Macarius Scottus, Bl.
MACARIUS SCOTTUS, BL.
Benedictine abbot; b. Ireland or Scotland; d. Germany, 1153. A benedictine at the Abbey of Regensburg, he was called in 1139 by Bishop Embrico of Würzburg to become the first abbot of the monastery of Sankt Jakob. He journeyed to Rome in 1146 to obtain relics for his community. He was esteemed as a holy man even during his lifetime, and in 1615 his body was exhumed and transferred to the choir of the abbey church. Following this, many miraculous cures were alleged, and in 1818 his relics were moved into the Marienkapelle in Würzburg. From 1731 to the time of World War II, a Macarius brotherhood existed in Würzburg. A summary of his life was written by J. trithemius, abbot of Sankt Jakob in the early 16th century.
Feast: Jan. 23 or Dec. 19.
Bibliography: i. gropp Collectio novissima scriptorum et rerum Wirceburgensium …, 2 v. (Frankfurt 1741–44) 1:808–812; summary of his life according to j. trithemius, 2:123–127. w. hunt, The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900, 63 v. (London 1885–1900; repr. with corrections, 21 v., 1908–09, 1921–22, 1938; suppl. 1901–) 12:400. a. m. zimmermann, Kalendarium Benedictinum: Die Heiligen und Seligen des Benediktinerorderns und seiner Zweige, 4 v. (Metten 1933–38) 1:122–124. a. wendehorst, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1255–56.
[c. r. byerly]