January 9 - St. Fillan

St. Fillan (Faolan) was the abbot of a monastery sometime in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. His left arm used to glow when he wanted to read but had no candle or lamp. The bone from this arm, called the Mayne, was sent to Robert the Bruce just before his victory over the English army at Bannockburn in 1314. Fillan's bell and crozier (staff) are still in the Museum of Scotland; the bell, called the Bernane, was placed above the head of those suffering migraines to relieve them. It used to fly through the air when Fillan called it to him. St. Fillan's pool, a pond near his abbey, was used for the treatment of the mentally ill. They were tied up and dunked, and then left in the ruins of the abbey overnight. If they were free of the ropes by morning, they were cured.