St. Margaret died on the 16th of November at the age of forty-seven. Her body was buried with that of King Malcolm, who had been killed in battle only four days before her own death, in the church they had founded at Dunfermline. At the Reformation her relics were secretly carried into Spain, together with the remains of her husband, and placed in the Escurial. Her head, with a quantity of her long, fair hair, was preserved for a time by the Scottish Jesuits at Douai. The sacred relics disappeared in the French Revolution. Fairs on the saint's feast-day, known as "Margaretmas," were held at Wick, Closeburn (Dumfries shire) and Balquhapple (now Thornhill) in Kincardineshire. St. Margaret's Well at Restalrig near Edinburgh, was once covered by a graceful Gothic building, whose groined roof rested on a central pillar; steps led down to the level of the water. It is thought to have been erected at the same period as that covering St. Triduana's Well in the same place. {169}
When the North British Railway required the spot for the building of storehouses, the well-house was removed to Queen's Park, where it still stands, but the spring has disappeared (see October 8th). Innocent XII. at the petition of James VII. (and II.) in 1693, placed St. Margaret's feast on June 10th, the birthday of the King's son James (stigmatised the "Old Pretender"), but Leo XIII., in 1898, restored it for the Scottish calendar to the day of her death.
18—St. Fergus, Bishop, 8th century.
This saint, a Pict by nationality, is said to have been for many years a bishop in Ireland. Moved by a desire to benefit the pagans of the northern districts of Scotland, he left Ireland and returned to his own land, accompanied by a few priests and clerics, and settled in Strathearn. Here he founded three churches, which he dedicated to St. Patrick. Passing north wards he visited Caithness, and after preaching the Gospel there for some time he travelled to Buchan, where he built a church at Lungley, a place afterwards known as St. Fergus. Finally {170} he moved on to Glamis, in Forfarshire, where he founded another church, and it was here that he ended his life and was buried.
Several dedications to this saint are to be found in the northern and eastern parts of Scotland. The churches of Wick and Halkirk, in Caithness; Dyce and St. Fergus, in Aberdeenshire; and his well, called "Fergan Well," at Kirkmichael, in Banffshire, famous for its miraculous efficacy in curing skin diseases: all these bear witness to the devotion borne towards St. Fergus by Scottish Catholics in past ages. An annual fair was held at Glamis on his feast-day (known as "Fergusmas"), and continued for five days. Another fair took place at Wick.
Other proofs of his connection with Scotland are seen in the traces of the three churches founded by the saint in Strathearn: Strogeth-St.-Patrick, Blackford-St.-Patrick, and Dolpatrick.
The head of St. Fergus was venerated in the Abbey of Scone, where James IV. provided a silver reliquary for it. His arm was preserved at Aberdeen, in the old cathedral. {171}
The pastoral staff of the saint, long treasured at St. Fergus, in Buchan, is said to have calmed a storm on that coast. No traces now remain of it.
An ancient image of St. Fergus existed at Wick until 1613, when it was destroyed by a minister, who was drowned by the indignant people for his action. The saint's holy well was honoured there. He is thought to be the same "Fergus, the Pict, Bishop of the Scots," who took part in a Synod in St. Peter's at Rome under Pope Gregory II. in A.D. 721.
Pope Leo XIII. restored the feast of St. Fergus in 1898.