11 Facts About Ninian

Ninian is a Christian saint, first mentioned in the 8th century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is Scotland.

Ninian is known as Ringan in Scotland, and as Trynnian in Northern England.

Ninian's identity is uncertain, and historians have identified the name "Ninian" with other historical figures.

Linguistic variations across the territories associated with each saint have provided evidence that the Ninian preserved in literary tradition originated from this individual.

The Southern Picts, for whom Ninian is held to be the apostle, were the Picts south of the mountains known as the Mounth, which cross Scotland north of the Firths of Clyde and Forth.

Tradition holds that Ninian was a Briton who had studied in Rome, that he established an episcopal see at the Candida Casa in Whithorn, that he named the see for Saint Martin of Tours, that he converted the southern Picts to Christianity, and that he is buried at Whithorn.

Aelred said that in addition to finding information about Ninian in Bede, he took much additional information for his Life of S Ninian from a source written in a "barbarous language"; there is no further information about this text.

Ninian's work is what Thomas Heffernan refers to as a "sacred biography", probably intended for a politically ambitious audience.

James Ussher wrote that Ninian left Candida Casa for Cluayn-coner in Ireland, and eventually died in Ireland; that his mother was a Spanish princess; that his father wished to regain him after having assented to his training for an ecclesiastical state; that a bell comes from heaven to call together his disciples; that a wooden church was raised by him, with beams delivered by stags; and that a harper with no experience at architecture was the builder of the church.

Dedications to Saint Ninian are expressions of respect for the good works that are attributed to him, and the authenticity of the stories about him are not relevant to that point.

St Ninian and Triduana's Church, Edinburgh is a Roman Catholic church constructed in 1932 that is dedicated to Ninian.