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St
Magnus, Earl and Martyr
This feast of St Magnus was observed on this date since the year 1125 in all the Catholic churches of Orkney and Norway to commemorate the removal of the bones of our great Patron from their original resting-place in Christ’s Church in Birsay to a new shrine above the altar in the church, where they might better be venerated by the faithful. The Orkneyinga Saga relates how “the bishop summoned all the leading men of Orkney to a meeting and announced that he intended to open up the grave of Earl Magnus…Many were the miracles worked there by the holy relics of Earl Magnus. Then on St Lucy’s Day [13 December] his relics were enshrined and placed above the altar, after he had been lying in his grave for twenty-one years, and a law was passed that both the day of his translation and the day of his death [16 April] should be celebrated” (chapter 57). Later, after St Magnus appeared in a vision to a farmer on Westray, “Bishop William led a grand procession east to Kirkwall, taking along with them the holy relics of Earl Magnus, and placed the reliquary above the high altar of the church that stood there at that time… A good many miracles happened there immediately after these events” (ibid). Some time afterwards, St Magnus’ bones were placed in the new Catholic Cathedral dedicated in his honour, where they now rest in the pillar on the Epistle side of the high altar. To commemorate this joyful feast of Orkney’s great Patron, a votive Mass in honour of St Magnus will be offered on 13 December at Golgotha Monastery Island for the spiritual and temporal well-being of all the people of the Orkneys. Please join us in praying to St Magnus that God’s blessings may flow abundantly on all your families, friends and loved ones.
Translated from a sixteenth century Latin manuscript. St Magnus was born in the Orkney Isles of noble parentage. His father was Earl of the islands, and his mother was likewise of noble blood. While nobility of birth is frequently joined to ignobility of mind, such was not the case with St Magnus, who from his tenderest youth was taught that the grandeur of virtue excels that of blood. Even in his childhood, he had the bearing of an adult: he was candid and open, amiable and affable, modest and grave; and thus his innocent conduct was pleasing to all. After the death of his father, the earldom was divided in two between Magnus and his cousin, Hakon. The latter, however, eager to possess control of all the isles, plotted with his henchmen how to kill Magnus. It was decided to lure him to the isle of Egilsay on the pretext of a meeting with his cousin during which they might discuss a peaceful issue to the conflict concerning the rule of the islands. St Magnus accepted this plan, and arrived on Egilsay with two longboats, suspecting nothing of his cousin's treachery. While waiting for Hakon, Magnus went to the church to attend holy Mass. Meanwhile, his cousin arrived with seven or eight ships, and proceeded to the church where Magnus was praying. Four of Hakon's hencemen broke into the church while Mass was still being offered, and the just Magnus was dragged outside to meet his cousin Hakon. Hakon would be satisfied with nothing less than the death sentence for his holy cousin. Magnus however received the sentence with such joy of soul that, after having offered a few prayers to God for his people, he willingly offered himself to death. Two strokes of the axe fell upon his skull, and his soul flew to Heaven. St Magnus received the crown of martyrdom on 16 April, 1104. The relics of the Patron of the Orkneys, including his skull, are preserved in the Cathedral dedicated in his honour in Kirkwall, on Mainland Orkney. Some of his other bones, however, were later taken to the Continent; and his shoulder bone was given by Emperor Charles IV in 1372 to the Metropolitan Church of St Virus in Prague, now the capital of the Czech Republic.
The relics of St Magnus, including his fractured skull.
The
reliquary of St Magnus, discovered in 1919.
Magne
Dei miles, tua festa tuere colentes:
Versicle at Vespers O
St Magnus, soldier of God, defend us who celebrate thy feast.
From a life of vice, he was converted to a life of virtue. He was slain on Egilsay on this day in 1104, and the cathedral of Kirkwall is dedicated to the great and holy patrons of all Orcadians. There is also a church dedicated to St Magnus in London, near Tower Bridge. Although the present church was designed by Christopher Wren, there had been a Catholic church on the site since the early Middle Ages. The following is a beautiful Hebridean hymn to St Magnus:
Oration from the Mass of St Magnus
Ever since the canonisation of St Magnus in the twelfth century, this prayer was traditionally used in Catholic Masses offered in the Cathedral of St Magnus, as well as in each church throughout the Orkney Islands, and indeed throughout the Aberdeen diocese. We continue to use this same prayer in honour of St Magnus on Golgotha Monastery Island – thus assuring the continuity of the Catholic history of Orkney as manifested through devotion to this great saint of God.
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