Maelrubha

Saint Maelrubha (Máel Ruba, Maol Rubha, latinised Rufus), from 642 to 722, was an Irish saint who laboured in Scotland and founded the monastery of Applecross in Ross, one of the best attested early Christian monasteries in present-⁠day Scotland. He was descended from Niall, king of Ireland, through his father Elganach; his mother, Subtan, was a niece of Saint Comgall of Bangor. He was born in the region of Derry and educated at Bangor.

In 671, at the age of thirty, he sailed from Ireland to Scotland with a group of monks. For two years he travelled around the country, chiefly in Argyll, perhaps founding some of the many churches still dedicated to him, then settled in 673 at Aporcrosan (Applecross), in Pictish territory in the west of Ross, opposite the islands of Skye and Raasay. From there he set out on missionary journeys: westward to the islands of Skye and Lewis, eastward to Forres and Keith, and northward to Loch Shin, Durness and Farr. He reposed in 722. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 21 April (new style; 4 May in the old style).