MARIANUS SCOTUS, Abbot of St. Peter’s at Ratisbon, born in Ireland before the middle of the eleventh century; died at Ratisbon towards the end of the eleventh century, probably in 1088. In 1067 he left his native country, intending to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Like many of his countrymen, however, who visited the Continent, he decided to settle in Germany, and did not return to Ireland. At Bamberg he became a Benedictine monk, and thence he went with some companions to Ratisbon (or Regensburg), where he founded the monastery of St. Peter and became its first abbot. After his death he was honoured as a saint, his feast being observed on 17 April, 4 July, or, according to the Bollandists, on 9 February.
The Chronicle of Marianus Scotus manuscript, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vaticanus Palatinus latinus 830, fol. 148r.
Marianus devoted himself to transcribing and glossing the text of the Scriptures. His success as a scribe, and the exceptional beauty of his calligraphy may be judged by a specimen of his work which has come down to us. This is Codex 1247 of the Imperial Library of Vienna containing the Epistles of St. Paul with glosses, some of which are in Latin and others in Irish. The latter were collected and published by Zeuss in his “Grammatica Celtica” (p. xxiv). The manuscript ends with the words “In honore individuæ trinitatis Marianus Scotus scripsit hunc librum suis fratribus peregrinis . . .” (the date given is 16 May, 1078). Over the words ‘Marianus Scotus” is the gloss: “Muirdach trog macc robartaig, i. e. Marianus miser filius Robartaci.” The Irish form of his name was, therefore, Muirdach (from the root muir; hence, instead of the Latin form Marianus, there sometimes occurs Pelagius), and his family name was Robartaig, or Rafferty.
Acta SS., Feb., II, 361 sqq.; Revue celtique, I (1870), 262 sqq.; Proceed., Royal Irish Acad., VII, 290 sqq.; Verhandl. hist. Ver. Oberpfalz-Regensburg (1879), XXVI.
WILLIAM TURNER (Catholic Encyclopedia)
