Cappella Nova - The Miracles of St Kentigern

Glasgow's sixth-century patron saint is accepted as an historical figure and is reputed to have been the founder of the city and its first bishop. The symbols on the city's coat of arms relate to the incredible wonders wrought by the saint as a child and adult, retold over the centuries to charm and astonish, and to impart a sense of the numinous, attract pilgrims, and increase and maintain the prestige of church and city.

The nine lections, recorded here with their responsories for matins, cover childhood miracles at St Serf's Monastery (at Culross) and episodes in his adult life, These are chanted in the order in which they appear in the breviary, but the responsories are not chronological. The childhood episode of the fire (perhaps the sanctuary lamp) chanted in lections IV and V, for example, is interrupted by the responsory which leaps ahead to Kentigern meeting with the dying St Fergus and accompanying the funeral cart led by oxen to the divinely ordained burial place, Glasgow, also to become the site for St Kentigern's monastery. Responsory VI, which tells of persecution by the King, is followed by lection VII with links to responsory III, continuing in detail the miracle of raising St Serf's cook from the dead.

The capacity of the child to extract himself from awkward situations by working miracles was a cause of envy to his companions. But perhaps the most interesting miracle is referred to in the last responsory IX and prosa, in which the mature saint rescued Queen Languoreth from execution. After she had given her lover a ring (which was a gift to her from the King), the King took the lover hunting, and while the latter was sleeping, removed the ring from his finger and threw it into the river. Later he demanded the ring from the Queen. In great distress she begged St Kentigern for help. He arranged for a messenger to bring him the first salmon caught from the river, and he extracted the ring from its belly: just as St Peter, obedient to Christ's command, found the coin in the fish's mouth with which to pay the tax (Matt. 17:24-27). Other parallels with biblical events are also given in the text, for example, Kentigern's meeting with the dying Fergus is related to Simeon's recognition of the Christ-child before he departed "in peace". Similarly, references to the Ark and to Moses effectively connect Kentigern with an ancient memorable event, a sacred site and a powerful leader within the tradition. These are typical examples of the allegorical style in which medieval hagiographers, liturgists and other writers linked their subjects with archetypal figure? from the Old and New Testaments.

Known as the Sprouston Breviary, MS Edinburgh NLS Adv.18.2.13B, is tentatively dated c.1300 or paleographical grounds. The secular (non-monastic), rhymed office for the feast of St Kentigern, confessor bishop, on the octave of Epiphany, January 13, contains proper texts with music for vespers, matins and lauds (folios 35^v-38^v). Alexander Forbes published the Latin texts of the antiphons and responsories in 1874, but the music throughout this corpus of 337 folios was left without comment until John Purser drew attention to the notation and transcribed the melodies.

Tentative suggestions are offered for the provenance of the MS and the church for which it was intended. David McRoberts thought that it was "probably originally intended for Glasgow Cathedral". Henrique Bannister noted similarities in the production of the Sprouston MS and the Hyrdmanston Breviary, which contains an office for St Cuthbert and calendar entries in a later hand appropriate for use in Scottish churches The latter MS was used in the chapel of the St Clair (Sinclair) family in the Haddington region, and Bannister suggested that it may have originated from Northumberland. With respect to the Sprouston MS Bannister considered that if the entry for Alwinus in the Sprouston calendar (November 20) relates to a rare local Scottish saint, the MS would undoubtedly be of Scottish provenance. Lengthy searches have uncovered no record of a St Alwinus. However, the first prior of the Augustinian canons regular of Holyrood, founded by King David I in 1128, was called Alwinus. He was also confessor to the King. There is another interesting entry for Bricius (November 13), bishop and confessor, which probably refers to Bishop Brice of Moray, the first Scottish bishop to adopt the Sarum Use at Spynie (near Elgin), from a Lincoln model, c.1214. Neither was officially canonized, but it is possible that local commemorations were held in their honour in Scotland. Unfortunately, with respect to the church for which the MS was intended, the dedications to churches in the MS are added entries written in a later hand. The MS was probably used in these churches, one of which is Sprouston (Roxburgh), but they offer no clues for the original church. Examinations, to date, of the two obituaries also offer little help.

Alan MacQuarrie has published a masterly analysis of the Kentigern sources - the two vitae extant, commissioned by Bishops Herbert (anonymous, mid 12th century) and Jocelin (by Jocelin, monk of Furness, Cumbria, c.1180), texts referring to the lost book which was in use in the Cathedral, and to "another little volume, dictated in Irish style," - as well as the later liturgical texts. Although only two of the four twelfth-century sources have survived, MacQuarrie's analysis has enabled him to construct a stemma of the relationships between the sources, isolate the legendary and spurious from the historical, and tentatively assign provenance, date and cultural background to the layer of Bretanic (c.685), Welsh (c,890), East Lothian (c.950) and Gaelic (c.950-c.1100) origins for sections of the material.

Analytical studies of the music for offices of local saints may also reveal layers of melodic material relating to distinct regions. However, the MS follows Sarum Use, introduced into British secular cathedrals through Norman influence. David I founded many highly-organized eccles asticat institutions, and the eremitic and collegiate style of the traditional Culdee communities were reorganized and brought into line with continental models.