Fillan |
According to a legendary account found in the writings of Hector Boece, Maurice brought to the battlefield the silver reliquary known to contain the left arm-bone of St Fillan, but for safety left the actual arm of the saint in the monastery.
See also Historical Notices of St Fillan's Crozier, by Dr John Stuart (Aberdeen, 1877).
St. Fillan was credited with powers such as the healing of the sick and also possessed a luminous glow from his left arm which he used to study and write Sacred Scriptures in the dark.
He is supposed to have lived in what is now called St Fillan's Cave, situated in Cove Wynd, Pittenweem, which is open to the public.
A number of parishes pre-date St Mary's (St Mary's, Greenock, and St Mirin, Paisley; both 1808, St Patrick, Dumbarton, 1830, St Margaret, Airdrie, 1836; St. John, Barrhead, St Mary, Duntocher, and St Fillan, Houston; all 1841), but of all of these only Saint Margaret's, Airdrie, still has the original church (opened 1836).