Aberdeen Breviary, summer part (Blew, 1854) — contains the offices of St Monan (1 March), St Marnan bishop, and the beginning of the office of St David (1 March).

[Rubrics:] … we ought not rashly to discuss the divine counsels concerning the vocation of some or the rejection of others, nor presume further than the apostle — the feast of St Matthias the apostle. If this feast falls on the fourth feria at the head of Lent, let the feast be deferred to the next day, though it be a double feast. But when it shall be deferred, let the feast of St Matthias the apostle be kept on the fourth feria from the Chair of St Peter. If the same happens on the Sabbath. If this feast falls on the first Sabbath after Ash Wednesday, let it be celebrated there, and the second Vespers will be of the feast itself, and a solemn commemoration of the Sunday. The Lenten Compline is not changed.

“O God, who restore the blessed Monan your confessor to health by health in various infirmities, grant, we beseech you, that by his merits and prayers we may deserve to be associated with you, who are the salvation and the bestower of medicine of God, in heavenly things. Through the Lord.” At Matins, nine lessons. First lesson:

The glorious confessor of Christ, Monan, born in the maritime region of the province of Pannonia, was of that company which, with Saint Adrian the prelate and a most holy man, were slain and crowned with martyrdom by the Norsemen or Danes, then pagans, in the Isle of May, which is compassed about with the waves of the sea. And when… Lesson 2.

Now when the aforementioned company of martyrs had perished by martyrdom through the fury of the Danes in the above-said island, the blessed Monan, a religious upheld by the ardent love of Christ, came to the shore of the same island, to preach to the people of that land the word of salvation; and in the place which is called Inverie in Fife he chose by divine will a dwelling where until now his holy relics rest; in which, dedicated first to the divine services, he happily finished his days. And when, Lord, have mercy upon us. Lesson 3.

Now at his sepulchre the power which shone in him while living ceases not to make plain heavenly honours around his dead body — the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame walking, bodies shrivelled and contracted stretched forth and made straight, the possessed and the mentally captive made whole and restored to health; and by the patronage and merits of the blessed Monan many folk of every kind of sickness obtain and are helped to their desired righteous wishes; which single things, lest they burden readers with tedium, are gathered in a few. And when, Lord, have mercy upon us. Lesson 4.

But of what merit with God the blessed Monan was, the copious confluence of pilgrims to his sepulchre hitherto testifies; for though after the ascent of that blessed man to heaven a humble chapel contained his precious relics in this world until the most glorious prince David, king of Scots of that name the Second, most warlike and strenuous, on account of the recovery of health by the merits of the blessed Monan for diverse sicknesses of himself and others of his kingdom, built a church sumptuous enough in reverence of the said confessor and in honour of God, and endowed it with very many possessions for the sustenance of the religious men there. And when, Lord, have mercy upon us. Lesson 5.

It came to pass meanwhile that in a battle against the English the aforementioned king was wounded with a mortal wound by an iron barbed arrow, which in the vulgar tongue is called a “quarrel” [crossbow-bolt]; who could not be healed by the art of physicians or the remedy of surgeons, so much that all feared for the king’s death more than for his life. Then the king, leaving all arts of medicine, solemnly sending his prayer to Saint Monan, hastened there; whereupon that iron arrow leapt forth of its own accord from the said king’s wound, and without a scar he was made sound and whole. And when, Lord, have mercy upon us. Lesson 6.

A certain mistress of a household, honourable and adorned with noble parents, became furious by a miserable event, so much that her parents who had begotten her and her own sons whom she had brought forth she strove to mangle with fury and the madness of wrath, instigated by a malign spirit, and to tear with her teeth like a dog beyond nature; but at length, bound and set in the strongest chains by her parents, she was brought to Saint Monan, for whose deliverance her parents poured forth most devout prayers to God and the blessed Monan. And the poor woman resting a little and being awakened again, by the merits of the blessed Monan the demons which possessed her body went out with the greatest howlings, leaving her a woman. At whose departure she was at once restored to her former health, blessing the Lord devoutly in his deeds.

The last three lessons are of the Common of any confessor, with its antiphons, verses and prayer as above.

Of Saint Marnan, bishop and confessor. Prayer:

“O God, who are the life of your servants believing in you and humbly beseeching, grant that we who keep the solemnity of the blessed Marnan your confessor and pontiff may be able to be fervently kindled with the love of your name. Through the Lord.” At Matins, nine lessons. First lesson:

The blessed Marnan, the excellent prelate of Christ, being set in a safe place, held manfully the helm of faith; he magnificently composed the anchor of his hope, now in a tranquil station; and with the heavenly riches and eternal rewards the laden ship he placed in the wished-for shore; who held the shield of the fear of God against all adversaries so long and unwearyingly until he should come to victory. Lesson 2.

For what would have been the last course of his life if we had not had in him a faithful medicine against our sleepless foe? To whom it was given from heaven, with whom the health of our ends — no, the author himself of healths — entered through him. O how many inwardly wounded by the art of his mouth and the firmness of prayers he cured! And an admirable imitator of his Lord, quickening the dead to God — on the contrary he consented to nothing of others’ follies and vain thoughts. Lesson 3.

Now many who had been loosed by long pestilent negligence and defiled with a certain contagion of leprosy, he cleansed by the most pious chastisements and persuasions in divine power; and very many souls dwelling in the body, now dead and overwhelmed and buried under the weight of offences, he raised to God again, calling them to amendment and to light; and he restored them whole to the estate of innocence. Lesson 4.

And so the blessed Marnan himself, the man of God and the athlete of Christ in outward temptation, in teaching, preaching, exhorting and persuading the creatures of God whom he found — so that by all the people who then heard him, and wherever his fame was spread abroad, he was called just, gentle and pious — they assert that he wrought such signs of faith not without divine miracles, so much that then they worshipped God on earth. But at length, burdened by the infirmity of his body in holy old age, he sent forth his most holy soul, penetrating to the heavens; and in the church of Aberdour, which stands fortified and walled by the most beautiful river Doveran, he is buried with worthy honour, and there he rests to this day, God working, offering health to the languishing daily. And when, Lord…

Lesson 5.

Now the glorious head of the same, on each of the days of the Lord’s feasts through the year, is accustomed to be washed by the people and the clergy humbly beseeching, with lights kindled; and it is carried to the sick and those ill-disposed with whatever disease; which water, when drunk by them, is of very great help in their infirmities, and very many by the merits of the blessed man have received health. Lesson 6.

It came to pass that certain most wicked men of evil thoughts, rashly kindled with fury and wrath, took away certain ecclesiastical goods from the said church of Aberdour; admonished meanwhile by the diocesan prelate that they should satisfy the blessed man and his church for the wrongs they had done, they came there with bare feet, bearing candles in their hands — but smitten by fear rather than by love of the saint, wondrous to tell, the said candles in their hands, by whatever art fire was applied more often, could in no wise emit light. For being set down out of their hands they were kindled at once. Moreover a certain tyrant strove to draw out of the territory of the same church certain trees of Lochaber in the diocese of Aberdeen, and having rooted one up by means of a certain rustic — which when that rustic lifted lightly upon his back and had borne to the edge and bounds of the said church land, he set down the tree there, a little wearied; and when he essayed to bear it further again, that tyrant with all his household could not bear it further for the exceeding heaviness; and left there, the clerk of that parish church bore it alone to the nearest place — which the tyrant himself with all his men could not move.

The rest all of the Common of one confessor and pontiff.

Of Saint David, bishop and confessor, at Vespers. Antiphon: “The just…” Psalm ferial. Hymn: “See a great priest.” Verse: “The soldier of Christ.” Hymn: “O confessor.” Verse: “He loved him.” Antiphon: “Glorious prelate David, receive the prayers of your servants and intercede for us to the Lord.” Psalm: Magnificat. Prayer:

“O God, who did foretell your confessor and pontiff David by an angel speaking, thirty years before he was born: grant to us, we beseech you, that whose festivity we keep, by his intercessions we may come to the eternal joys. Through the Lord.” At Matins, nine lessons. Lesson 1.

The blessed Patrick, a Briton by nation, learned in the Roman disciplines and marked with the merits of virtues, when he had drawn a long stay in the parts of Italy and had returned to his native soil of Britain, seeking from then on his home province, came into the angular region of the land, and entered the valley called Rhos. Lesson 2.

To whom an angel appearing said: “Not for you, O Patrick, has God provided this seat; but for a son not yet born, to be born thirty years after this.” This valley therefore of Rhos is appointed for the blessed David, not yet born, as had been announced by the angel. Lesson 3.

Now the blessed David, not yet born but enclosed in the maternal womb, was divinely shown to be about to become an excellent preacher. For when a certain master named Gildas was preaching and instructing the people, and the mother of the blessed David, pregnant, entered the church, Gildas was suddenly struck dumb and could not further presume to preach. Lesson 4.

The people asking him why with his preaching interrupted he had been struck dumb, he answered: “I could address you with common speech, but I could not preach, because the woman who was questioned entered the church; for the excellence of her offspring, while I was propounding the word of God to you, came upon me by heavenly admonition.” Lesson 5.

Now when the days of his nativity were fulfilled, according to what the angel had foretold, the blessed David was born of noble stock, the son of a prince of the province of Ceretica. When he therefore was born and sent forth into the light, divine miracles failed not. Lesson 6.

Now when he was baptized by Elfyw, bishop of Menevia, returning from Ireland and putting into the port which is called Gleps, at his baptismal ministry a spring of clearest water flowed forth which had never been there before. Lesson 7.

A certain man, aged and blind from boyhood, having a defect in his nose which immodestly deformed his face, had drawn the little boy from the spring; whom while he held him yet in his bosom, understanding the sanctity of the infant, he took the water in which he had been thrice immersed and sprinkled his face therewith three times; and at once he wondrously obtained the light of his eyes and the clearness of his face. Lesson 8.

Meanwhile he grew, full of the Holy Spirit and given to the study of letters; above all his coevals in perspicacity…