place a debt of gratitude – the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 remains our greatest statement of Scottish independence.

On December 29, thanks to Arbroath priest Father Andrew Marshall’s diligent research, a lifelike rediscovered figure of St Thomas Becket, martyred in Canterbury Cathedral, will be dedicated in Arbroath, 852 years to the day since he was assassinated by knights of King Henry II of England.

Becket was probably a friend of Scotland’s King William the Lion who dedicated Arbroath Abbey to his memory, and Becket became associated with Arbroath so much so that the town still has a church, school and, whisper it, a fine pub named after the saint.

I am told the figure of Becket will be placed on a plinth inscribed with the St Vigeans Knot, a distinctive insignia long associated with the village.

I am hugely indebted to Norman K Atkinson, the premier historian of Pictish Angus, for his explanation of St Vigeans and its Knot.

He told me: “The name of the place gives a clue to its original dedication, most likely the seventh-century Irish Saint Fechin of Fore, County Meath.

“While the name was Latinised to Vigeanus in the 12th century, the Pictish rendering of his name was something like Uugen. The ‘U’ and ‘V’ are the same in terms of written letters but this may have slightly changed the pronunciation.

“Although the only Fechin dedication in Pictland, there are probably three others in Scotland at Ecclefechan, Lesmahagow and Torphichen.

“This Fechin died in 665 of the plague, and perhaps some of his followers brought his religion and possibly even relics to this spot in the heart of the southern Picts. St Vigeans became the parish church from the beginning of feudal times, and remained so until Arbroath parish reorganisation in 1834.“

Atkinson revealed his own role in exploring the suburb’s religious past: “St Vigeans was not where Christianity began in the Arbroath area, for many Christian burials have been discovered over the years in what we now know as Victoria Park on the seafront at the northern edge of Arbroath.

“In 1987 an east-west aligned ‘long cist’ burial was found by Parks staff.

“Fortunately, I managed to recover most of the skeleton and had it carbon-dated to 540-630AD. No church of this date has so far been discovered hereabouts, although a pillow stone with a Latin cross dating to the seventh century was subsequently found near Cliffburn. From at least the 15th century this area became known as St Ninians, but this is almost certainly a later naming.”

The meaning of the Pictish Knot 

Atkinson added: “Arbroath Abbey became the burial place of King William (1165-1214) before the high altar, the only Scottish King to be buried in Angus. St Thomas became the patron saint of Arbroath and natives were known as being from ‘St Tam’s’.

“After the Reformation of 1560, interest in St Thomas waned, with the exception perhaps of the naming of the St Thomas Bar, initially in Tower Neuk, but now in James Street.”

Atkinson explained the significance of the Knot: “The Knot itself adorns the magnificent Pictish cross slab now known as the Drosten Stone at St Vigeans. Carved in the early ninth century it has a rare inscription which includes the names of two Pictish kings, Drosten (845-8) and his father Uurad (839-42).

"Only a few examples of this knot have so far been identified, one illustrated in the Book of Durrow, and also on sculpture at Aycliffe in Durham and most interestingly at Termonfechin (Fechin’s sanctuary) in County Louth. Only the Durrow example seems to predate our St Vigeans knot.

“The distinctive knot decorates the two double discs on the reverse of the cross side. It was perhaps chosen to decorate this important sculpture with its royal associations. The interlacing has no beginning or end.

"Art historians have many differing views on the religious meaning on this to be certain of the actual significance. In purely sculptural terms it is a technique used to demonstrate the skills of the designer/sculptor.”

What a great story from history that resonates to the modern day.

Good luck to St Vigeans and Arbroath which have both earned their place in Scotland’s developing story.