St Modan was the son of an Irish chieftain. He became a monk and built a chapel at

Dryburgh Dryburgh is a village in the Borders region of Scotland, within the county of Berwickshire. It is most famous for the ruined Dryburgh Abbey. Dryburgh Abbey Hotel lies on the edge of the village. The village K6 red telephone box outside the fo ...

, Scotland, in 522 which he used as a base for several years. This later became the site of a monastery: Dryburgh Abbey. He actively proselytised on behalf of the Celtic church in the

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

and Stirling areas, and along the

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

, continuing until he was elected abbot, a post which he accepted reluctantly. After a number of years he resigned and became a hermit, settling in the Dumbarton area, where he would die. His relics were

enshrined A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ar ...

at Saint Modan's church,

Rosneath Rosneath (''Ros Neimhidh'' in Gaelic) is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch, northwest of the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula. It is about by road from the village of Kilcreggan, which is sited ...

. His feast day is

February 4 Events Pre–1600 * 211 – Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrellin ...

External links

Catholic Online entryAnother entry
6th-century deaths History of the Scottish Borders History of Stirling (council area) History of Falkirk (council area) History of West Dunbartonshire History of Argyll and Bute 6th-century Christian saints 6th-century Irish people Medieval Irish saints Medieval Scottish saints Irish Christian monks Year of birth unknown Medieval Scottish clergy {{UK-saint-stub