Transactions. 55 



ornamentation, and that the sacred monogi-am is placed zvtthtn a 

 circle. And further, although of less consideration, the formula 

 employed in the inscription and the style of lettering materially 

 differs from all those of a later date. These characteristics stamp 

 the Kirkmadrine Crosses as contemporary with the earliest period 

 of Christianity in Scotland, i.e., between AD. 400-700. Mr 

 Eomilly Allen says : " The monograms on the pillars at Kirkmad- 

 rine bear a great resemblance to those sculptured over the doorways 

 of houses in Syria of the 6th century, which are illustrated in Mon. 

 de Voguel's magnificent work on this subject." In regard to the 

 inscription and style of lettering we have further evidence of great 

 antiquity, in English the inscription is : — 



I am Alpha and Omega. 



Here lie holy and chief priests — 



That is Viventius and Mavorius : 



us and Florentius. 



I am the Beginning and the End. 

 The words Hie facet and Hie Dormit are those used in the Cata- 

 combs of Rome, and at a later time throughout Gaul. They were 

 subsequently quite superseded by a request for prayer for the soul 

 of the deceased, Ora pro me. The style of the letters R. M. F. and 

 the occasional combination of two letters, resemble some stones in 

 Wales which are ascribed in the Archaelogia Cambrensis to the 

 Romano-British period. Lastly, let me endeavour to give a pro- 

 bable answer to the natural enquiry. To whom were these stones 

 erected ? In the fact that their names have not come down to us 

 in history, we have an additional adminicule of evidence in favour 

 of their antiquity, because in early times monuments were not 

 raised to obscure individuals. It should also be kept in mind that 

 until the life of Queec Margaret A.D. 1093, we possess only frag- 

 ments of authentic Scottish history in Bede, Adamnan, the Irish 

 and Welsh Annals, Northern Sagas, and Pictish Chronicles. The 

 following is an interesting extract from the Ecclesiastical History 

 L of the Venerable Bede, who died in 735, regarding the district now 



■ under consideration. He writes : " The Southern Picts had long 



■ ago forsaken the errors of idolatry, and received the true faith by 

 K the preaching of Ninias, a most holy man, who had been regularly 

 B instructed at Rome, whose Episcopal See, remarkable for a Church 

 H dedicated to St. Martin of Tours (wherein he and many other 

 H Saints rest in the body) is still existent." 



H The names inscribed in these Kirkmadrine Crosses resemble 



^^ those upon Christian graves in Gaul. We know that Ninian went 



