Their story
When the Danes raided the coast of Scotland in the ninth century, Adrian, bishop of Saint Andrews, often softened their fury and converted several of them. During one cruel invasion he withdrew to the Isle of May in the bay of the river Forth. The raiders found him there and killed him, with another bishop named Stalbrand and many others. The Aberdeen Breviary (the book of the Church's daily prayer) puts the dead at six thousand six hundred.
A great monastery of polished stone was later built in his honour on the island, and its church, which held his relics, drew many pilgrims. Butler gives 874, in the reign of Constantine II; Baring-Gould, the text on this page, gives about 870. The sources differ.
