Ninian's Priory

The remains of Ninian, ‘apostle to the Picts’, were laid to rest at Whithorn in Wigtownshire, Scotland. He is said to have died around AD432, and a priory was built around his shrine which made a fine trade on account of flocking pilgrims in the centuries to come. Little is known of the man himself, the sources being confused and contradictory. By the fifth century, Christianity was already become corrupted and institutionalised, but that might not have been the case in these wild, Pictish northlands, to which only a true vocation would send a man. If he had Christian humility, he likely abhorred the later celebration and veneration of his bones and name.

I was recently invited to the funeral of a Nonconformist minister. He was a well-known local figure and served his church for several decades. His passing seemed premature, yet God calls to eternity at a time of His choosing, not ours. Mourners were invited to pay their respects by visiting the coffin in the church a few days ahead of the funeral, and to line the route as it progressed between the church and a larger public hall in which the ‘service of thanksgiving’ was to be held. A book of condolence was also made available for mourners to record their tributes. I am more used to such arrangements being made for monarchs and former Prime Ministers, but it certainly shows the high opinion in which he was held. I suspect no such plans will be made for my farewell, and I should find them disagreeable if they were.

The scriptures teach that the remains of the dead should be respected. The prophet Amos decried the Moabites' disrespectful burning of the King of Edom’s bones to lime in 2:1. Yet neither should we idealise the dead nor venerate their cadavers. Christ, the Conqueror of the grave, should be the Christian’s primary focus. Ninian’s bones became a macabre source of alleged miracles, his resting place a shrine to Man. Although the Protestant Reformation was too destructive and often driven by personal greed, it did rid the land of much saint-craft and misplaced adoration. Only Christ deserves the glory; only Christ can we fully praise and never drift into obsequiousness, flattery and sycophancy.