Gervadius

Holy Venerable Gervadius (Gernard, Garnet) was born in Ireland and lived as a hermit in Scotland near Elgin, in Moray, in the 10th century; he reposed around 934. He is a saint of the undivided Church.

He may have left Ireland to escape Viking raids; he may have belonged to a Gaelic religious community at Kinneddar, and he placed his cell in a cave in a rocky promontory to the east. The place is called Holyman's Head, near Elgin. His cave was a place of pilgrimage until the Reformation and survived into the 19th century, when it was quarried away. A legend says he lit flaming torches at night to warn ships off the rocks, and that when he needed timber to build a church a river washed logs down to him; in another version the river brought him food. His Life says that he met Anglo-⁠Saxon soldiers sent by Athelstan in 934.

He is commemorated on 8 November, the liturgical date in the Orthodox calendar (the same day number on the old and new calendars).