WHO WAS ST CATTAN?

      St Cattan (or Cathan as he is known to the Irish) was the sixth century bishop and abbot-founder of an important monastic centre at Kilchattan (pronounced 'Kill-HAT-un'). It is located near Kingarth on the east coast of the Island of Bute in the Firth of Clyde). According to Mary D'Arcy in her book, The Saints of Ireland, he "was of the race of the Irish Picts" and the friend of Comgall, and Kenneth who were also Irish Picts and companions of Columcille (St Columba). No trace of his cell has been found but it is likely that it was near the present day village of Kilchattan. The 11th of May is the day in hagiographal calendar dedicated to St Chattan's memory each year.

      Ardchattan Priory located on the north shore of Loch Etive in Argyll-shire may have received its name from St Cattan although it seems to have dedicated to St May. It is not known whether Cattan ever visited this spot but he probably did not. W. H. Murray informs us (in his book The Companion to the West Highlands of Scotland), the priory was founded by Duncan MacDougall, Lord of Lorn, in 1230 for the Valliscaullian Order. It was there that Robert Bruce, at the conclusion of his campaign in Lorn in 1309, held the last national council at which speech was in the Gaelic. The priory brought great benefits to the life of Lorn which ended with the Reformation when the lands were divided among the lay proprietors. Burned by Cromwell's forces in 1654 as a blind act of vandalism, the priory is now a ruin in the garden of a private residence. It is open to the public in the summer and can be reached by ferry from Bonawe near Taynuilt or via Connel Bridge just a few miles east of Oban.

      The clansfolk of Clan Chattan were still living in Lochaber at the time that Ardchattan Priory was founded which leads to the question of a connection between the two. No references to such a connection has been noted in the course of our research but it is certainly possible given that Ardchattan is no more than fifty miles from Glen Loy, the home of Clan Chattan before it emigrated to the East.