THE SANCTUARY AND COLLEGE OF TAIN

Abstract

St. Duthac, the patron of Tain, was a Scot, whose death and whose burial at Armagh are recorded in the Annals of Ulster under the year 1165.1 Later accounts describe him as a bishop as well as a confessor, of St. Andrews as well as of Ross (the boundaries, and even the existence, of which dioceses in the eleventh century are controverted matters2), as does the petition for his canonisation drawn up in the early fifteenth century by James Haldenstone, prior of St. Andrews, to be presented by Archibald, earl of Douglas, to Pope Martin V.3 Of Duthac's episcopal status Grosjean observes, Was Duthac really bishop of territories corresponding to the future diocese of Ross, perhaps even in part to that of St. Andrews? The supposition is not impossible, for, in the eleventh century, in Celtic lands, ecclesiastical divisions were ill-defined.4 The petition of Haldenstone is not otherwise very informative, except that he states that he has learnt of him by word of mouth and from written accounts, both as a miracle worker after his death and as one whose continued popularity fully merits his inclusion iin the catalogue of the saints. John Leslie, himself bishop of Ross, is equally eloquent a century later about the pilgrimages to Tain, popular, as he states, among all classes, and, he claims, more frequented than those to any other shrine in Scotland. However, the diocese of Ross was less well-informed by then about St. Duthac, for he places him in the time of William the Lion and associates him with Gilbert, bishop of Caithness.5 During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there does not appear to be any fresh evidence regarding St. Duthac, or even regarding the town of St. Duthac, except that in 1227, Brydin, vicar of Tain, is mentioned.6 About this time the subdeanery of Ross was erected, the subdean becoming rector of Tain and a perpetual vicar being appointed.7 The church remained in charge of a perpetual vicar until the erection of the college when the vicar became provost.8 The revival of interest in the saint which led to the petition for his canonisation may in part have resulted from the destruction by fire of his chapel, caused apparently in 1427 by rebellious highlanders when a