 St Fergus Kirk in Glamis |
Saint Fergus (or Fergustian or Fergustus) lived, probably, from about 570 to 630. He was a missionary who seems to have worked in a number of areas of Scotland. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
It is actually possible that there were two separate religious men called Fergus who lived about a century apart and whose legends have become intermingled. One is said to have been a contemporary and colleague of Saint Drostan, who was abbot of the monastery at Deer in Aberdeenshire in 600. The other is known as Fergus the Pict, or Fergustus Pictus, and was a Pictish bishop who is recorded as attending a council organized by Pope Gregory II in 721 as "Bishop of the Gaels".
It is not even certain that the second Fergus became a saint, and it therefore seems likely that most references to Saint Fergus are to the earlier man: Fergus was at the time a fairly common name. If so, it seems likely that Saint Fergus trained in Ireland, though he may have been Irish, Scottish or Pictish in origin. Stories about him crop up in three main areas of Scotland. He is the patron saint of Wick and is said to have founded two churches in Caithness: which at the time was home to a Pictish kingdom. He is also associated with Aberdeenshire, both via Saint Drostan and, it is said, by founding his own churches there. He is most notably remembered in the name of the village of St Fergus, now home to a major plant processing North Sea gas.
Saint Fergus is also closely associated with Strathearn, and with the village of Glamis in particular. He is the patron saint of Glamis and is said to have been buried here, though by some accounts not until 750, raising again the possibility that his legend conflates stories about two different men. The church in Glamis is dedicated to St Fergus, and nearby is St Fergus Well, a spring which emerged beside the Glamis Burn said to have been used by St Fergus for baptisms. It is said that in about 1500, Saint Fergus's head was moved to become the focus of a shrine to him at Scone, but no trace of his relics seems to have survived the Reformation.
