The Sabbath in Scotland
(author unknown)

From the advent of Augustine to these isles through more than 500 years, the ancient Britons and the faithful Celtic Church withstood the aggression of Rome. High points in this struggle were:

* The massacre of the university at Bangor by Edelfred and instigated by Augustine, 601 AD.

* The marriage of Malcolm and the English Margaret in Scotland, 1069 AD

* And the devastating war conducted by Henry II, King of England, when he invaded Ireland in 1155 AD.

It is of interest that the seventh day Sabbath was faithfully observed by the Celtic Church up to this time. Seeing you are particularly interested in the change over in Scotland, here are some interesting quotes:

"It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labour. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." (Prof. James C. Moffatt, DD, "The Church in Scotland", p. 140, Philadelphia, 1882)

"They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner." (Prof. Andrew Lang, "A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation", Vol 1, p96, New York: Dodd, Mead and Co, 1900)

"The Scottish Church, then, when Malcolm wedded the saintly English Margaret, was Celtic, and presented peculiarities odious to an English lady, strongly attached to the Establishment as she knew it at home ... They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner ... These things Margaret abolished." (Id., Vol 1, p96)

"Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord's day, but in this latter instance they seem to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early Monastic Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours." ("Celtic Scotland", Vol. II, p. 349, Edinburgh: David Douglas, printer. 1877)

"They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work." (Id., page 350)

"They were wont to neglect the due observance of the Lord's day, pursuing their worldly labours on that as on other days, which she likewise showed, by both argument and authority, was unlawful." (Id. p. 348)

"The queen (Margaret) further protested against the prevailing abuse of Sunday desecration. 'Let us,' she said, 'venerate the Lord's Day, inasmuch as upon it our Saviour rose from the dead: let us do no servile work on that day.' The Scots in this manner had no doubt kept up the traditional practice of the ancient monastic Church of Ireland which observed Saturday, rather than Sunday, as a day of rest." (Bellesheim (Catholic historian), "History of the Catholic Church of Scotland" Vol 1, pp249, 250)

Finally the queen, the king, and the three Roman Catholic dignitaries held a three-day council with the leaders of the Celtic Church.

"It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence due to the Lord's day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did on other days. That this was contrary to the law, she proved to them as well by reason as by authority. 'Let us venerate the Lord's day,' said she, 'because of the resurrection of our Lord, which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it; bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same saying, "We must cease from earthly labour upon the Lord's day."' ... From that time forward ... no one dared on these days either to carry burdens himself or to compel another to do so." ("Life of Queen Margaret," Turgot, Section 20; cited in "Source Book" p506, ed. 1922)

It can now be clearly proven Christianity dawned upon these islands in the course of the first century, and long before the mission of Augustine in 596AD.

"That the light of Christianity dawned upon these islands in the course of the first century, is a matter of historical certainty." (Rev. Richart Hart BA, Vicar of Catton, "Ecclesiastical Records," p. vii, Cambridge 1846)

"In this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours." ("Life of St Columba", p96)

Columba specifically referred to Saturday as the Sabbath and this was the custom of that early church on Iona.