TRANSACTIONS. 55 
ornamentation, and that the sacred monogram is placed within 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, ze., between a.D. 400-700. Mr 
Romilly 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. {Im English the inscription is :— 
Iam 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 Hic Jacet and Hic 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subsequently quite superseded by a request for prayer for the soul 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 tw 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 Queer 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 
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 
_ the preaching of Ninias, a most holy man, who had been regularly 
_ instructed at Rome, whose Episcopal See, remarkable for a Church 
dedicated to St. Martin of Tours (wherein he and many other 
Saints rest in the body) is still existent.” 
The names inscribed in these Kirkmadrine Crosses resemble 
those upon Christian graves in Gaul. We know that Ninian went 
