Máel Ruba was descended from Niall, King of Ireland, via his father Elganach. His mother, Subtan, was a niece of Saint Comgall (d. 597 or 602) of Bangor. Máel Ruba was born in the area of Derry and was educated at Bangor. In 671, when he was thirty, he sailed from Ireland to Scotland with a group of monks.[2]
For two years he travelled around the area, chiefly in Argyll, perhaps founding some of the many churches still dedicated to him, before settling at Aporcrosan (Applecross) in 673,[3] in Pictish territory in the west of Ross opposite the islands of Skye and Raasay. Thence he set out on missionary journeys: westward to the islands Skye and Lewis, eastward to Forres and Keith, and northward to Loch Shin, Durness, and Farr.[2]
The monastery at Applecross
The Gaelic name of Applecross, "A' Chomraich", 'The Sanctuary', derives from an area of inviolate ground which surrounded the monastery. Its limits were originally marked by crosses. Unfortunately, only a fragment of one of these has survived, within the farmyard at Camusterrach, south of Applecross village.
Both Máel Ruba's voyage to 'Scotland' and his foundation of Applecross are recorded in contemporary Irish annals, implying that they were considered of great significance at the time. Máel Ruba's monastery was a major Christian centre and instrumental in the spread of both Christianity and Gaelic culture amongst the Picts of northern Scotland.
The succession of the abbots ceases to be recorded in the Irish annals during the course of the ninth century. It is likely that this is the result of (unrecorded) raids by Vikings.
A setting of two small stones in the graveyard at Applecross is still pointed out as the (supposed) site of his grave.
Death
According to local tradition, on his last journey he was killed by Danishvikings, probably at Teampull, around nine miles up Strathnaver from Farr, where he had built a monastic cell, and was buried near the River Naver, not far from his cell, where his grave is still marked by "a rough cross-marked stone". However, 722 may be too early for Scandinavian raiders to have been involved, as the first historically recorded Viking attacks on Scotland and Ireland date to the 790s.[4]
Another tradition, found in the Aberdeen Breviary, is that he was killed at Urquhart and buried at Abercrossan. This is probably a mistake arising from a confusion of Gaelic place-names.
The most reliable sources, contemporary Irish annals, record that he 'died' at Applecross in his 80th year.
Veneration
Máel Ruba was, after St Columba, perhaps the most popular saint in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. At least twenty-one churches are dedicated to him, and Dean Reeves enumerates about forty forms of his name. His death occurred on 21 April, and the Catholic Church in Ireland has always kept his feast on this day; however, in Scotland (probably owing to the confusion with Saint Rufus) it has also been kept on 27 August. On 5 July 1898, Pope Leo XIII restored his feast for the Catholic Church in Scotland, to be kept on 27 August. In the calendar of saints of the Scottish Episcopal Church he is honoured on 20 April. Because due to a typographical error centuries ago, his feast day was observed on 25 August,[5] and folk etymology led some people to confuse "Summereve's Fair" with a secular fair celebrating the season.
Pilgrimages shrines
Máel Ruba's name has given rise to numerous corruptions; for example in Keith, Moray, he is referred to as "St Rufus", and St Rufus Church is dedicated to him. In other parts of Scotland, his name was variously rendered as "Maree" (as in the Loch), "Summereve" (i.e., St Maol Rubha) etc. There are several locations named after Máel Ruba such as Loch Maree. He is said to have established a hermitage on Isle Maree.[6]
In the 17th century the Presbytery of Dingwall was disturbed by allegations of pattern day festivals and rituals, assumed at the time to be of pagan origin. In particular, the Isle was a Christian pilgrimage shrine visited by those seeking cures for mental illness through the saint's intercession by being rowed three times sunwise around the hermitage, followed by a dip each time in the waters of the Loch. Pilgrimages were traditionally followed by expressing gratitude for successful cures through donating bulls for slaughter, roasting, and consumption by the pilgrims during annual celebrations of his feast day, either on or near his former hermitage on Isle Maree. In reference to these past festivals, the cliff on the loch shore facing the island is still called (Scottish Gaelic: Creag nan Tarbh, 'Cliff of the Bull'). These rituals have been thought by folklorists unfamiliar with Celtic Christianity to come from a debased memory of Máel Ruba, which had perhaps become mixed with an ancient pre-Christian cult of the 'God Mourie'.
Contin Island, a river islet in Ross and Cromarty; the parish church of Contin is dedicated to St Máel Ruba. There has probably been a church on this site since the 7th or 8th century.[7]
The chapel of Kilmarie at Kirkton on the Craignish peninsula in Argyll; the chapel is said to have been founded by Máel Ruba, from whom the name Kilmarie is derived.
The medieval church of Kirkden (formerly Idvies), near Letham, Angus; dedicated to Ruffus or Maelrubha in 1243
The medieval church of Kinnell, near Friockheim; dedicated to "St Malruib, Confessor"
