Saint Machar died in 600 AD. (C.E. – Christian Era). He was the son of Fiachna, an Ulster Prince. Machar was baptised by St Colman of Kilmacduagh, and was then given the baptism name of Mochumma, a name which has a sense of endearment about it.
St. Machar is said to have cured seven lepers and to have turned a fierce wild boar into stone. Columba determined that Mochumma should be sent away to do mission in eastern Scotland among the Picts. The ‘’Seanchaí’’, pronounced Shankey, (Ancient Celtic folklore-tellers) relate that St Columba gave Mochumma instructions to search for a place where a river formed the shape of a “crosier” and establish himself there. The site of the present St. Machar’s Cathedral, in Aberdeen, is an uncanny fit to Colum Cille’s instructions. St. Ternan (a disciple of St. Ninian) had already established Christianity in this area in the fifth century, and the further missionary efforts of St. Machar in Aberdeenshire cemented Christianity successfully. St. Machar being Irish, would have founded a monastery, according to the Celtic traditions, and was the abbot, with equal prestige and authority to a bishop. This monastic site would later become the Cathedral site of St. Machar.
Let us fast forwarding into medieval and then also relatively recent history… Shortly after Scotland’s war of independence, the construction and progress of the Cathedral was continued under among others Bishop Alexander Kinnimund (1355-80) and Bishop William Elphinstone (1431-1514). In his lifetime the cathedral was enlarged. The nave and towers on the west, now form the modern church. To the east of the nave, there was a crossing which had one large central tower. There was also a choir to its east and transepts pointing north and south. In 1520 a ceiling of panelled oak bearing 48 heraldic shields was commissioned by Bishop Gavin Dunbar (1518-1532).
Sadly, with the advent of more recent history, General Monck led Cromwell’s troops into Aberdeen in 1654. Looking for material for his fort he removed the stones from the now empty and destroyed bishop’s palace to the east, and from the disused choir space… Enough said!
St. Machar is celebrated in the Scottish liturgical calendar on the 13th November
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