St. Maughold (Machalus, Maccul, Maccaille) has been venerated as the second apostle of the Isle of Man after St. Patrick. Although St. Maughold was an Irish prince by birth, in his youth he lived as a pirate and gathered a band of robbers around him. One day they came upon St. Patrick as he was travelling and decided to set a trap for him. Maughold said: “This is the imposter that is leading the people astray, let us see whether his God is strong or not.” One of the robbers was ordered to lie in the middle of the road, covered with a cloak, pretending to be dead. The others then called the holy man and asked him to heal their comrade. Patrick came up and removed the cloak – and the man was found to be truly dead. … Seized with fear, the robbers begged forgiveness of the saint. Following this incident he was converted to Christ and was baptized by St. Patrick, becoming his disciple. It is worthy to note that after his baptism, Maughold said to St. Patrick: “I confess to you my holy lord Patrick that I had planned to kill you.” And Patrick decided to give him a penance. He was told to go down to the Lecale peninsula on the east coast of Ireland and sit in a little boat (a coracle) with his hands chained and wearing only a single garment, and entrust himself to the Providence of God. A north wind began to blow and pushed the little boat to the north-east part of the Isle of Man, between Ireland and England, at the place which is now known as St. Maughold’s head. Immediately the boat touched land, the chains fell off St. Maughold. He clambered onto the shore, and a spring of water appeared to quench his thirst. That spring still bubbles with clear water to the present day. There he found two admirable men… who had been the first to preach the word of God and baptism in the Isle of Man, and by their teaching, the inhabitants of the island had been converted to the Christian Faith. The names of the two men are Conindrus and Rumilus. Having found spiritual fathers in the place given to him by God, he trained his body and soul according to their rule and spent all the time of his life there with those two holy bishops. 

 

St. Maughold lived in a cave on a mountain side as a hermit, praying to God and shedding tears, repenting of his past misdeeds. In his lifetime the bishop was much loved by the Manx population. He also may have made missionary journeys to Wales and Scotland, but he never returned to Ireland. He reposed, according to different sources, in 488 or 498. This holy hierarch is still much loved and venerated on the Isle of Man for his kindness and care of the island’s inhabitants. 

 

The monk Jocelin, writing late in the 12th century, adds some more details: that Maughold was a heathen originally, that Bishops Conindrus and Romulus had been consecrated by St. Patrick, who had appointed them “to rule over the people of that island and to instruct them in the faith of Christ after the death of Germanus the first Bishop”. St. Maughold died, according to some sources, in the year 498, and according to others – in 518. He is described in the Martyrology of Oengus as “a rod of gold, a vast ingot, the great bishop MacCaille”. William Worcestere said that he was a native of the Orkney islands.

​

The Chronicle of Man, written in about 1250, relates that in 1158, Somerled of Argyll landed at Ramsey with the intention of taking control of the Isle of Man. “One of the principal chiefs called Gilcolum maintained that it would be no violation of the asylum of St. Maughold to drive off, for the supply of the army, the cattle that were grazing outside the precincts of the cemetery. A rumour in the meantime reached the church… The weaker sex, with dishevelled hair and mournful accents wandered around the walls of the church, loudly crying ‘Where are thou now, O Maughold? Where are thy miracles which till now thou has worked in this place?’ Moved, as we believe, by these and similar supplications…, St. Maughold delivered them from imminent danger.

 

Saint Maughold appeared in a dream to Somerled and rebuked him for his behaviour.  He was so frightened by this vision that he took his forces and immediately left the Island.

​

It is known that a Celtic monastery in honor of St. Maughold existed on the Isle of Man. Today the saint is commemorated on the Isle of Man in the village and parish of Maughold, on a headland called Maughold Head (the easternmost point of the island where according to tradition Maughold first came ashore), in a few parish churches, and a holy well that the saint used for baptisms. The most notable site is located on the north-eastern coast of the Isle of Man, where pilgrims can visit the ruins of the above-mentioned Celtic Monastery of St. Maughold; his parish church (Kirk Maughold) with a graveyard; a healing holy well (which reputedly protected people from poisoning) a little way from the church; three surviving keeils, complete with a number of tenth-century crosses and twenty-five pre-Norwegian early Christian gravestones.

 

 

Additionally, there is a ledge of rock by the holy well named “St. Maughold’s Chair” on which in past times pilgrims would sit, meditate and call on the saint’s name. There is a purpose-built “cross house” next to the church which has forty-five ancient crosses from various parts of the island, some of which came here from this churchyard. Many of the crosses are just slabs, though some of them retain their carved figures, decorations and inscriptions in Hiberno-Saxon and even Greek. The most famous of them is the fine Pillar Cross, which contains a carving of the Crucifixion of Christ along with a symbol of Manannan, the legendary three-legged pagan wizard-ruler of the Isle of Man and local pre-Christian hero, reputedly vanquished by St. Patrick. It had stood in the churchyard before 1989, when it was moved inside to protect it from the elements. The church itself is of the eleventh century with later additions, and the original church or chapel was erected by Maughold himself on this spot. The unique relics and finds at Kirk Maughold bear witness to a thriving Christian community in the Orthodox period of this island. In all probability, St. Maughold’s relics were kept in this monastery. St. Maughold is commemorated on April 27.

Holy Father Maughold, pray to God for us!
 

______________________________________________________
 

From the book: 122 LIVES OF THE BRITISH SAINTS
By Vladimir Moss, and from the site orthodoxchristian.com.

(Sources: Muirchu, Life of Patrick; D.S. Dugdale, Manx Church Origins, Llanerch
publishers, Felinfach, 1998; C.W. Airne, The Story of the Isle of Man, Douglas: Norris
Modern Press, 1949, vol. I; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of
Saints, Oxford: Clarendon, 1978, p. 254)