Introduction
This post focuses on St Mungo, the Patron Saint of Glasgow and the City Arms. This has been prompted by finding an unusual representation of the St Mungo legend in a local bus shelter.
St. Mungo aka St. Kentigern
The story of Glasgow and it’s patron saint goes way back into the first millennium. The core of the text below has been sourced from a Glasgow City Council publication.
St. Mungo was born in the early 6th century at Culross in Fife, eastern Scotland. He was the illegitimate son of Urien, Prince of Cumbria and Thenew, daughter of the King of Lothian. Mungo trained as a priest in the monastery of St Serf at Culross which concluded around AD550. He next visited the home of a dying holy man named Fergus who promptly expired shortly after Mungo’s arrival. Mungo placed Fergus’s body on a cart pulled by two wild bulls commanding them to convey it to a place ordained by the Lord.
The bulls stopped at a place then known as Cathures where Fergus was duly buried. Mungo named the spot ‘Glasgui’ which translates as ‘green hollow’. Here he established a church, a location now occupied by Glasgow Cathedral.
Mungo died in 603AD. He was later canonised and became the Patron Saint of Glasgow with a feast day on January 13th.
Components of the Armorial Seal-Section 1
The four components comprise a tree, bell, bird and ring.
The tree was originally a hazel branch but in the legend has since morphed into oak. As a boy in the monastery Mungo was left in charge of the holy fire. However, he fell asleep at which time some of the other boys extinguished the fire. Upon awakening Mungo obtained some frozen branches of hazel which he caused to burst into flame by prayer.
The bell had been an institution in Glasgow since the 15th century. There are records of the Provost (Mayor) and many others leaving endowments to have the bell rung for respective souls. The ultimate fate of the particular bell is not known. However, a replacement was purchased by city magistrates in 1641 and this still exists.
Components of the Armorial Seal-Section 2
The bird was a robin which had been tamed by St. Serf, St. Mungo’s old master. This bird was accidentally killed by disciples of St. Serf who blamed St. Mungo. However, St. Mungo restored the bird to life by the power of prayer whereupon it flew back to St. Serf.
The ring features in the mouth of a salmon. This was a present from the King of Cadzow to his Queen, Languoreth. However, Languoreth passed the ring to a Knight from whom the King retrieved the item whilst the Knight was asleep. The King then threw the ring into the River Clyde and demanded she return the ring on pain of death. Languoreth sought help from the Knight who in turn confessed to St. Mungo. The holy man sent a monk to fish in the Clyde and bring back the first fish caught. This was done following which St. Mungo extracted the ring from the fish’s mouth and returned it to Languoreth.
More information
The extensive range of information in Visitors’ Guide to Scotland includes a section on the City of Glasgow. The ISBN for this publication is 978-1-9161332-0-4. Also available via Kindle.