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Blessed Marianus Scotus

Also known as

Marianus of Ireland
Muirdach MacRobartaigh
Murdoch MacGroarty
Muiredach MacGroarty

9 February
formerly 17 April
formerly 4 July

Profile

Pilgrim to Rome, Italy in 1067, but he never made it. As he passed through Michaelsberg, Germany, he was asked to help copy some manuscripts for a convent. With his travelling companions working to make the vellum on which he wrote, he stayed for the work, and became a Benedictine monk at Michelsberg Abbey, and then at the Upper Minster, Ratisbon, Bavaria (in modern Germany). Founded Saint Peter’s abbey at Ratisbon in 1078, and served as its first abbot. This house began the congregation of twelve monasteries in southern Germany staffed by holy men from the British Isles. Marianus spent any free time copying manuscripts, including the Bible, and was known as a exceptional calligrapher; some of his manuscripts survive today.

Legend says that one evening the woman who prepared lamps for Marianus suddenly overslept. She woke some others to help her and went to Marianus’s room. Marianus sat without lamp or candle, writing with his right hand, holding his other in the air. A light shone from left hand, illuminating his work, and the ladies left him in peace.