Note 76 — Chapter I · THE CHURCHES IN THE WEST.
Reading edition
Pervenerat etiam in Albaniam, id est Scotiam, in qua ædificaverat ecclesias in Christi nomine, quarum hæc sunt nomina.
Una est Chilnecase in Galweia.
Altera vero in cacumine montis, qui appellatur Dundeuel, quia sic semper solebat, sicut prædiximus, ut supra nudam petram nudis membris in noctibus oraret Deum, qui semper orandus sit, sicut scriptura ait; ‘Orate sine intermissione,’ et reliqua.
Tertia autem in alto montis Dunbreten.
Quarta in castello, quod dicitur Strivelin.
Quinta vero Dunedene, quæ Anglica lingua dicta Edenburg.
Sexta enim Mons Dunpeleder, et illinc transfretavit mare in Albaniam ad Sanctum Andream.
Post hæc vero exiit ad Alecthae, ubi modo est optima ecclesia, quam Lanfortin aedificavit cum quodam fonte sanctissimo, et mansit illic aliquanto tempore et multum dilexit illum locum, in quo in fine vitæ suæ, ut affirmaret, Domino volente, emisit spiritum.—Vita S. Mon. a Conchubrano, cap. vii. 66; A.SS. Boll. ad 5 July.
Another Life of Saint Monenna, printed by Capgrave, has
Multis itaque signis in Hibernia declaratis, ad regem Scotiæ nomine Conagal cognatum suum profecta multas ecclesias et monasteria construxit, inter quæ
Apud Strivelin unam et
Apud Edenburgh in montis cacumine in honore Sancti Michaelis alteram edificavit ecclesiam.
Et in Galwedia tres nominatas a fundamentis fecit ecclesias.
Monenna appears in the Calendars on 5th and 6th July; and on the former day the Irish Calendars have Saint Edania, Edœna, or Edana.
In the Scotch Calendars she appears only in that of David Camerarius on 5th July as ‘Sancta Moduenna, virgo in Laudonia et Galovida, Scotiæ provinciis celebris;’ but the Breviary of Aberdeen has on 19th November ‘Medana virgo Dei castissima ex Ybernia oriunda.’ The account given of her in the ‘Lectiones’ is shortly this:—Flying from the attempts of a ‘miles quidam illius provincie nobilis,’ she takes refuge in Scotland, having crossed in a vessel with two handmaidens, ‘et ad partes Galuidie superiores que Ryndis dicitur arripuit ubi pauperculam laborando egit vitam.’ The soldier still pursuing her, she and her maidens embarked upon a stone, which floated thirty miles ‘ad terram que Farnes dicitur ubi nunc Sancte reliquie virginis acquiescunt.’ The Breviary places her in the time of Ninian. ‘Tandem vitam in sanctitate et paupertate transigens sub sanctissimo et beatissimo patre Niniano antistite pridie kalendarum Novembrium animam a corpore Domino jubente seperari permisit.’—Brev. Ab. xiii. Id. Dec.
The churches of Kirkmaiden in the parish of that name and the Rinns of Galloway, and in the parish of Glasserton and district called Farnes, were dedicated to this Medana. She is, however, probably the same person as Monenna, also called Moduenna and Edana, and these may have been two of the three churches said to have been founded by her in Galloway, the third being the church called Chilnacase, which may have been at Whithern or Candida Casa, where Medana is said to have died. It is impossible from the lives to ascertain her true date, as they are full of anachronisms; but the Ulster Annals have at 518 ‘Quies Darerce que Moninne nominata est.’