The history of Scotland's ‘first’ patron saint, Saint Kessog

We know precious little about Saint Kessog, also known as MacKessog, Kessock or MacKessock, but it was a long-standing tradition in the Celtic Church that he was murdered by pagans on March 10, 520, and that date remains his feast day even now.

As is always the case in the days before any sort of written historical record was made in Scotland, much of what we do know about Kessog is based on oral tradition – which by its nature tends towards the legendary and even the mythical.

There is no doubt, however, that Kessog existed and that he was a Christian missionary mainly in the lands we know as the Lennox, but almost everything else about him must be taken on trust though, as we shall see, there are considerable clues about him scattered around Scotland.

Tradition has it that Kessog was born into a royal family of Munster in Ireland, perhaps the King of Cashel, around the year 460.

One of the myths about him concerns a supposed incident in his childhood. The sons of a number of princes who were visiting the king were drowned in a swimming accident that may well have been caused by Kessog, who was the only survivor.

Nothing daunted, the boy took to his knees and prayed all night, and in the morning the drowned children were restored to life, thereby averting likely wars with the various princes.

He was destined for a holy life, and as a youngster he came under the influence of St Patrick who would then have been in his 70s. Patrick had by then created hundreds of churches and other Christian institutions across Ireland, and is said to have personally baptised 100,000 people.

Patrick sent Kessog to the monastery of another saint, Mo Chaoi, often written as Malachoi, which was located at Nendrum in County Down. Mochaoi, whose real name was Caolan, had been sent by Patrick to found the monastery which lasted until the Vikings sacked it in the 10th century.

Having been ordained a monk and then a bishop, it was decided that Kessog should go to the land of the Scoti, the Irish tribes who had made their home in what is now Argyll, creating a kingdom which is known as Dalriada.

It is not known why Kessog then struck east into the “debatable lands” between the Scots, the Picts and the Britons of the Kingdom of Strathclyde headquartered at Dumbarton. But if he was indeed a disciple of Patrick then there is an obvious connection, for despite all claims to the contrary, the most favoured location for the birth and youth of Patrick is Old Kilpatrick on the River Clyde just 10 miles from Loch Lomond which lay at the heart of the lands of Lennox. Indeed Lennox derives from Levenax, pertaining to the River Leven which courses from Loch Lomond to the River Clyde.

It is not plausible that Patrick decided to send a missionary to an area he would have known well in his childhood?

The Lennox would not become a recognised earldom until many centuries later, but Kessog appears to have become the apostle of the Lennox area, preaching the Christian faith all around Loch Lomond and through into Perthshire and as far north as modern Inverness. If that was the case, then he preached the gospel to the Picts 40 years earlier than Columba.

I wrote earlier about the clues to Kessog and where he worked, and those clues are place names. The saint is said to have founded a monastery on an island in Loch Lomond, Inchtavannach, which means island of the monk’s house. Local tradition has it that Inchtavannach’s highest point Tom nan Clag, the hill of the bell, got its name from Kessog installing a bell on the summit which with he summoned monks and laity to prayer. Certainly there was a bell associated with Kessog as it was listed in the funeral investitures of the Earldom of Perth as late as 1695.

Going north, a hill near the River Teith in Perthshire is known as Tom na Chessaig or Hill of Kessog, and there were mediaeval churches named after Kessog in Auchterarder and Comrie.

South Kessock in Inverness, North Kessock on the Black Isle and the Kessock Bridge on the north side of Inverness are named after him, reflecting the long tradition that the saint preached thereabouts.

Kessog’s successful mission to the people around Loch Lomond angered the local pagans possibly led by druids. They are said to have either killed Kessog themselves or bribed mercenaries to do it.

The place of his martyrdom is traditionally at Bandry Bay near Luss village on the Lochside – well known as the location for Glendarroch in STV’s Take the High Road soap. A cairn of stones marked the site of his death for centuries.

Luss has long been associated with Kessog, as he founded a church there in 510. The church was later named after him and an effigy of the saint dating from before the Reformation can be found in the church.

There is also St Kessog’s RC Church and St Kessog’s Primary School in Balloch at the southern end of Loch Lomond.

So plenty of local Lennox connections to Kessog but was he patron saint of Scotland?

The cult of Andrew developed fairly late in Christian life in Scotland, and it is known that Robert the Bruce, for one, had a particular veneration for Kessog.

The Bruce took refuge at Luss in 1306 and was cared for by a local laird. As king he would later grant a charter to John of Luss “for the reverence and honour of our patron, the most holy man, the blessed Kessog”.

In 1323 the king made the church of Luss and its surroundings a place of sanctuary “to God and the blessed Kessog”, as the charter states.

Scottish soldiers in the War of Independence also shouted the saint’s name as a battle cry, and relics of Kessog were said to have been carried into battle by the Scots.

In one modern respect Kessog is up among the top Scottish saints – along with Andrew, Ninian, Magnus, and Mungo, he has an oil field named after him in the North Sea.