Saint Kentigern, also known as Saint Mungo.
Founder and Patron Saint of Glasgow.
Date: 3 March 2012.
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Author: dun_deagh
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Text from “The Liturgical Year”.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 3.
Christmas.
Book II.
also in Scotland, stands out as one of the zealous Monks of the 6th-Century A.D., who laboured incessantly for the conversion of the inhabitants of these islands.
He was brought up in the Cistercian Monastery at Culross, Scotland, from early childhood, and was thus trained from his youth in all the practices of Monastic observance.
However, when he reached man’s estate, feeling called to a more rigorous manner of life, he left Culross and took up his abode in a solitude in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, where he led a most mortified life, eating but once in three or four days, spending the night in Prayer, and wearing a garment of haircloth.
Stained-Glass Windows,
Bute Hall, University of Glasgow.
Probably Robert Story Memorial Window,
by Douglas Strachan, placed in the Bute Hall
of Glasgow University on 21 October 1909.
Saints depicted are, from Left to Right:
Saint Ninian (Saint Trynnian);
Saint Kentigern (Saint Mungo);
Saint Columba;
Saint Modan.
Photo: 28 March 2017.
Source: Own work.
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Author: Vysotsky
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This manner of life gave the greatest edification to all who came in contact with him, and his virtue was such that, at the age of twenty-five, he was elected to the Bishopric of Glasgow.
He had grave misgivings as to the validity of his Ordination
on account of his age, but was forced to bow before the importunities of those who had chosen him for their Pastor.
He ruled his vast Diocese, which was bordered by the North Sea on the East and by the Atlantic Ocean on the West, with wisdom and prudence, though his manner of living remained unchanged, and, moreover, each Lent it was his custom to retire into solitude, giving himself entirely to Prayer and living upon roots and herbs.
He was assiduous in visiting his flock, travelling always on foot, and the force of his Preaching, together with the mildness and sweetness of his character and the asceticism of his life, was the means whereby innumerable pagans were brought into The Church and many Pelagian heretics converted to the true Faith.
This devoted Prelate was the father of many Monks, a great number of whom he sent to evangelise the North of Scotland, the Orkney Isles, and even Norway and Iceland.
The enemy of mankind, however, would not suffer so many Souls to be snatched from his grasp without molestation, and he caused the Royal Family to raise such a bitter persecution against the Saint that he was forced to leave the Country.
He took refuge in Wales, first at Cærleon, Newport, where he built a Church, then with Saint David, and, finally, he settled at the junction of the Rivers Elwy and Cluid, where he built a Monastery, now known as Saint Asaph’s.
One of the Princes of the Country opposed this undertaking, whereupon he was struck with blindness, but was cured by the intercession of Saint Kentigern and thereafter became his great benefactor.
The great crime committed against Saint Kentigern in Scotland was not permitted to remain unpunished. All those who had persecuted the Saint were visited by the just vengeance of Almighty God, and a Prince, virtuous and loyal to The Church, ascended the throne, and his first act was to recall Saint Kentigern, who returned, bringing with him some Monks from Saint Asaph’s.
In 593 A.D., the Saint visited Pope Saint Gregory the Great and unburdened his Soul of the doubts he had always held regarding his Ordination. The supreme Pontiff set his mind at rest, and, confirming him in Office, sent him back to his See, which he governed in peace for eight years more.
On 13 January 601, he was called to his eternal reward at the advanced age of eighty-five, and was buried in his Cathedral Church at Glasgow.
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