{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Saint Nathalan''' or '''Nachlan''' (died 678), was a Christian priest, and later bishop, who was active in the district now known as Aberdeenshire, in Scotland. He is recognised as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
==Life== thumb|Cowie Kirk, originally dedicated to St Nathalan Nathalan was born in the village of Tullich, for which he was eventually appointed bishop. The 16th-century Aberdeen Breviary portrays Nathalan as a rich nobleman who decided to cultivate the earth and devote himself to God as a hermit.<ref> Duffy, Patrick (8 January 2012). [https://www.catholicireland.net/saintoftheday/st-nathalan-of-tullich/ "Jan 8 – St Nathalan of Tullicht near Aberdeen (died 678 AD)"]. ''Catholic Ireland''.</ref>
The earliest church in Tullich was founded by Nathalan in the 7th century.<ref name=deeside>[http://www.deesidewalks.com/2012/04/tullich-church.html "Tullich Church"]. ''Deeside Walks''.</ref> He also built churches at Bothelim and Colle.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199596607.001.0001/acref-9780199596607-e-1193 | isbn=978-0-19-959660-7 | title=The Oxford Dictionary of Saints | chapter=Nathalan | date=January 2011 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref name=millennium>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stmaryscathedralaberdeen.org/uploads/6/5/1/6/651630/millennium_murals.pdf |title=Millennium Murals|website=St. Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen |access-date=2013-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110419125941/http://www.stmaryscathedralaberdeen.org/uploads/6/5/1/6/651630/millennium_murals.pdf |archive-date=2011-04-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was a nobleman who possessed a large estate, which he cultivated; he distributed his harvest generously to the poor.<ref name=deeside/><ref name=butler>Butler, Alban (1866). [http://www.bartleby.com/210/1/087.html ''The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal Saints'']. J. Duffy Publishing.</ref>
Nathalan is reputed to have built the first small chapel on the windswept clifftop at Cowie, Aberdeenshire, sometime during the 7th century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbaf-arts.org.uk/sites/bbaf/art-in-env/artefactdetails.asp?ArtefactNum=476 |title=Cowie Chapel, St. Mary's of the Storms, Cowie Kirkyard |website=Banff and Buchan Arts Forum |access-date=2013-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209060727/http://www.bbaf-arts.org.uk/sites/bbaf/art-in-env/artefactdetails.asp?ArtefactNum=476 |archive-date=2016-02-09 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Legend== According to legend one very rainy summer the saint, in a moment's weakness, cursed the rain which was hindering the harvest. In penitence for his great sin in cursing God's creation, Nathalan padlocked his right arm to his right leg, tossed the key into the River Dee and set off to walk to Rome to seek forgiveness. Upon reaching Rome he sat down to supper. However, when he cut open the fish laid before him he found the very key that he had thrown into the Dee many months previously. A pool in the river nearby is still known as "the key pool" for this reason.<ref name=deeside/>
==Legacy== St Nathalan Roman Catholic Church, Ballater is named for him.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scottishchurches.org.uk/sites/site/id/4213/name/St+Nathalan+Roman+Catholic+Church%2C+Ballater+Glenmuick%2C+Tullich+and+Glengairn+Grampian |title=St Nathalan Roman Catholic Church Ballater, Glenmuick, Tullich, and Glengairn Grampian |website=Scottish Churches |access-date=16 May 2013 |archive-date=23 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223222155/http://www.scottishchurches.org.uk/sites/site/id/4213/name/St%2BNathalan%2BRoman%2BCatholic%2BChurch,%2BBallater%2BGlenmuick,%2BTullich%2Band%2BGlengairn%2BGrampian |url-status=dead }}</ref> One of the stained glass windows in the baptistery of the Church of St James the Great in Stonehaven honours St Nathalan.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.stjamesandstphilips.co.uk/page3.htm |title=History of St. James |website= St. James' and St. Philips' |access-date=2013-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023120558/http://stjamesandstphilips.co.uk/page3.htm |archive-date=2016-10-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Ballater's Masonic Lodge, founded in May 1815, is named "The Lodge of St Nathalan of Tullich-in-Mar" and is number 259 on the roll of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Nathalan is one of the saints depicted in the Millennium Murals at St Mary's Cathedral, Aberdeen.<ref name=millennium/>
==See also== *Chapel of St Mary and St Nathalan at Cowie
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=Archibald |title=Highways and Byways round Kincardineshire |date=1985 |publisher=Gourdas House |location=Aberdeen, Scotland |isbn=0907301096 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=Archibald |title=Highways and Byways round Stonehaven |date=1984 |publisher=Gourdas House |location=Aberdeen, Scotland |isbn= 978-0-907301-08-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/highwaysbywaysro0000watt/page/n7/mode/2up |url-access=registration |ref=none}}
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Category:History of Aberdeenshire Category:People from Marr, Scotland Category:7th-century Christian saints Category:Medieval Scottish saints Category:Canonizations by Pope Leo XIII Category:678 deaths Category:Year of birth unknown