|
Healing Stones of Saint Fillan
Saint Fillan worked in the communities surrounding Loch Ness. One
story says that he held up a cross and Nessie turned away from
frighening worshippers. Saint Fillan is more famous for his
healing stones which are still in use today. These stones resemble
the organs they are said to heal: eyes, kidneys, liver, lungs,
heart. The stones are at the Tweed Mill beside Dochart Falls near
Killin. For hours, contact Lynne or Paddy or Christine at the
Tweed Mill tourist center there in Killin.
10166868 + 011 + number for international calls
1010636 + 1 + number for national calls
The old meal mill, founded by St. Fillan (and containing the
healing stones), is now a Folklore centre and home to the Tourist
Information Office. St. Fillan was a follower of St. Columba and
came to Killin around the end of the 7th century. He taught here
and as tradition demands, every Christmas Eve St. Fillan's healing
stones are given a fresh bed of straw and reeds from the
riverbank.
Thanks are due to Sheila Clark for taking pictures and Janet
Quarton for getting them on to computer and sending them.
And to Jacqueline Comben for organizing the picture taking
adventure.
Tweed Mill Visitors Center
The mill at the visitors center
St. Fillan's stone for head
St. Fillan's stone for abdomen
Saint Filllan Saint
Fillan's Wolf
Fillan means 'wolf
cub' or 'little wolf'. It is said that, once a wolf attacked while
he was ploughing and killed one of his oxen.
The wolf returned and submitted to being yoked, helping Fillan
with the ploughing and the building of the priory.
Scotland had at least two men called
St. Fillan. One is famous for a healing well located between
Comrie and Loch Earn. This is the one for whom the village of St.
Fillans is name. Another was St. Fillan of Glen Dochart, who left
behind 5 relics and 8 healing stones. This is the one whose story
follows:
The name St. Fillan means wolf cub or
little wolf. His mother was St. Kentigerna (a princess of Ulster,)
and his father was Prince Federach. One lrish legend claims that
St. Fillan was born with a stone in his mouth. His father saw the
stone and threw the newborn baby into a lake where angels watched
over him until Bishop Ibar rescued him. Bishop Ibar then raised
him in the Christian faith. His mother, Kentigerna kept an eye on
him as he was growing up. And out of gratitude to Bishop Ibar, she
became a Christian.
When Fillan was studying to become a monk, he went to a monastery
that forbade the use of candles in the sleeping quarters. Fillan
did not want to stop reading at night, and as the story goes, his
left arm and hand lit up, providing him light to read by. He
retained this talent throughout his life and at his death, he
requested that his left arm be kept as a relic in a silver case.
This arm bone and hand is credited with Robert the Bruce’s victory
at Bannockburn which Freed Scotland from British rule.
Later Fillan and his mother both became missionaries and traveled
to Scotland. Kentigerna went to Inch Cailleach (The Nun’s Isle) on
Loch Lomond where she died in 734 A.D. Fillan went to Glen Dochart.
He built a priory at what is now
Kirkton’s Farm in Auchtertyre near Tyndrum. According to one
story, while St. Fillan was ploughing and building the priory, a
wolf attacked and killed one of his oxen. Then, seeing that St.
Fillan was doing holy work, the wolf volunteered to do the oxen’s
job and allowed himself to be harnessed to the plow. The priory
fell into disuse after St. Fillan’s death and the stones were
taken to build farm buildings and walks. Flagstones from the
chapel floor now cover graves. The well that St. Fillan blessed is
said to still be active. To request a healing, petitioners are
instructed to walk around the well three times and then throw in a
pebble. St. Fillan’s Holy Pool is also on this farm. A treatment
for the insane used to require the person to be dunked in the
River Fillan at the Holy Pool and then strapped to a bench inside
the priory over night.
At his death, Fillan gave five symbols of his mission to lay
brothers, who were required to act as custodians of the relics and
to use them in appropriate circumstances, such as curing the sick
or in the taking of oaths. The care of these relics was to be
hereditary in the families of these custodians, called in Gaelic
deoradh. At some point the name deoradh became anglicised as the
surname Dewar. These custodians were given grants of land and
special privileges which made them important dynasties in Glen
Dochart and Strath Fillan. In addition to these five symbols, St.
Fillan also left eight healing stones which are now kept at Tweed
Mill in Killin. The big round stone which appears to have eyes and
a smiling mouth is to treat head problems -- everything from
eyesight and hearing loss to headaches from any cause. The stone
with one indentation like a belly button is to treat the front of
the body. The stone of similar shape, but without the belly button
is to treat the back of the body. The five additional stones are
to treat the arms and legs. People can come to the mill and hold
the stones and rub them on afflicted parts of the body. The bed of
leaves, twigs, and river wrack on which the stones rest is
replaced every Christmas eve.
The five relics are The Quigrich, The Bernane, the Mayne, the
Fergy and the Messer.
The Quigrich was his pastoral staff or crozier. Only the head now
remains, and is on display in Scottish National Museum of
Antiquities in Edinburgh. Many generations of artists have added
decorations to the silver work in acts of devotion.
The Bernane is St. Fillan's bell. The handle of this bell has a
rough representation of a double-headed sea monster, from the
centre of each head of which springs a single horn. According to
tradition, this bell would come to St. Fillan whenever he called
it. But one day a visitor who wasn't used to seeing bells flying
through the air was startled and shot it with an arrow, cracking
it. Another story about this bell occurred only about 200 years
ago. An English tourist stole it. The bell was recovered by Bishop
Forbes of Brechin 70 years later, in 1869, and moved to the
Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh for safe keeping. The
Bernane was used in the coronation of James IV.
The Mayne is St. Fillan's left arm bone and hand. Robert the Bruce
credited the intercession of St. Fillan with his victory against
Alasdair McDougal at Dalrigh in 1306, where he won the battle, but
lost his jeweled brooch, which McDougal showed to Queen Victoria
as a trophy. Eight years later, he requested the custodian of the
Mayne to bring it to him at the Battle of Bannockburn. The
custodian however brought only the empty case, for fear that it
might be stolen in battle, like the brooch. But the night before
the battle, while Robert the Bruce was praying, he heard a loud
crack come from the case. He called the custodian. Together, they
opened the case and saw that the armbone and hand were inside. The
custodian told his story and the divine intercession inspired the
Scots to victory.
The Fergy and the Messer have been
lost, and nobody is sure what they were. One is presumed to have
been Fillan's Psalter (book of psalms) and the other a manuscript
he wrote, or possibly a portable altar.
St. Fillan’s death is recorded as 9th
January 777 (Julian Calendar); which is the 20th Januarv
(Gregorian Calendar). This date each year, is observed as the
Saint’s day and no work is carried out in the Breadlabane Folklore
Centre. building on that day.
References:
Flyer from the Folklore Center in Breadabane (the Tweed Mill)
In Famed Breadalbane. William A. Gillies, Clunie Press., 1938
Strange Tales of Perthshire. Margaret Campbell, Lang Syne 1900
http://www.sac.ac.uk/foodsys/external/Hill&Mountain/walks/priory.htm
http://www.electricscotland.com/books/west_highland.htm
http://www.gwp.enta.net/scothist.htm
http://www.scottish-towns.co.uk/perthshire/killin/macnab.html
http://killin.future.easyspace.com/fillan.htm
http://www.portnellan.demon.co.uk/History.html
http://members.tripod.co.uk/GlasgowZoopark/d3982454.htm
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintf49.htm
More websites about Saint Fillan:
Saint Fillan was a member of the McNab clan:
http://macnab.org/histry.html
Saint Fillan's Cave with holy well
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst23.html
http://www.eastneukwide.co.uk/tourist/stfillan-cave.html
Saint Fillan's glowing hand
http://www.atlantisrising.com/ar5contents.html
Source: http://www.simegen.com/writers/nessie/stones.htm |
Research is just that! So share it!
