OS1/13/102/45

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[Page] 45

Constantine ll soon after the middle of the ninth century but others contend that it was founded by the Macduffs earls of Fife. It was suppressed at the Reformation and its remains were appropriated to various purposes." Stat. Acct. [Statistical Account] of Fifeshire 1845.

"The Culdean establishment here was the monastery of Kirkheugh and was situated on the hill which overhangs the harbour eastward of the Cathedral. It was called "Ecclesia Sanctae Mariae de Rupe" or St Mary's Church of the rock either from its being founded upon a rock or from a chapel belonging to said to have been built on one called the "Lady Craig" near the extremity of the present pier. The Culdees possessed this monastery for several hundred years. They consisted of an abbot and twelve priests who were generally married men and whose sons often succeeded them in their office. Whether their marriage were a part of their original institution or a deviation from it is a question which it would be foreign to my purpose to investigate since the practice is admitted to have existed among them during at least the tenth and eleventh centuries. The period with which we are chiefly concerned".
"What connexion the Culdees had with St Regulus and his followers cannot be known with certainty but there seems every reason for believing that the name of Culdees was bestowed on the indigenous Clergy of the country from the time it was Christianized. Their lives and doctrine are said to have been pure and if the derived this purity from their early intercourse with the missionaries of the Roman see there is reason to think that they retained it in several particulars after that church had departed from it, nor was it without difficulty that she succeeded at a subsequent period in establishing her supremacy over them and finally incorporating them with herself". Lyon Hist. [History] of St Andrews vol. [volume] 1 pp [pages] 26, 27

Transcriber's notes

Continuation of Description for Site of St Mary's Church.
Continues further on Page 46.

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JCB

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