Saint Serf: Difference between revisions
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'''Saint Serf (Servanus)''' (d. [[583]] AD) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[ |
'''Saint Serf (Servanus)''' (ca. [[500]]-d. [[583]] AD) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[saint]]. The only thing that can be safely asserted of Serf is that he proselytized in the area of western [[Fife]]. It is not known exactly when. He is also called the apostle of the [[Orkneys]], with less historical plausibility. Saint Serf is also somehow connected with ''Saint Mungo's Church'' near Simonburn, [[Northumberland]] (off the Bellingham Road, north of Chollerford). |
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[[Image:Culross, Town House.jpg|thumb|250px|Saint Serf is said to have founded the Scottish town of Culross.]] |
[[Image:Culross, Town House.jpg|thumb|250px|Saint Serf is said to have founded the Scottish town of Culross.]] |
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The center of his cult (and possibly of his activity) was [[Culross]], which according to tradition, was founded by the saint himself. A legend states that when the British princess (and future saint) Theneva (Thenaw) became [[pregnant]] before marriage, her family threw her from a [[cliff]]. She survived the fall unharmed, and was soon met by an unmanned [[boat]]. She knew she had no home to go to, so she got into the boat; it sailed her across the [[Firth of Forth]] to land at Culross where she was cared for by Saint Serf; he became foster-father of her son, [[Saint Kentigern]] (Saint Mungo). |
The center of his cult (and possibly of his activity) was [[Culross]], which according to tradition, was founded by the saint himself. A legend states that when the British princess (and future saint) Theneva (Thenaw) became [[pregnant]] before marriage, her family threw her from a [[cliff]]. She survived the fall unharmed, and was soon met by an unmanned [[boat]]. She knew she had no home to go to, so she got into the boat; it sailed her across the [[Firth of Forth]] to land at Culross where she was cared for by Saint Serf; he became foster-father of her son, [[Saint Kentigern]] (Saint Mungo). |
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Revision as of 20:16, 5 June 2006
Saint Serf (Servanus) (ca. 500-d. 583 AD) was a Scottish saint. The only thing that can be safely asserted of Serf is that he proselytized in the area of western Fife. It is not known exactly when. He is also called the apostle of the Orkneys, with less historical plausibility. Saint Serf is also somehow connected with Saint Mungo's Church near Simonburn, Northumberland (off the Bellingham Road, north of Chollerford).
The center of his cult (and possibly of his activity) was Culross, which according to tradition, was founded by the saint himself. A legend states that when the British princess (and future saint) Theneva (Thenaw) became pregnant before marriage, her family threw her from a cliff. She survived the fall unharmed, and was soon met by an unmanned boat. She knew she had no home to go to, so she got into the boat; it sailed her across the Firth of Forth to land at Culross where she was cared for by Saint Serf; he became foster-father of her son, Saint Kentigern (Saint Mungo). David Hugh Farmer has written that his "Legend is a farrago of wild impossibilities."[1]
Another legend states that Saint Mungo restored a pet robin of St. Serf's to life. The bird had been killed by some of his fellow classmates, hoping to blame him for its death.
His feast day is July 1.
Sources
- ^ David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), 354.
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