At Corgarff, in Strathdon, is another spring known as Tobar Mhachar (the well of St. Machar); miracles were formerly obtained there. Of this spring the legend is related of a priest, in time of famine, drawing from it three fine salmon which lasted him for food till supplies came from other quarters.
St. Machar's feast was restored to Scotland by Pope Leo XIII. in 1898.
13—St. Devenick, about the 6th century.
Tradition tells that this saint was a contemporary of the former, and preached the Gospel in Caithness. A legend relates that his body was borne for burial to Banchory Devenick, in Kincardineshire, in accordance with his continually expressed desire to rest in the district of St. Machar, whom he had tenderly loved during life. A church was afterwards built over his relics, and named after him.
Criech, in Sutherlandshire, was probably another of his churches, if he is the saint known there as St. Teavneach. Besides a fair of great antiquity, known as "Dennick's", held at Milton of Glenesk, Forfarshire, another at {165} Methlick, Aberdeenshire, held in November about this date, bore the same name; this implies that the respective churches are dedicated to him, as fairs bearing saints names had their origin in all instances in the concourse of people assembled for the celebration of the patronal feast of a church. St. Devenick's Well is near Methlick church.
15—St. Machutus, or Malo, Bishop, A.D. 565.
The Aberdeen Breviary gives on this day the feast of the British saint who became one of the apostles of Brittany and is commemorated there by the town of St. Malo.
There is no record of this saint's residence in Scotland, but his cultus flourished there, possibly on account of his connection with St. Brendan (see May 16). Lesmahago, the site of a Benedictine monastery, takes its name from him, the title being a corrupt form of Ecclesia Sti. Machuti (Church of St. Machutus). Wigtown church, also, was dedicated to this saint.
16—St. Margaret, Queen, A.D. 1093.
It is impossible here to say much in detail of {166} the life of the saintly queen who is regarded as one of the heavenly patrons of the Kingdom of Scotland; but to omit all notice of her would make our calendar incomplete. It will be sufficient to note briefly the chief events of her life. St. Margaret was granddaughter to Edmund Ironside. Her father, Edward, having to fly for his life to Hungary, married Agatha, the sister-in-law of the king. Three children were born to them. When Edward the Confessor ascended the English throne, Prince Edward returned with his family to his native land, but died a few years after. When William the Conqueror obtained the crown, Edgar, the son of Edward, thought it more prudent to retire from England, and took refuge with his mother and sisters at the court of Malcolm III. of Scotland, having been driven on the Scottish coast by a tempest. Malcolm, attracted by the virtue and beauty of Margaret, made her his bride, and for the thirty years she reigned in Scotland she was a model queen. The historian Dr. Skene says of her: "There is perhaps no more beautiful character recorded in history than that of {167} Margaret. For purity of motives, for an earnest desire to benefit the people among whom her lot was cast, for a deep sense of religion and great personal piety, for the unselfish performance of whatever duty lay before her, and for entire self-abnegation she is unsurpassed, and the chroniclers of the time all bear witness to her exalted character." Her solicitude for the nation was truly maternal. She set herself to combat, with zeal and energy, the abuses which had crept into the practice of religion, taking a prominent part—with her royal husband as the interpreter of her southern speech—in many councils summoned at her instigation. She loved and befriended clergy and monks, and was lavish in her charity to the poor. Her own children, through her training and example, were one and all distinguished for piety and virtue. Her three sons, Edgar, Alexander and David, were remarkable for their unparalleled purity of life: David's two grandsons, Malcolm IV. and William, and William's son and grandson, Alexander II. and III., were noble Catholic kings. Thus did the influence of this saintly queen extend {168} over the space of two hundred years and form monarchs of extraordinary excellence to rule Scotland wisely and well.