Page 22 - LOTN Autumn Issue 48 2021

FAITH AND CULTURE

cultural symbols and others with incised Christian crosses.
At the time of Fergus, these two types of monuments had
begun to merge. The reason for this development was the new
"coming together" of church and state and gives good area
indication for locating Pictish ecclesial sites.
By chance I discovered the existence of a basilica which St
Holy StoneS Fergus had attempted to create, not far from the little timber
cell he had established on the dunes.
This is the only record of a basilica in Pictland to appear
in the Aberdeen Breviary (a compilation of saints’ lives and
information collected by travellers and researchers and
published by Bishop Elphinstone of Aberdeen in 1510). St
Fergus founded a basilica in a place now known as Inverugie,
in Buchan, but there would appear to be no reliquary, or
burials, and no evidence that this building has ever been
located. The Aberdeen Breviary does, however, clarify that the
In the third part of her series on the "Holy" stones which wooden church building on the dunes was not the basilica.
mark our faith history in Scotland, Tina Harris examines the Another motive for the founding of a basilica is ideological.
legacy of St Fergus the Pict Records confirm that Fergus attended a Council organised by
The Legacy of Pope Gregory II, in Rome, in 721.
‘Fergus Cruthnech,’ as he is recorded in the Martyrology of
Tallaght, may have returned from the splendours of St Peter’s
St Fergus the Pict Basilica in Rome, fired with the idea of constructing a much
smaller basilica.
Fergus built his philosophy on the idea of a church without
walls, and a basilica would have been a lively centre of the
"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this community where the faithful could freely come and go.
faith is to see what you believe" St Augustine According to legend, many people in this area of Buchan

ccording to the Aberdeen Breviary, this native found themselves healed by visions of Bishop Fergus
Pict went to Ireland, in the footsteps of St celebrating the "Divine Mysteries".
Patrick, to study Christianity. He was ordained I make a huge (and hopeful) assumption here, that at least
ABishop and returned to Scotland where he part of the basilica of Fergus was built in stone. Masonry
began to convert his own Pictish race. His journey can be architecture developed from the surviving elements of Roman
traced from Strogeth (Strathearn), where he established buildings and with the introduction of Christianity, and it
three churches dedicated to St Patrick. This comes as no was during the time of Fergus that this trend moved into
surprise, as Fergus the Pict was graciously aware of the Scotland.
influence and legacy of Patrick, a fellow countryman In Ireland, in the time of Fergus, there are hints of stone
brought to Ireland from Scotland on a slave ship, nearly churches (house-shaped shrines) which may have also
two centuries earlier. influenced his decision to build an architectural basilica,
From Perthshire, Fergus made a bold leap to Caithness. In as a centre to encourage Christian worship, comprising a
Wick, Fergus has since become the patron saint. He frequently rectangular structure which might also be used for daily
gave thanks to God for protection and guidance, and it is activities which would benefit the community.
clear that many indigenous Picts took heed and came to faith Traditional basilicas at that time usually had a large public
in Christ through his example. The result was similar to the area (hall), cloister, vaults, crypt and burial spaces, possibly
prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures, which recounted that catacombs.
people at the ends of the earth would turn and see the light There is a site, three miles from where Fergus built his
of salvation. church on the dunes, where the course of the river Ugie runs
His chosen site in Wick was a place called Mount Halie, a through a rocky outcrop, before levelling to its estuary. On
Pictish/Christian name meaning holy, and has since become the south bank is a plateau known as the Craig of Inverugie
the site of a number of churches dedicated to St Fergus. which houses the ruins of an L-shaped vaulted tower house
Fergus journeyed south from Wick and found himself, built (or rebuilt) in 1491, known as Ravenscraig Castle. The
intentionally or otherwise, on the dunes of the Buchan coast. fact that it had vaults lends to the idea that it may have been
Here he erected a small church, probably timber, in what has the foundation of a basilica.
been described locally as "a retired and solitary spot". There A contemporary visitor to the site recalls reading that "a
are fragments of a later church wall to be seen, but all that castle of some description existed at the Craig of Inverugie
remains today is a burial ground. However, sitting there prior to 1491, but of limited strength - perhaps a hall house
among the vast dunes, it is not difficult to imagine the solitary and courtyard of some description".
figure of Fergus in deep and meaningful contemplation. This building follows a usual layout - three vaulted basement
The Picts were accomplished artists, and large decorated rooms with a narrow attic type stair ascending to the upper
stones were beginning to appear on the landscape; some with floor. It would be a great leap of faith to find that these holy
stones do in fact lead to the discovery of an eighth century
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