St Cathan's Chapel With Music On Visit To Isle Of Gigha Off The West Coast Of Kintyre Scotland

Tour Scotland 4K travel video, with Scottish music, of St Cathan's Chapel and graveyard on ancestry, genealogy, family history to the Isle of Gigha off the West Coast Of Kintyre. The surviving structure dates from the 13th century, but there is likely to have been a much older Christian presence, especially with the Kil or cille element which denotes a hermit’s cell. Saint Cathan, also known as Catan, Cattan, etc., was a 6th century Irish monk revered as a saint in parts of the Scottish Hebrides. He appears in the Aberdeen Breviary, Walter Bower's Scotichronicon, and the Acta Sanctorum, and a number of placenames in western Scotland are associated with him. He is said to have been one of the first Irish missionaries to come to the Isle of Bute, then part of the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata. Very little is known of him; he is generally only mentioned in connection with his more famous nephew Saint Blane, who was born on Bute and later proselytized among the Picts. Both saints were strongly associated with Bute and with Kingarth monastery, which became the center of their cults. A number of churches were dedicated to Cathan across Scotland's western islands. Tobar Chattan, or Cathan's Well, at Little Kilchattan on Bute may represent the site of Cathan's original church. Other churches, now in ruins, include St Cathan's Chapel on Colonsay, Kilchattan Chapel on Gigha, and Kilchattan Church on Luing. The Luing church served the historical Kilchattan parish; the modern Kilchattan Church was built at Achafolla in 1936. Cathan is said to have lived for a time at the monastery at Stornoway on the isle of Lewis, and his relics are said to have been housed at a chapel founded by Clan MacLeod on the same island. His name may be further connected to the Chattan Confederation, a coalition of Scottish clans. His feast day is 17 May.. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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