Saint Ninian

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Saint Ninian
Saint Ninian preaching to the Picts, from the Book of the Hours of the Virgin and Saint Ninian
Bishop
Born	360, Cumberland
Died	432, Whithorn
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Anglican Communion
Major shrine	Whithorn Priory, now lost
Feast	September 16
Attributes	crozier, book, holding a model of a white church
Patronage	diocese of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada; diocese of Galloway, Scotland

Saint Ninian (c. 360 - 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 Brythonic Cumbria, probably Rheged, but travelled 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 Siricius.

Tradition (first mentioned by Bede) states that around 397 he set up his base at Whithorn in south-west Scotland, building a stone church there, known as the Candida Casa which means the White House. From there he began work among the Northern Brythons of the surrounding area. Later he undertook a journey northwards along the east coast in order to spread Christianity among 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 suggest that he may have travelled as far as the Shetland Islands. He trained many missionaries, among whom, it is said, was the man who converted Saint Columba.

In 2001, a Glasgow University Celticist argued^[1] that St. Ninian was in fact the same man as St Finnian, likewise a mentor of St. Columba, and that the confusion is due to an 8th century scribal spelling error. Scholars seem to be accepting that this was indeed the case.