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{{Infobox saint
| name            = Scuithin
| image           = Ivy Clad Ruin - geograph.org.uk - 1312612.jpg
| imagesize       =
| alt             = Old church ruins at Freynestown
| caption         = Old church ruins at [[Freynestown, County Kilkenny|Freynestown]]
| titles          = Old church ruins at [[Freynestown, County Kilkenny|Freynestown]], [[County Kilkenny]]
| birth_date      = 6th century
| birth_place     =
| home_town       =
| residence       = Freynestown, County Kilkenny
| death_date      = 7th century
| death_place     =
| venerated_in    = [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], [[Roman Catholic Church]]
| beatified_date  =
| beatified_place =
| beatified_by    =
| canonized_date  =
| canonized_place =
| canonized_by    =
| major_shrine    =
| feast_day       = 2 January
| attributes      =
| patronage       = [[Castlewarren]], [[County Kilkenny]]
| issues          =
| suppressed_date =
| suppressed_by   =
| influences      = [[St. David]] of Wales
| influenced      =
| tradition       = St. Scuithin monastery, Johnswell hills, County Kilkenny
| major_works     =
}}
'''St. Scuithin''' (''fl.'' 6th/7th century) also known as '''Scolan''', '''Scothin''' or '''Scuitin''', was a medieval Irish [[saint]] with strong Welsh connections.
Sometime in the 6th century, Scuthin left Ireland to pursue a life of [[cenobitic monasticism]] at ''[[St Davids|Tyddewi]]''<ref name="Todd1864">{{cite book|author=James Henthorn Todd|title=St. Patrick: Apostle of Ireland|publisher=Hodges, Smith & Company|year=1864|url=https://archive.org/details/stpatrickapostl01toddgoog |pages=[https://archive.org/details/stpatrickapostl01toddgoog/page/n106 91]–}}</ref>  in Wales, founded by [[St. David]] (whom at a later date, he was reported to have saved from poisoning).<ref name="EvansWooding2007">{{cite book|author1=J. Wyn Evans|author2=Jonathan M. Wooding|title=St David of Wales: Cult, Church and Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LN9DSKZfItcC&pg=PA135|year=2007|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-84383-322-2|pages=135–}}</ref>
According to the ''[[Irish Ecclesiastical Record]]'',<ref>archive.org/stream/irishecclesiasti10dubluoft/irishecclesiasti10dubluoft_djvu.txt(Vol 10 (1874), 141-161.)</ref> St. Scuithin, having attained advanced ascetic virtues, returned to Ireland c. 540 to live the life of a [[hermit]] [[monk]], building himself an austere and isolated [[Monastic cell|cell]].<ref name="StevensMoll1722">{{cite book|author1=John Stevens|author2=Herman Moll|title=Monasticon Hibernicum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2IuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA381|year=1722|pages=381–}}</ref>
This cell was located at [[Freynestown, County Kilkenny|Freynestown]], on the [[Johnswell]] hills in the ancient barony of [[Slievemargy|Slieve Margy]],<ref name="Ireland1871">{{cite book|author=Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland|title=Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ITFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA130|year=1871|pages=130–}}</ref> [[Kingdom of Ossory]].<ref name="Society1862">{{cite book|author=Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society|title=The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7cNJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA254|year=1862|pages=254–}}</ref> This habitat would become known in [[Irish language|Irish]] as ''tigh scuithin'' and evolve into [[Tiscoffin]] monastery as noted in the [[List of monastic houses in Ireland]].
[[File:Saint Scoheen's Well Freneystown.jpg|thumb|Saint Scuithin's Well in Freneystown]]
In the [[Irish language]] ''tigh scuithin''  means the house/abode of Scuithin. This has been [[anglicised]] as Tiscoffin and preserved as one of the [[civil parishes in Ireland]] within the [[Kilkenny]] [[Barony (Ireland)|Barony]] of [[Gowran (barony)|Gowran]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Ireland Population|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MStDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA42|year=1833|pages=42–}}</ref> The county Kilkenny town of [[Castlewarren]] in the [[Diocese of Ossory (Roman Catholic)|Diocese of Ossory]] also preserves his name with the church of St. Scuithin. The townland of Freynestown is closely associated with St. Scuithin.<ref name="Society1860">{{cite book|author=Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society|title=The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2sNJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA297|year=1860|pages=297–}}</ref>
==St. Scuithin of Bed-Yscolan==
There exists an apparently significant historical reference to St. Scuithin in the ancient [[Annales Cambriae|annals of Wales]]. [[William Forbes Skene]], in the ''Four Ancient Books of Wales'', (Edinburgh, 1868) while reviewing poems in the ''[[Black Book of Carmarthen]]'' makes reference to this saint. There is a poem in which St. Scuithin, described as Yscolan, is confronted by the figure of [[Myrddin Wyllt]]. A portion of the poem reads:
<poem>Black thy horse, black thy cope, black thy head, black thyself, Yes, black art thou, Yscolan.
I am Yscolan the scholar, slight is my clouded reason, there is no drowning the woe of him who offends a sovereign....<ref name="Skene1868">{{cite book|author=William Forbes Skene|title=The four ancient books of Wales|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_7uEIAAAAQAAJ|year=1868|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_7uEIAAAAQAAJ/page/n335 318]–}}</ref></poem>
Skene further states that the same name occurs in the lives of [[Saint David|St. David]], when he is said to have met an Irish ecclesiastic called Scuthyn, at a place later called Bed-y-Scolan.
[[File:Carmarthen Fan - geograph.org.uk - 982593.jpg|thumb|left|[[Picws Du|Carmarthen Fan]]]]
==Asceticism of St. Scuithin==
It is recorded that St. Scuithin  led a life of austere self-discipline  and on being quizzed by his contemporary St. [[Brendan the Navigator|Brendan]]<ref name="Mackley2008">{{cite book|author=Jude S. Mackley|title=The Legend of St. Brendan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDNmPt0Kl7sC|year=2008|isbn=978-90-04-16662-2}}</ref> how he was preserved from temptation, he responded that whenever he slept, two heavenly virgins, i.e., divine hope and charity, kept watch by his side to protect him from evil attack. He was so spiritualized by his constant penance, and so unconcerned with worldly attractions, that he is said to have been able to walk on water.
Legend states that once while performing this act on the waters between Ireland and Wales he met [[Finbarr of Cork|St. Finbarr]] in his boat. St. Scuithin   grasped a [[Variegation|variegated]] flower - a scuitliin from the water and threw it to St. Finbarr<ref name="Caulfield1871">{{cite book|author=Richard Caulfield|title=Annals of St. Fin Barre's cathedral, Cork|publisher=Purcell & Company|url=https://archive.org/details/annalsstfinbarr00caulgoog|year=1871|pages=[https://archive.org/details/annalsstfinbarr00caulgoog/page/n26 4]–}}</ref> saying: “See how, by the mercy of God, it is in a flowery meadow that we are journeying." To which St. Finbarr replied: “This is not a flowery meadow, but the sea;" and plunging his hand into the water, he caught a salmon which he tossed to St. Scuithin, saying: "See how richly it is supplied by God to minister to our wants."
The note in the Felire of [[Óengus of Tallaght|St. Oengus]] adds, that it was on account of that variegated flower that our Saint received his name of Scuithin.<ref name="Culdee)1905">{{cite book|author=Saint Oengus (the Culdee)|title=Félire Óengusso Céli Dée|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i3-NMwEACAAJ|year=1905|publisher=Harrison and Sons, printers}}</ref>
==St. Scuithin of Slieve Margy and St. Gobban of Old Leighlin==
[[File:St.Scuithin monastery location.png|thumb|right|Location map for St. Scuithin's and St.Gobban's monasteries.]]
The ancient habitat and personae of St. Scuithin is often confused with that of [[St Gobhan|St. Gobban]]<ref name="M'Dermot1820">{{cite book|author=Martin M'Dermot|title=A new and impartial history of Ireland. 4 vols. &#91;in 2&#93;.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HkAIAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA109|year=1820|pages=1–}}</ref> of [[Old Leighlin]] which is some seven kilometres  distant. St. Gobban founded his monastery in the early 7th century; it would later evolve into [[St. Laserian's Cathedral, Old Leighlin]], [[County Carlow]]. Confusion exists regarding the various holy men named [[St Goban|St. Goban]].
The close proximity of these two ancient [[ecclesiastical]] sites, plus the passage of time, distortion of language and dialect has entwined and confused the true identities of these saints of early [[Celtic Christianity]]. St. Scuithin and St. Goban were two distinct historical persons. {{Portal|Ireland}}
==St. Scuithin in the Annals==
He was described in the ''History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory'' as:
:Scothin, son of Setnae. son of Trebthach, son of Dal, son of Laidir (Cu-corb's charioteer), son of Imrossa Nith, son of Fertlachtga, son of Fergus mac Roig.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.forgottenbooks.org/readbook_text/The_History_and_Antiquities_of_the_Diocese_of_Ossory_v3_1000284267/397| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131228044825/http://www.forgottenbooks.org/readbook_text/The_History_and_Antiquities_of_the_Diocese_of_Ossory_v3_1000284267/397| archive-date = 2013-12-28| title = p.360-1. The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory}} </ref>
He is also entered January 2, in ''The Martyrology of Donegal'' as:
:Sguithin of Tech-Sguithin, in Sliabh Mairge, in Leinster.<ref>O'Donovan, John, James Henthorn Todd and William Reeves (1864). The Martyrology of Donegal: A Calendar of the Saints of Ireland. Dublin.</ref><ref name="Bourke">{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V01-76iQ48gC&q=scothin&pg=PA125 | title = The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing | isbn = 9780814799062 | last1 = Bourke | first1 = Angela | year = 2002}}</ref>
Two ancient manuscripts in the [[Royal Library of Belgium|Bibliothèque Royale]], [[Brussels]] preserve St. Scuithin's memory in poetry:
:And on Scoithin of great Slieve Margy – known for his holy rigour.<ref name="Bourke" />
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Saints of Ireland |collapsed}}
{{Commons category|Saints of Ireland}}
{{authority control}}
[[Category:Medieval Irish saints]]
[[Category:6th-century Irish people]]