St. Kennocha

Kennocha lived in Scotland in the reign of King Malcolm II.

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March 13 · Virgin

St. Kennocha

St. Kennocha

Kennocha lived in Scotland in the reign of King Malcolm II.

Traditional feast

March 13
1914 / pre-1969 calendar, per Baring-Gould (1897)

Current feast

March 13 (also listed: March 25)
Secondary source · Wikipedia

Represents

Virgin

Their story

Adapted in modern English from Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints · Baring-Gould original below · little is known

Kennocha lived in Scotland in the reign of King Malcolm II. Though she was an only daughter and heiress of a rich, noble family, she turned away all suitors and, while still young, made her religious profession in a great nunnery in Fife.

There she grew in poverty, mortification and prayer, worked several miracles and died in a good old age in 1007. Several Scottish churches bore her name, among them St Kennoch's Kirk near Glasgow and Kyle, where her relics were kept.

Early life

Selected sentences from the original account, unaltered.

Thin entry · the 1897 book gives only 68 words. We have not filled the gap with invented detail.

On March 13th, the Ancient Scottish Church commemorated S. Kennocha, a virgin, who, desirous of consecrating herself wholly to Jesus Christ, met with long and vehement opposition from her parents and friends, and underwent from them great hardships and persecution, without shaking her constancy.

What they represent

How they teach us to live

Drawn from themes in the original account

Stay faithful when it costs you. This account is about holding firm under pressure.

Keep their day. Remember them on March 13 with a short prayer, and ask for their help.

Read more

The full original · 68 words

Read Baring-Gould’s full account

Baring-Gould’s sources: Aberdeen Breviary. Authority:—The same.

On March 13th, the Ancient Scottish Church commemorated S. Kennocha, a virgin, who, desirous of consecrating herself wholly to Jesus Christ, met with long and vehement opposition from her parents and friends, and underwent from them great hardships and persecution, without shaking her constancy. She led a life as a solitary of great severity, and attained a good old age. She was buried in the church of Kyle.

Feast days

Feast: March 13

Nine days · Free

Pray the novena
with us.

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

Also on March 13
St. Euphrasia

St. Euphrasia

March 13 · Virgin
M

St. Mochoemog of Liathmor

March 13 · Abbot
N

St. Nicephorus of…

March 13 · Patriarch
← All 1726 saints in the library
Sources & notes

Feast-day sources

Story sources

Sources

Credits

Image: Saints Medana, Andrew, and Kennocha by Karl Parsons 1910.jpg · Karl Parsons · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.

Image: Karl Parsons, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

From Sabine Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, new edition in 16 vols. (London: John C. Nimmo, 1897), digitized text from Project Gutenberg. 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.