St. Pachomius Library

St. Ninian, Enlightener of the Picts

Also spelled NYNIA and NINIAVOS; Scots RINGAN or RINGO
IV/V Centuries
Ninian lived at a time when monasticism was sweeping the Roman Empire and attracting many of the most serious Christians. He settled in what is now southwestern Scotland; in the IV Century, "Alba", the country north of Hadrian's Wall, was an ethnically and culturally heterogeneous territory inhabited by non-Indo-European Picts, Q-Celtic-speaking "Scots" from Ireland, P-Celtic-speaking North Britons, Latin-speaking Romans, and possibly the first waves of English-speaking Saxons.
St. Ninian built a monastery at Casa Candida (known since the early Middle Ages by the Old English equivalent "Whithorn"). Besides pursuing the ascetic life, he and his brethren attempted to revive the faltering Romano-British churches of the North, and reached out to the pagans as well, especially it would seem to the Picts. The extremely ancient Pictish Orthodox churches dedicated to St. Ninian or to St. Martin of Tours, the patron saint of the Whithorn community and Ninian's role model, in places as remote as the Orkneys and Shetland attest that this missionary outreach must have been both rapid and amazingly extensive.
After St. Ninian's repose, Whithorn continued for centuries as one of the most important monastic and educational centres of Orthodox Alba. During the period of Anglo-Saxon rule, St. Bede's mention of Ninian in the Ecclesiastical History made the saint famous all over Europe, and his relics were one of the three chief objects of pilgrimage in mediæval Scotland. (Unfortunately, they were destroyed by the Calvinists.)
Norman Hugh Redington

ABOUT:
- St. Ninian and Early Christianity in Whithorn. --- Royal Burgh of Whithorn
- St. Ninian Sites. A list of places associated with St. Ninian, mainly ancient church dedications. --- Whithorn Trust
- Ailred of Rievaux: Life of St. Ninian: Ailred was not Orthodox, and his XII Century life of St. Ninian, although based on extensive research including sources no longer available, must be read with some caution. It was written to make specific political and religious points at a time when control of Whithorn Abbey was an important strategic objective in the struggle to unite Scotland politically and religiously. Ailred, a Cistercian, supported the central authority of both the Roman Church and the royal house of Malcolm against the Lords of Galloway, who wanted to maintain their independence and were invoking the ancient religious traditions of the Southwest as proof of their right to autonomy. --- British Orth. Church
- James Kiefer: Ninian of Galloway. Essentially an Anglican lectionary entry, but makes an interesting case that Casa Candida was named for St. Martin's monastery in Gaul. --- Lectionary Page
- Rev. J. A. Wylie: History of the Scottish Nation. Opinionated (Presbyterian fundamentalist) 1896 book with some interesting material, along with much that is offensive, highly speculative, or just factually incorrect. The Ninian part is Volume 2, chapters 4-7. [Read with extreme caution] --- Electric Scotland
NINIAN AND PLEBIAS: According to Ailred, St. Ninian had an associate named Plebias. In the XII Century Celtic tall-tale Culhwch and Olwen, an exaggerated Arthurian romance or parody thereof included in the Mabinogion, two Pictish chiefs named Ninian and Pebian are transformed into fantastical oxen for their sins; the question of whether this is a satirical reference to Whithorn has been much debated.
PLACES:
- St. Ninian's Cave: Where the saint withdrew to pray.

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