The Survival of the Catholic Church in the Highlands

Abstract

To explain the survival of the Catholic Church in the Highlands one should first consider the time and manner of the arrival of the first Missionaries in the area a millennium before.

St Ninian (early fifth century) is described as being 'the first and greatest of the British Missionaries' but little is known of him. Bede claims that he was 'regularly instructed at Rome in the mysteries of the Christian Faith,~; making it clear that he had none of the particular ways of the Celtic monks of a later date. The differences between those of the Southern Mission from Rome and those of the Northern Mission from Ireland (who arrived in through Iona and Lindisfarne) were principally three: tonsure, the date of Easter and Church organization.