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A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

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December 16 · Bishop

St. Bean of Mortlach

St. Bean of Mortlach

A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Traditional feast

December 16
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

Not verified yet

Represents

Bishop

Early life

The book says little or nothing about early life. This is how the account begins.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 0 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Learn from the kind of life it was. A shepherd who stayed with his people through hard times.

Keep their day. Remember them on December 16 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 0 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman Martyrology. Dempster’s Scottish Menology. Irish Kalendars.] Fordun, in his Scotichronicon, says that S. Bean, first bishop of Mortlach, in Banff, was made bishop by Pope Benedict VIII. Near Mortlach is shown his dwelling. Another S. Bean, bishop, is commemorated on October 26. The Breviary of Aberdeen gives no details of his life. He is probably the same as S. Beoan of Tamlacht-Menan, and is not to be confounded with S. Bean of Mortlach. The Roman Martyrology has made a mistake about the bishop of Mortlach, in placing him at Aberdeen and in Ireland. lDec 17.

Feast days

Feast: December 16

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

One short email a day for nine days. The day's prayer, a line from St. Bean of Mortlach's story, and a nudge to keep going.

Also on December 16
V

Sts. Virgins

December 16 · Martyrs
A

St. Ado of Vienne

December 16 · Bishop
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Sources

Credits

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain.

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897–98); text from the Internet Archive scan (OCR, lightly cleaned; errors possible). Public domain in the United States. Reproduced unedited, except for short bracketed notes in grey that we added to explain names and terms (“S.” is the old abbreviation for Saint). Some history and judgments reflect 19th-century scholarship.