Saint Moluag

You have all heard of St Columba, haven’t you?  How about St Moluag?  A contemporary of Columba who forwent the coracle that Columba travel on to get from Ireland to Scotland.  Instead, so the legend goes, Moluag crossed the Irish Sea on a rock which had broken off from the Irish coast as he stood on it and then drifted him across to come to a halt at Lismore on Loch Linnie where he later founded a monastery after a race with Columba.

Sitting on its croft St Moluag’s Church welcomes you from a distance calling you across the springy peat pathway just as Moluag was called across the Irish Sea.

With no heating or electricity the stone walls are tinged with green, yet the church has a warmth about it, centuries of prayer ooze out of the walls and the oil lamps hang from the ceiling reminding all that what this place is not about some passing whim but about that which transcends time.

While every niche in the wall is marked with the soot of a thousand candles each one numbering the thousands of souls who have found peace and healing within these walls.

If you ever find yourself on the Isle of Lewis do yourself a favour and take the trip up to the Butt of Ness and search out St Moluag, if it has been wet take your wellies for you will probably need them as you make the long walk across the croft to the church at the other end.  However be it wet or dry the journey is one that will surely bless you as it did us.