Baring-Gould’s sources: Roman, Scottish, and frish Martyrologies. Authorities: — A Life by S..^Elred of Rievaulx; Bede, Hist. Eccl. iii. 4; an Irish Life and a metrical Life by Barbour, in the University Library of Cambridge.] Bede says: — “ The Southern Piets, who dwelt on this side of these mountains, had long before, as it is reported, forsaken the errors of idolatry, and embraced the truth by the preaching of Nynias, a most reverend bishop and holy man of the British nation, who had been regularly instructed at Rome in the faith and mysteries of the truth; whose episcopal see, named after S. Martin the bishop, and famous for a stately church, wherein he and many other saints rest as to their bodies, is still existent among the English nation. The place belongs to the Bernicians, and is generally called Candida Casa, because he there built a church of stone, which was not usual among the Britons.
The Irish Martyrologies supply the next authentic records of S. Ninian, whom they call Monenn (i.e., Nenn, with an honorary prefix) of Cluain Conaire, in the county of Kildare../Engus the Culdee gives: — Moinend the shout of every mouth.
He is spoken of as Abbot of Rosnat, and S. Tigernach of Clones is said to have been his disciple. Rosnat is probably Candida Casa or Whithern, for in the life of S. Tigernach that saint is said to have studied under S. Ninian at Rosnat, otherwise called Alba, or white. The next authority for the life of S. Ninian is S. /Elred, who became a Cistercian [strict Benedictine reform begun at Cîteaux in 1098] monk in a.d. 11 66. This saint was educated in Scotland along with Henry, son of King David. A life, written seven hundred years after the death of its subject, in those uncritical times, and at the instance of the canons who profited by his fame, would be worthless, were it not that just as the Cistercian Joscelin, in his life of S. Kentigern, used “Codiculum stilo Scotico dictatum,” so the Cistercian /Elred had the assistance of “liber barbario (sic) scriptus.” In the superscription of the Bodleian copy, the life is said to have been translated from English into Latin.
S. Ninian, according to this authority, was the son of a Christian prince, and was born at Whithern, in Galloway. Baptized in his infancy, he spent a holy boyhood and youth, and grew up, says his Irish biographer, a head and shoulders taller than any other man in his father’s realm; wherefore his father wished to make him a man of war; but Ninian was filled with other hopes. He left Scotland, and went on a pilgrimage to Rome, crossing the British Sea, and, entering Italy by the Cottian Alps, he arrived, after a prosperous journey, at the capital of Christendom. He was taken notice of by the Pope, and devoted himself to study, “ intelligens nimirum ab imperitis doctoribus multa sanae doctrine adversa sibi et compatriotis suis fuisse persuasa.” After remaining many years in Rome, increasing in knowledge and grace, he was consecrated bishop, and sent to the western parts of Britain, to men who had not received the faith of our Saviour. On his way home he visited the great S. Martin of Tours, from whom he borrowed masons, that he might construct a church after the Roman model. He was well received in his diocese, and he selected the place called Whithern; “ which place, situated on the shore, while it runs far into the sea on the east, west, and south, is closed in thereby. From the north side alone it is approached from the land. There he built the first stone church in Britain, and, having heard of the death of S* Martin whilst building it, he dedicated it to him.” S. Martin [St. Martin of Tours (d. 397), soldier turned bishop] died in a.d. 397, which gives us the date of the foundation of this church. The place here described may be the Isle of Whithem, where there is still a chapel in ruins, but not a moulding remains to give any indication of its date. It is, however, more likely that the town of Whithern, where are to be seen the beautiful remains of the cathedral of Galloway some miles inland, is the actual site of the venerable Rosnat, or Candida Casa. The statement that this was the first stone church in Britain must be taken with some reservation.
S. Ninian now restored to sight a neighbouring king, on whom, in punishment for his pride and opposition to the saint, God had laid the burden of blindness. Being healed, he became a great supporter of S. Ninian. His name is by ^Elred called Tudwall, which seems to be the old Celtic Teutal — in Irish, Tuathal.
After vindicating the innocence of a priest falsely accused of incontinency, he undertook the conversion of the Piets. The southern Piets were idolaters. Ninian preached the Gospel among them, and was heard eagerly. Multitudes flocked to baptism, and he is said to have ordained priests, consecrated bishops, and divided the whole land into parishes. Having done all this, he returned to his own church, where he passed the rest of his holy life in great tranquillity.
The rest of S. HSlred’s biography is taken up with miracles, such as the sudden growth of leeks: the raising to life of a robber who had been gored by a bull at a place now termed Farreslast, or the bull's foot-mark; the shower that fell on the saint and his book as his mind wandered; and lastly, the protection afforded by his staff to a disciple, who, in memory of that event, planted the staff, and it became a tree, with a fountain gushing from its roots. S. Ludmilla.
His life mentions that he educated many young men, both of noble and of humble conditions, and that on the occasion of his death he was buried in the church which he had built.
S. Ninian is traditionally said to have occasionally inhabited a cave, which is still shown on the sea-shore of Glasserton, adjacent to the house of Physgill.1
