Máelrubai (Old Irish spelling), or Maol Rubha (Maolrubha) (Scottish Gaelic spelling), or Malruibhe (642–722), sometimes Latinised as Rufus, was a monk, originally from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland, and founder of the monastic community of Applecross in Ross, one of the best attested early Christian monasteries in what is now Scotland. The Gaelic name of Applecross, "A' Chomraich", 'The Sanctuary', derives from an area of inviolate ground which surrounded the monastery in ancient times. Its limits were originally marked by crosses. Unfortunately, only a fragment of one of these has survived, within the farmyard at Camusterrach, south of Applecross village. Maol Rubha's monastery was a major Christian centre and instrumental in the spread of both Christianity and Gaelic culture amongst the Picts of northern Scotland. There are several locations named after Maol Rubha such as Loch Maree. In the 17th century the Presbytery of Dingwall was disturbed by reports of several rituals, evidently of pagan origin, such as the sacrificing of bulls, on an island in Loch Maree. These revolved round a debased memory of Máelrubai, whose legacy had perhaps become mixed with an ancient pre-Christian cult of 'God Mourie'. Máelrubai was descended from Niall, King of Ireland, on the side of his father Elganach. His mother, Subtan, was a niece of Saint Comgall (d. 597 or 602) of Bangor. Máelrubai was born in the area of Derry and was educated at Bangor. In 671, when he was thirty, he sailed from Ireland to Scotland with a group of monks. For two years he travelled around the area, chiefly in Argyll, perhaps founding some of the many churches still dedicated to him, before settling at Aporcrosan (Applecross) in the west of Ross opposite the islands of Skye and Raasay in 673. Both Máelrubai's voyage to 'Britain' and his foundation of Applecross are recorded in contemporary Irish annals, implying that they were considered of great significance at the time. At Applecross he built his chief church and monastery in what was then Pictish territory, and thence he set out on missionary journeys: westward to the islands Skye and Lewis, eastward to Forres and Keith, and northward to Loch Shinn, Durness, and Farr. According to local tradition, on this last journey he was killed by Danishvikings, probably at Teampull, around nine miles up the Strathnaver from Farr, where he had built a cell, and was buried near the River Naver, not far from his cell, where his grave is still marked by "a rough cross-marked stone". The tradition, in the Aberdeen Breviary, that he was killed at Urquhart and buried at Abercrossan is probably a mistake arising from a confusion of Gaelic place-names. The contemporary Irish annals - the most reliable source - merely record that he 'died' at Applecross in his 80th year. A setting of two small stones in the graveyard at Applecross is still pointed out as the (supposed) site of his grave. 722 seems far too early for Scandinavian raiders to have been involved, as the first historically recorded Viking attacks on the British Isles date to the 790s. It is likely that the monastery at Applecross did suffer (unrecorded) raids at some point in its history, however, as the succession of its abbots ceases to be recorded in the Irish annals during the course of the ninth century. Máelrubai was, after St. Columba, perhaps the most popular saint of north-west Scotland. At least twenty-one churches are dedicated to him, and Dean Reeves enumerates about forty forms of his name. His death occurred on 21 April, and his feast has always been kept in Ireland on this day; however, in Scotland (probably owing to the confusion with St. Rufus) it has always been kept on August 27. On 5 July1898, Pope Leo XIII restored his feast for the Church in Scotland, to be kept on August 27. As mentioned, Máelrubai's name has given rise to numerous corruptions; for example in Keith, he is referred to as "St Rufus", and in other parts of Scotland, his name was variously rendered as "Maree" (as in the Loch), "Summereve" (i.e., St Maol Rubha) etc. Because his feast day was on August 25[1], folk etymology led some people to confuse "Summereve's Fair" with a secular fair celebrating the season.
