Dedications to Saints in Medieval Scotland

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ST/JD/41

Ninian

Gender
Male
Floruit (period)
Early Christian
Floruit date range
? - ?
Description
Ninian, supposedly lived in the 5th--6th centuries. He is commemorated as a missionary and bishop, and is credited with building Candida Casa at Whithorn, in south-west Scotland, where he was buried. The life and career of the real St Ninian is obscure. He is the subject of a 12th-cent. Life by Aelred of Rievaulx.There are, however, much earlier works, the 8th-cent. Miracula Nynie episcopi and Bede's Historia ecclesiastica, which give details about the saint's career. It has recently been argued that Ninian is, in fact, Uinniau, otherwise known from the letters of St Columbanus and a penitential attributed to him. See T.O. Clancy, 'The Real St Ninian', Innes Review 52 (2001), 1--28.
Categories
major type minor type confidence notes
Confessor Bishop 100 None
ethnicity
ethnicity description confidence notes
Brittonic North British, Welsh, Cornish, Breton 100 None
feast days
month day fixed? description notes
9 16 yes Ninian, Bishop and Confessor None
symbolic attributes
attribute notes
no attributes given
specialist associations
association notes
no specialist associations