Saint of the Day – 17 April – Saint Donan of Eigg (Died 617) Priest and Martyr

Saint of the Day – 17 April – Saint Donan of Eigg (Died 617) Priest and Martyr, Monk, Missionary – Patronages – the Island of Eigg, an island in the Inner Hebrides where he was Martyred. He is also known as Dounan, Donnan and Donnanus.

Saint Donan, also known as Saint Donnán of Eigg, lived from about 550 to 17 April 617. He was probably Irish in origin and probably of noble birth.  He is known for his efforts to introduce Christianity to the Picts of north west Scotland.   Very little remains of him in the written record but, he is remembered in the quite remarkable number of places named after him, across large parts of modern Scotland.   The only part of his life to have made it into the annals in any detail was his death, when he and 52 of his monks were murdered at their Monastery on the Isle of Eigg.

Donan’s birth date of 550 is a supposition, deriving largely from a comment in a document that he was contemporary of but younger than, St Columba.   He seems to have crossed to south western Scotland early in his adult life, possibly in company with a number of followers.   His progress can then be traced by a series of places named “Kildonan”, “Kildonnan”, “Chapel Donan” and “Eilean Donan” stretching up the western seaboard of Scotland from Ayrshire and the Isle of Arran via the Western Isles to Sutherland.   Additionally, it is said, that at least eleven churches in Scotland are dedicated to St Donan.

It is said that Donan went to visit St Columbanus, asking him to be his anamchara or soul-friend, a spiritual director and that Columbanus refused.   This may have been because Donan was welcomed by the Picts while Columba may have had his difficulties with them.   But another story records that Columba said:   “I will not be anamchara to one, who will inherit red martyrdom along with your people.”

It is interesting, that in the centuries during which Celtic missionaries were spreading the Christian faith across Scotland, there are very few examples of any of them coming to any harm, from those whose faiths they were trying to replace.   St Donan is the most notable exception.   He and his followers had established a Monastery on the east side of the Isle of Eigg, facing the Scottish mainland.   It is said that Donan got into a dispute with a local noblewoman over the grazing of sheep on the island.   It seems she chose to resolve the dispute by commissioning a raiding party to remove the Monks from the island in the most permanent and brutal way possible.   On 17 April 617 the raiding party arrived.   They allowed Donan to complete the liturgy before herding him and all his fifty two monks into the refectory and setting it on fire, or beheaded, depending on the source.

St Donan was Canonised on 11 July 1898 by Pope Leo XIII (cultus confirmed).