HUMBLE YOURSELVES
It is good for a man that
he bear the yoke in his youth.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when
he is old, he will not depart from it.
We have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us;
and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather
be in subjection unto the FATHER of Spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their
own pleasure; but HE for our profit, that we might be
partakers of HIS Holiness.
Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I have kept
thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted;
that I might learn THY statutes.
I know the thoughts I think towards you, saith the LORD,
thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected
end.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of GOD,
that HE may exalt you in due time.
AMEN and AMEN
<<>><<>><<>>
April 21st - St. Maelrubha
Abbot of Applecross, Isle of Skye, Scotland
(Also known as Ma-Rui, Molroy, Errew, Summaryruff, also Sagart-Ruadh)
This little-known Saint was one of the most active of the numerous Irish
proselytizers who underwent the white martyrdom (self-imposed exile) in
what is
now Scotland. Unfortunately there is no known extant life or hagiography
of this
saint, so details of his life must be gleaned from other sources. There
are
numerous citations of this Saint in various Irish Annals and
Martyrologies.
St. Maelrubha was born near Derry, Ireland in 642. His father was of the
Cenel
nEogain (the clan of Eoghan), making the saint eighth in line of direct
descent
of the famous Niall of the Nine Hostages. According to legend, Niall was
responsible for the abduction of the St. Patrick to Ireland from Britain.
Regardless, this lineage made St. Maelrubha a distant cousin of St.
Columcille.
His mother was of the Cruithne, a Pictish race that settled in the north
of
Ireland, and a niece of St. Comgal of Bangor.
St. Maelrubha entered the monastery at Bangor, Ireland in his youth and
departed
for the land of the Northern Picts in 671. In the Felire of Aengus his
mission
is recorded, "Into Scotland with purity after leaving every happiness went
our
brother Maelrubba". He probably put in initially on the isle of Islay and
worked
his way up the west coast of Scotland over the course of the next two
years. He
eventually settled in Appurcrossan, now known as Applecross, and in 673
St.
Maelrubha established his famous monastery that was his base in converting
the
Picts to Christianity.
If one goes on placename dedications, this athlete for Christ roamed far
and
wide. Sites bearing his name, or some form of his name, range as far north
as
Loch Broom, as far south as Islay, as far west as Harris, and up the Great
Glen
toward Inverness.
From his monastery Maelrubba founded many churches in the glens and
islands of
north-west Scotland, but the Gaelic place names make it difficult to
distinguish
between the dedications to Maelrubba and those to the honour of Our Lady,
the
suffix of endearment Mo or Ma almost always being added to his name. His
name,
shorn of the suffix, means "the red priest". Certainly the chapel on the
island
in Loch Maree, where there is also a spring of water with healing powers,
is one
of his foundations, and the Celtic cross in the churchyard at Kilmory Knap
by
Loch Sween is in his territory. In the Middle Ages the area round his
abbey at
Applecross was privileged, and even now the parish in Gaelic is
A'Chromraich,
The Sanctuary.
St. Maelrubha fell asleep in the Lord in the year 722 at the advanced age
of
eighty, and although the Irish traditions are that he died of old age, the
Scottish assert that he was killed by the Danes, the Black Gentiles. In
the
Aberdeen Breviary the legend says that he died at Urquart in the Black
Isle, on
the eastern side of the county of Ross and Cromerty, and for three days he
lay
severely wounded comforted by angels. A bright light hovering over the
dying
saint attracted a priest, who was able to give him the viati***, and later
a
church was built over the place. His body was buried in his church at
Applecross, and a carved stone marks the site of his grave.
Due to the proximity of Applecross to the Isle of Skye and his numerous
works on
the island, St. Maelrubha is considered to be the patron saint of the
southern
and central ****tions of the island (St. Columcille has the upper ****tion).
On
his journeys to the island from Applecross, St. Maelrubha most likely put
in at
Ashaig in the Strath district. This location is considered to be one of
the
earliest Christian sites on the island and there is a stone-covered well
bearing
his name, Tobar na Marui, at the site.
According to accounts, in his advanced years St. Maelrubha tried to rise
from
sitting one day by grabbing ahold of a branch of an ash tree. While
rising, the
tree was uprooted and a spring gushed forth and the water from this spring
possessed healing powers. Another tree stood close to the well upon which
the
Saint would hang a bronze bell to gather the faithful. As with the well,
the
bell possessed miraculous powers in that it would ring of its own accord
when
the Saint was preparing to speak. It was also at that location that the
Saint
would mount the Rock of the Book, Creag naLeabhair, known today as the
Pulpit
Rock. There is another healing spring associated with this Saint on an
island in
the Loch Maree (Maree is the anglicization of the Scots' Gaelic Maoil
Ruibhe, of
Maelrubha).
There is another location farther down the Strath district on Skye, on the
Strathaird peninsula, that bears the Saint's name. This site is known as
Kilmarie (again, an anglicization of the Scots Gaelic.) All that remains
of the
site today is a small enclosed burial ground. Nearby is a cave where,
according
to local accounts, St. Maelrubha would preach to the faithful in inclement
weather. Finally, there is also a small loch close to the Kilmarie where
the
Saint was said to have subdued a creature like that of the Loch Ness (cf.
Vita
Columbae by Adam, book 2, section 27
http://www.usu.edu/~history/norm/columb~1.htm
).
Following the Saint's repose, the land for six miles around his monastery
was
considered sacred and protected. Today the land is called in Gaelic
A'Chomraich,
The Sanctuary. The staff of the Saint was believed to have existed at
Kilvary in
Argyll. Guarding this staff was the duty of the Dewars of Scotland.
Unfortunately, the staff disappeared around the time of the Reformation in
Scotland.
This Life kindly supplied by Maelrubha Donley
o Site of Saint Maelrubha's church
http://www.cushnieent.force9.co.uk/photogallery1.html
These Lives are archived at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints
Saint Quote:
Woe to me if I should prove myself but a halfhearted soldier in the
service of
my thorn-crowned Captain.
-Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen
Bible Quote
11 And they offer holocausts to the Lord, every day, morning and evening,
and
incense made according to the ordinance of the law, and the leaves are set
forth
on a most clean table, and there is with us the golden candlestick, and
the
lamps thereof, to be lighted always in the evening: for we keep the
precepts of
the Lord our God, whom you have forsaken. (2 Paralipomenon 13:11)
<><><><>
An act of love, to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament (with
Psalm passages):
Good Jesus, I love Thee. I love Thee with my whole heart
and above all things. Thou knowest that I love Thee, but I
wish to love Thee daily more and more, and to do what is
most pleasing to Thee.
"My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God...For
the sparrow hath found herself a house and the turtle a nest
for herself...Thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my
God," there Thou dost bid me peace in Thy Body and Blood.
"What have I in heaven? And besides Thee what do I desire
upon earth? Thou art the God of my heart, and the God that
is my ****tion forever..."
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