Machar was a 6th-century

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

active in Scotland. A Bishop of Irish origin, Machar is said to have been a former nobleman, baptized by St Colman. He came to Iona with Columba and preached in Mull and later ministered to the Picts around Aberdeen. For this reason he was described anachronistically as the first Bishop of the see of Aberdeen. His legend, however, in the Aberdeen breviary makes him "Archbishop of Tours", appointed by Gregory the Great for the last few years of his life. This story deserves no credence. Water from his well was used for baptism in Aberdeen Cathedral. A few dedications survive from this area.Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 1978 Much of what is claimed to be known about St Machar derives from the

Aberdeen Breviary The ''Aberdeen Breviary'' ( la, Breviarium Aberdonense) is a 16th-century Scotland, Scottish Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, Catholic breviary. It was the first full-length book to be printed in Edinburgh, and in Scotland. Origin The creation o ...

, a work compiled in the late fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries, long after the traditional date of Machar's life. It is therefore hard to assess its reliability. One recent theory is that St Machar and

St Mungo Kentigern ( cy, Cyndeyrn Garthwys; la, Kentigernus), known as Mungo, was a missionary in the Celtic Britons, Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century, and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow. Name In Wales and ...

were the same person, on the grounds of a possible link between their names (Colm Ó Baoill, ''St Machar - some linguistic light?'', Innes Review XLIV, p. 1-13).

Commemoration

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral usually called Old Machar (Scottish Gaelic: Cathair-eaglais Naomh Machar), (or, more formally, the Cathedral Church of St Machar) is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the c ...

in Aberdeen is named in his honour. The Cathedral's font by

Hew Lorimer Hew Martin Lorimer, OBE (22 May 1907 – 1 September 1993) was a Scottish sculptor. Early life He was born in Edinburgh, the second son of architect Sir Robert Lorimer. He was educated at Loretto School in Musselburgh, then at Magdalen Colle ...

depicts the saint baptising converts. The Machar oil field in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

is named after the saint. There is also a

St Machar Academy St Machar Academy is an Aberdeen City Council gd, Comhairle Cathair Obar Dheathain , native_name_lang = , other_name = , image_skyline = Town House, Municipal Offices and Court Houses ...

in Aberdeen, situated on St Machar Drive. His feast day is 12 November. St Machar's, Ranfurly church in

Bridge of Weir Bridge of Weir is a village within the Renfrewshire council area and wider historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. Lying within the Gryffe Valley, Bridge of Weir owes its name to the historic crossing point tha ...

is named in his honour after a minister from St Machar's cathedral became the minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Machar Christianity in Aberdeen Irish Christian monks Irish Christian missionaries 6th-century Christian saints 6th-century Irish bishops Medieval Irish saints Medieval Scottish saints Irish expatriates in Scotland