Weekly Round Up 03/10-09/10
A web only article on Saint Bruno and what it means to be truly human. Our Saint this week is Triduana.
St Triduana, 7th or 8th Century, 8th October
St Triduana has been in the past associated with St Rule who had in the 4th Century brought over from Patmos relics of St Andrew. In a previous Coracle I talked about how there is convincing evidence that Scotland’s association with St Andrew had more to do with the Bishop of Hexham in the 8th Century and not St Rule. By dating Triduana with St Rule, it would put her deeper into the 4th century, however; most other sources put her closer to the 8th century.
Our Saint is first associated with Forfarshire - living a solitary life to God she came to the attention of a local Royal who pursued her with unwanted attention - her eyes it seems were of particular beauty. In an effort to finally end this Royal’s advances she plucked them out and sent them to him. It was after this that it was said she could heal people of problems to do with their eyes.
She was a very popular Scottish Saint with her sites being a locus for great pilgrimages, and no less and perhaps most importantly, her place of repose - Restalrig in Edinburgh. The Church here that housed her relics was one of the most important in Edinburgh which meant it was a prime target for the Scottish Protestants during the Reformation. Her shrine and relics were desecrated and afterwards a Presbyterian church took hold of the buildings. There the story may have ended but in 1907 a chapel was rediscovered that within had steps that lead to a well which was the Saint’s well. The hexagonal building you see below had been filled with soil and rubbish and one side of it had earth mounded against it.
This building is the remains of a two storey Royal Chapel built over the well by King James III who had built what was named St Triduana’s Aisle. It has once again become an important place of pilgrimage and is looked after by Historic Scotland.
St Triduana had other places of veneration including an important site on Papa Westray in Orkney that long after the Reformation was a place people went to seek healing for their eyes.
Her veneration in other parts of Scotland included near Golspie in Sutherland - Kintradwell and of course in Forfar at Rescobie. Her name has undergone many changes that can make pinpointing sites of veneration difficult but do include names or root names such as ‘Traddles, Tredwell, Tradwell, Trallew, Trallen, Trodline and, in Old Norse, Trollhaena’.
Trollhaena was sought by the Bishop of Caithness, Jon, in the 13th Century who as it was recorded in the Orkney Sagas, had his eyes and tongue cut out by Earl Harold Maddadson of Orkney. He went to the resting place of St Trollhaena and was restored of his sight and speech.
In conclusion then who was she? Is it possible to say she came with the Bishop of Hexham and hence became amalgamated into the story of St Andrew’s relics? Was she a Saintly Pict who later found herself rebranded due to the politics of later times? It is also interesting to note the Norse connection though that may well be because of Orkney and not the other way round. We may never truly know but for my part I do believe there was a real woman who was saintly and holy and many sought her example and advocacy before God.
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