Patronal fair 7th Feb
According to Kneen Marown refers to St Ronan - the prefix
'Ma' (or 'Mo') being just the Irish honorific 'my' (as in
my lady). The Calendar of Angus refers to 'Bishop
Ronan the Kingly'.. However there are many Ronan's mentioned
in the various Martyrologies. A.W.Moore links him with the
Scottish Abbot Ronan of Cinngrad (Kingarth) in Bute who died
737 and is commenorated in many places in the Hebrides.
The Manx Tradionary
Ballad, verse 20, places him as the third Bishop after
Maughold and buried in Keeill Ma Rooney i.e. Kirk
Marown; thus it is possible that Ronan is a local 'saint'
who later became linked with his more famous namesake.
Farmer gives four St. Ronans: a Scottish hermit of the
7th century whom tradition claims settled on the island of
North Rona where a fine, and unique, oratory of that time
still exists. Legend has it he was told to escape the evil
tongues of the women of Eoroby (Lewis) and that he was
transported to North Rona by whale where he defeated various
diabolical assaults on his person. A church dedicated to him
stands in Eoroby.
A second Ronan is the Scottish bishop of Kilmaroren in
Lennox, implausibly identified with the Irish monk who
defended the Roman calculation of Easter at Whitby as
described by Bede. This Ronan has the 7 Feb feastday and is
celebrated by St Ronan's Well at Innerleithen in
Peeblesshire, as popularised by Sir Walter Scott, where
according to tradition the saint came to the valley and
drove out the Devil
Two other Ronans are a Bishop who died in Brittany after
working in Cornwall and the Bishop celebrated at Canterbury
whose monastery possessed an arm as relic - he may be
Romanus, deacon and exorcist of Caesarea whose feast day is
18th November.
D.H.Farmer The Oxford Dictionary of Saints 1978
