September 15 is the commemoration of Saint Mirren (Mirin, Mirinus, Meadhran), to whom Paisley Abbey in Scotland is dedicated. I have previously posted the account from Bishop Alexander Forbes's 1872 work, Scottish Kalendars, here but we revisit the saint today in the company of Canon O'Hanlon. September 15 in Volume IX of his Lives of the Irish Saints opens with an account of Saint Mirren as the lead article for the day. In a footnote we learn that Canon O'Hanlon visited the site of Paisley Abbey in 1874 and made one of his splendid sketches. In the Abbey's dedication Saint Mirren shared the honours with a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon abbess, Saint Milburga, as well as with Saint James and the Blessed Virgin. Our knowledge of Saint Mirren is derived from the Lessons for his Feast as preserved in the Aberdeen Breviary of 1510. It depicts him as a disciple of Saint Comgall of Bangor, who worked a number of miracles at Bangor, where he was elected as prior, before going to Scotland. The editor of the 2012 edition of the Aberdeen Breviary, Alan Macquarrie, makes the point that the Irish vitae of Saint Comgall do not allude to any relationship with Mirren. The miracles attributed to Saint Mirren in the Breviary are also found in the Lives of Comgall but without reference to Mirren. Lesson Three in the office of Saint Comgall in the Breviary, however, upholds the idea that the pair were teacher and pupil as it says that 'St Mirren was sent to him by his noble parents to be nurtured'. Modern consensus seems to be that there is no compelling reason to challenge the idea that Saint Mirren may have undertaken his Scottish mission under the auspices of Bangor as did Saint Maelrubha, who was also a monk from Saint Comgall's famous foundation. Canon O'Hanlon's account ends with a gazetteer of place names associated with Saint Mirren, but here modern scholarship is less confident about some of these identifications. Dr Macquarrie notes:
Some places have been doubtfully connected with him: Forbes mentions 'St Mirren's Chapel' at Kilmarnock in Lennox and St Mirren's Well at Kilsyth. In fact the name Kilmaronock Cill mo Rónóic, from Rónán .. is unconnected with Mirren. It is sometimes said that Inchmurrin in Loch Lomond contains his name; but it is more likely that this is from the female name Muirenn.Alan Macquarrie, ed., Legends of Scottish Saints: Readings, hymns and prayers for the commemorations of Scottish saints in the Aberdeen Breviary (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012), p. 393.
So, below is Canon O'Hanlon's account from the 1870s of both Saint Mirren and the history of the Abbey at Paisley which once held his tomb. Since the Lessons found in the Office for the feast day of Saint Mirren are our sole source of information, I have also appended a nineteenth-century translation of these from another contemporary source:
ARTICLE I.—ST. MIRINUS OR MEADHRAN, PATRON OF PAISLEY, SCOTLAND.
[SIXTH CENTURY.)
ALTHOUGH chiefly venerated in Scotland, St. Mirinus—also called Meadhran—seems to have been born in Ireland. Whatever is related regarding him, we find chiefly contained in the Breviary of Aberdeen, where there is an Office of Five Lessons for St. Mirinus; all of which seems to have been taken from the Life of St. Comgall, Abbot of Bangor, in Ireland. At an early age, his parents entrusted their son to the care of St. Comgall, to be trained in his school. In Bangor Monastery he assumed the religious habit, and subsequently he there became prior. The gentleness of his rule was admired by all, and he was especially loved by the monks over whom he presided. When St. Finian, Abbot of Maghbile, came to visit Bangor during the absence of St. Comgall, he asked for milk, which was not to be had, as the strict observance of the monastery required the inmates to live only on bread and herbs. However, Merinus desired the cellarer to bring from the buttery some milk, which was miraculously procured and distributed, through favour of St. Finian, to the other monks at table. On a certain occasion, one of the brethren saw Merinus surrounded with a heavenly light, while sitting in his cell. At length, St. Mirinus left Ireland in order to spread the faith in Scotland, then newly evangelized by the great St. Columkille, Abbot of Iona. The chief establishment of Mirin was at Passelet—now Paisley—one of the most busy commercial towns of Scotland. Here tradition states, that he built a religious house. Besides, St. Mirin is said to have been Abbot over the Monastery in Paisley. Here, too, he lived for a very considerable time. It is related, that one of his monks, owing to hunger and thirst, had fallen dead in a valley, called Colpdasch. However, through the merits of holy Merin, he was again restored to life. Having wrought many miracles, and having passed a life of great holiness, he slept in the Lord at Paisley. There, too, in his honour the church of that place was dedicated to God, and he is the recognised local patron.
At the 15th of September, the Martyrology of Aberdeen enters a festival for St. Mirin, Bishop and Confessor, at Paisley, in Scotland. Adam King’s Kalendar has. a notice of St. Mirine, at the 15th of September. In his “Menologium Scoticum,” Thomas Dempster records him at the same date. The memory of St. Merinus, Abbot, is recorded in two late Manuscript Catalogues of Irish Saints, as the Bollandists remark; besides, in Greven’s additions to the Martyrology, he is called a bishop in Scotia, while Ferrarius sets him down as an Abbot. The Bollandists notice this festival of St. Merinus or Mirinus, Abbot of Paisley, at the 15th day of September.
When the Rule of Cluny had been introduced from Wenlock in Shropshire, England, after a temporary resting place at Renfrew, the Abbey of Paisley was founded for monks of the Cluniac Order, about 1163, by Walter, High Steward of Scotland. Finding a church at Paisley already dedicated to St. Mirren or Mirinus, they combined his name with the titles of St. James and of their patroness of Wenlock, St. Milburga, when their own church and monastery were dedicated. At first, Paisley was only a Priory; but, in 1216, a Bull of Pope Honorius III. detached it from Wenlock, and had it constituted an Abbacy. The buildings then existing were burned by the English, in 1307, during the War of Independence, and the monastery seems to have been almost entirely destroyed.
In 1406, Robert III., King of Scotland, was interred in Paisley Abbey. Little seems to have been done towards a restoration of the building, until the Abbot Thomas Tervas, who died a.D. 1459, commenced the good work, which was completed by his successor, the Abbot George Shaw. He ruled from 1472 to 1499. During the troublous times of the Reformation in Scotland, the last Abbot, John Hamilton, had ceased to exercise jurisdiction in 1545; yet, by consent of Queen Mary, he retained the abbacy in trust for his nephew, Lord Claud Hamilton. However, in the year 1557, a body of the Reformers attacked the abbey, drove the monks out of the building, and “burnt all the ymages and ydols and popish stuff in the same.” Having been present in the Queen’s interest, at the battle of Langside, 13th May, 1568, John Hamilton attended her during her flight to England, so far as the Solway. Afterwards he was declared a traitor by Regent Murray. On the 2nd of April, 1571, he was captured in the Castle of Dumbarton. His possessions were forfeited, and the abbey lands of Paisley were bestowed on William Lord Sempil. Since that period, the glorious Abbey Church of Paisley has become a venerable ruin, the traces of which reveal to the beholder its former magnificence. When entire, it consisted of a nave, choir, and north transept. The chapel of St. Mirren and St. Columba occupies the place where the south transept should have been. The total outside length of the building, in its perfect state, had been 265 feet. The chapel of St. Mirran and St. Columba, better known as the “Sounding Aisle,” is on the south side, and on the site of the south transept. The nave is the only part now roofed, and it is still used as the Presbyterian church for Abbey Parish. The chapel of St. Mirren, or “the sounding aisle,” was erected about the end of the fifteenth century.
In Scotland are various localities, associated with the name of this saint. Thus, in the south-east boundary of the parish of Kelton in Kirkcudbright is Kirk Mirren, where the vestige of an ancient chapel and churchyard may be found. In the parish of Kilmarnock is St. Mirren’s ruined Chapel upon Inch Murryn, the largest Island of romantic Loch Lomond. Owing to the name and to the patron, some former connexion with the Abbey of Paisley may be traced. In Kilsyth, on the south of Woodend, there is a remarkable spring called St. Mirrin’s Well. In the parish of Coylton, there is a farm called Knock Murran. On the south side of the North Esk is the Burn of Murran. There are no distinct traces of this Saint’s memory anywhere on the east coast of Scotland.
Rev John O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints: with special festivals, and the
commemorations of holy persons, compiled from calendars, martyrologies,
and various sources, relating to the ancient church history of Ireland, Volume IX, (Dublin, n.d.), 377-381.
APPENDIX: THE OFFICE FOR SAINT MIRREN FROM THE ABERDEEN BREVIARY
Note: This author has rendered the name of the saint as Mirin and that of Comgall as Congal, which is the practice in Scotland.
The following is the complete office in the Breviary of Aberdeen for St. Mirin's day :—
PRAYER.
Oh God who art merciful in Thy nature, and the ruler of our desires : graciously hear the prayers of Thy suppliants, that by the intercession of Thy blessed Pontiff Mirin we may be enabled to obtain the remission of our sins: through Jesus Christ our Lord.
FIRST LESSON.
Mirin, the bishop, was entrusted by his parents, at an early age, through the Divine inspiration, to St. Congal, to be brought up in the Monastery of Bangor: not only that he might instruct him in all polite learning*, but that he might likewise carefully train him in all knowledge of holiness, humility, chastity, and other virtues. Mirin committed the precepts of eternal life and all pertaining to salvation to a retentive memory with all the ardour of his soul.
[* Literally, " that he might teach him in the perfection of letters."]
SECOND LESSON.
With increasing years, deeming his ancestral halls, riches, landed possessions, and other earthly goods fleeting and delusive, he resolved to carry the yoke of the Lord from his youth, and asked and received the habit of Holy Religion from St. Congal in the Monastery of Bangor. Not long afterwards, the office of Prior of the Monastery having become vacant, he was elected Prior, against his will, by Congal and his brethren. Having entered upon the duties of his office, he reproved the Brethren more from a cordial love of charity than indiscreet zeal, and the one whom he outwardly chastised he inwardly loved.
THIRD LESSON.
On a certain occasion, Finian, Bishop of Moville, a man of great sanctity, came on a friendly visit to the Monastery of Bangor during the absence of St. Congal, and was kindly received by blessed Mirin, the prior, of whom, on account of delicate health, he asked a drink of milk. Now, there was no milk in the Monastery, but the cellarer, by order of the blessed Mirin, going into the cellar, found a dish filled with the best of milk, which having brought, at a nod from him, he presented to blessed Finian. Thereafter, he kindly sent it round the company, sitting according to their rank.
FOURTH LESSON.
Mirin afterwards proceeded to the camp of a certain king of Ireland, for the purpose of establishing the Catholic faith upon a firmer footing, where, the wife of the king at the time being near her confinement, was sorely distressed by various pains and sufferings. The king having heard of Mirin's arrival, would not permit him to enter his camp; but, [on the contrary,] treated him with utter contempt; which the blessed Mirin perceiving, he prayed God that that accursed king might feel the pains and pangs of the suffering wife, which immediately happened, as he had besought the Lord ; so that for three days and as many nights he ceased not to shout* before all the chiefs of his kingdom. But the king seeing himself so ignominiously humbled by God, and that no remedy was of any avail, sought Mirin's lodging, and most willingly granted all that he had previously desired. Then blessed Mirin by his holy prayers freed the king entirely from his pains.
[* With pain (to howl).]
FIFTH LESSON.
On a certain occasion the blessed Mirin remaining in his cell past the usual time, the brother who waited upon him went to ascertain the cause of the delay. On approaching the cell he instantly stood in rapt amazement, for through the chinks and fissures he beheld a celestial splendour. That night the blessed Mirin did not join the brethren at the psalmody in the church according to their wont. But understanding by Divine inspiration that the brother had been witness to such stupendous wonders, he took him apart in the morning, and charged him to tell no one during his life what he had seen on the previous night, and that in the meantime he should not presume to approach his cell.
SIXTH LESSON.
On another occasion likewise, whilst the brethren of St. Mirin were at work near the valley of Colpdasch, one of them quite overpowered by fatigue and thirst, falling down upon the ground, expired, and lay lifeless from noon till none [i.e, 12—3 P.M.]. But blessed Mirin was very much grieved that the Brother should have been removed by such an untoward and sudden death. He besought the Lord, and immediately the dead man was restored to his former life. At length, full of sanctity and miracles, he slept in the Lord at Paisley. The Church there is dedicated to God, under his invocation.*
[*The last sentence is literally, in cujus honore, &c., " in whose honour the said Church is dedicated to God," &c.]
Rev. J. Cameron Lees, The abbey of Paisley, from its foundation till its dissolution: with notices of the subsequent history of the church and an appendix of illustrative documents (Paisley, 1878), 42-44.
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