Saint Ninian

Saint Ninian (c360 - 432) is the earliest known bishop to have visited Scotland. Neither his place and date of birth, nor his early life are known with any certainty.

The traditional story is that he was born in Cumbria but went to Rome as a young man to study Christianity. There he was made a bishop and given the task of converting the Picts by the Pope, St Siricus.

In 397 or thereabouts he set up his base at Whithorn[?] in Southwest Scotland, building a stone church there, known as the Candida Casa which means the White House. From there he began work among the Britons[?] of the surrounding area. Later he undertook a journey northwards along the east coast in order to spread Christianity among what the old historians called the southern Picts. The word southern is almost certainly a misnomer based on the maps of early times which mistakenly depict the east coast of Scotland as if it were the south coast. Placename evidence and local tradition seems to show that he may have travelled as far as the Shetland Islands. After his trip, he returned to his base and from there, trained many missionaries, among whom, it is said, was the man who converted Saint Columba.

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Links:

• http://www.whithorn.com/index.html
• http://claymore.wisemagic.com/scotradiance/scothistory/scothistory9903.htm