St Kessog Day, the Patron Saint of Scotland

On March 10 560, St Kessog, the Irish missionary in the Lennox area and southern Perthshire, was killed. Kessog was Scotland’s patron saint before Andrew, and his name was used as a battle cry by the Scots. St Kessog was a disciple of Columba of Iona who preached and taught in the sixth century AD.

Saint Kessog was the Prince of Cashel, the son of the king of Cashel, Ireland. St Kessog is said to have worked miracles, even as a child. He left Ireland and became a missionary bishop in Scotland. Using Monks Island in Loch Lomond as his headquarters, he evangelized the surrounding area until he was martyred, supposedly at Bandry, where a heap of stones was known as St Kessogs Cairn. He is patron of Lennox, England.

Loch Lomomond

The St Kessog’s church in Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond is named after Kessog and the church contains an effigy of the saint.

There is a Roman Catholic church in the nearby town of Balloch also named after him. Kessog is claimed to have brought Christianity to the area around Luss in 510 AD and 1500 years of continuous Christian presence in the area was celebrated in 2010.

Elsewhere in Scotland, the medieval parish churches of Auchterarder and Comrie, both in Perthshire, were dedicated to Kessog, and may have been founded by him or one of his followers. A 19th century church in Callander is named St Kessog’s and a nearby circular mound by the River Teith is named in pseudo-Gaelic as “Tom na Chessaig”, meaning “the Hill of Kessog”

The Kessock area of Inverness is named after the saint, as is the Kessog oil field in the North Sea. Soldiers had a special veneration for him and he’s portrayed in military dress with arrows and then bended bow. As late as 1695 his bell, a sacred relic, was listed among the funeral investitures of the Earldom of Perth.