St. Brendan the Navigator

An icon from Sancti Angeli Skete. Brendan is a legendary figure, whose voyages so much express the spirit of the Western Isles that it is difficult to disentangle fact and legend. He was born in County Kerry, in 484 and was educated under St. Ita, the ‘Brigid of Munster.’ Between 1512/30 he built monastic cells at Ardfort and Brandon Hill.

His seven year voyage was an ascetic means of seeking spiritual perfection, with it’s goal the ‘land of delight’ i.e. heaven. The old Irish horarium assigned March 22nd to the Egressio familiae S. Brendani In this icon the essentials are depicted - he stands in prayer, interceding for his brethren, in a boat at the mercy of the waves (without sail or oars). He glimpses, through Christ Emmanuel, a vision of paradise after which he comes home to give witness to his brethren.

St. Donald of Ogilvie

This icon is written by Nicholas Papas. It feels authentic to Donald’s time and culture and his life spent as an agricultural labourer. Donald, also known as Donevaldus or Donevald lived in or near Glen Ogilvie, to the North of the Sidlaws between Glamis and Dundee, in the first half of the eighth century. He was a contemporary of St. Fergus Cruithneach of Glamis. As a widower he lived a religious life, and also persuaded his nine daughters to do so. They lived austerely, eating barley bread and water and worked hard as agricultural labourers, singing and praying constantly as they worked.

After the death of their father, the girls moved to Abernethy, near Perth where the Pictish King granted them a home, chapel and land near the Celtic monastery which had links with St. Brigid. The names of three of the daughters are known: St. Fink (Fincana) near Blairgowrie, Findocha in Findo Gask near Perth, and St. Maik (Mazota) linked to a well at Drumoak, Aberdeen. They were buried under an oak tree which became a place of pilgrimage for local girls, until the Glamis Kirk stopped the practise in the seventeenth century. They are generally known as the Nine Maidens, and the name was applied to natural features of the area such as hills and wells.

St. Patrick of Ireland

The icon is written by proto-deacon Paul (Hommes) from the Joy of all who Sorrow monastery in Belgium. A rather less ‘glossy’ depiction of St. Patrick than is often seen -whether in western or eastern terms. This seems to well express the pioneering spirit and ardent faith expressed in the writings of the saint and his biography.

Patrick was born in western Britain, somewhere between the mouths of the Severn and the Clyde, and was the son of a town councillor (decurio) and deacon. As a young man he was captured by Irish pirates and became a slave herdsman. As an exile, slave and fugitive he learnt to trust completely in God - making his way back to his family after six years, where he studied for the priesthood. Judging by his Latin, he never became much of an academic, and taught through down to earth means - such as using the shamrock to explain the Trinity. His experience of conditions in Ireland fitted him to become Bishop of Armagh. He retained a sincere simplicity which cut through class barriers and made use of his position to protest against the continued slave trade.

St. Gwynllew (Gundleus)

This icon is an early one by Aidan Hart, whose work will be featured on these pages in greater depth at a later date. Although perhaps not quite as technically accomplished as later work it’s freshness and an appropriate rawly ascetic vigour more than compensates. It expresses well the spirit of asceticism which animated the Christian Celts and became a feature of their spiritual practise, as they migrated west from the Balkans.

Cardinal Newman was one of those who was attracted by the life of Gundleus, and prefaced his biography’ with some useful remarks about how to approach saints around whose lives legends have grown. Gundleus was a king/chieftain in Glamorganshire in the sixth century. One of his sons was St. Cadoc (an abbot) and his aunt was the mother of St. David. He and his wife Glandus had gone to bed one night when they were interrupted by a vision, which told them to ‘slight not their souls,’ and showed Gundleus where he was to build a hermitage.

In the morning Gundleus renounced his crown in favour of his son, built an oratory and hermitage and began a life of asceticism, dressing in haircloth, drinking only water, and eating barley bread mixed with wood ash a s a sign of penitence. At midnight he prefaced Vigils by a cold bath in the river and worked to earn his living during the day. When he received his last communion a host of angels were seen around his resting place and many miraculous healings took place at the site.