A historic and valuable relic that once belonged to an Irish missionary arrived in Aberdeen last night for the first time in about 1,600 years.
Saint Moluag’s pastoral staff was brought to St Andrew’s Cathedral on King Street for one evening only.
Its last appearance was around AD566 when Moluag travelled from the Isle of Lismore in Loch Linnhe and arrived at Mortlach, which we now know as Dufftown.
He had his “Bochul” with him – a pastoral staff which was carried by monks and bishops at the time.
The saint is credited with evangelising the area after he founded a centre for Christian teaching in the west and north east of Scotland.
The hereditary keeper of Moluag’s pastoral staff, Neil Livingstone of Lismore, brought it to Aberdeen.
He was accompanied by the Dean of Aberdeen and Orkney, the Very Rev Dr Emsley Nimmo, who has just finished a sponsored pilgrimage in aid of St Andrew’s Cathedral Restoration fund.
The Rt Rev Dr Bob Gillies said: “Being in the Cathedral to receive the Dean and Neil Livingstone bringing the Bochul of St Moluag to Aberdeen at the service on Sunday evening was something truly memorable.
“That Moluag started something in this part of Scotland 1,450 years ago that is now my responsibility is a tremendous testimony to a quite remarkable saint of Scotland’s dark ages.”
The pastoral staff of blackthorn was once been enshrined in gilded metal and may have been studded with jewels. Today, only fragments of metal remain attached.
It has been a heirloom of the Livingstone family for generations. A Latin charter of 1554 confirms the family’s possession since time immemorial of the Bochul.
Canon Nimmo followed in the footsteps of Moluag by walking from Aberdeenshire to Lismore – a reverse of the route taken by the Scottish saint.
The walk was held in conjunction with Scottish Sea Cadets from Aberdeen, Elgin, Inverness, Fort William and Oban.