In 671 he sailed from Ireland to Scotland with a group of missionary monks. For two years he travelled around the area, chiefly in Argyll, perhaps founding some of the many churches still dedicated to him.

  In 673 he settled in Pictish territory in the west of Ross opposite the islands of Skye and Raasay, at a place which became known as Applecross, from the Gaelic “A’ Chomraich”, ‘The Sanctuary’. He founded a monastery there and from that base set out on missionary journeys: westward to the islands of Skye and Lewis, eastward to Forres and Keith, and northward to Loch Shin, Durness, and Farr.

  He died in 722. Some traditions say that he was martyred but their historical foundation is uncertain.

  Augustine had a brilliant legal and academic career, but after his conversion he returned home to Africa and led an ascetic life. He was elected Bishop of Hippo and spent 34 years looking after his flock, teaching them, strengthening them in the faith and protecting them strenuously against the errors of the time. He wrote an enormous amount and left a permanent mark on both philosophy and theology. His Confessions, as dazzling in style as they are deep in content, are a landmark of world literature. The Second Readings in the Office of Readings contain extracts from many of his sermons and commentaries and also from the Confessions.

  In the earliest centuries all vestments were white – the white of baptismal purity and of the robes worn by the armies of the redeemed in the Apocalypse, washed white in the blood of the Lamb. As the Church grew secure enough to be able to plan her liturgy, she began to use colour so that our sense of sight could deepen our experience of the mysteries of salvation, just as incense recruits our sense of smell and music that of hearing. Over the centuries various schemes of colour for feasts and seasons were worked out, and it is only as late as the 19th century that they were harmonized into their present form.