Ronan, Scottish hermit of the 7th century. Persistent tradition claims that he settled on the island of North Rona, where a fine oratory of that time survives, a unique relic of early Christianity in Scotland and similar to the Gallarus Oratory of Co. Kerry.

Legend relates that he was tormented by the evil tongues of the women in Eoroby (Lewis); that he was told in a dream to escape from them by sea; that a whale took him to North Rona, where he defeated various diabolical assaults on his person and his oratory. A later version related that his sister Brenhilda, exiled on a nearby island for some sin, died pining for her brother. A church at Eoroby is dedicated to him, as well as the chapel on North Rona.

Bibliography
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• H. C. Nisbet and R. A. Gailey, ‘A survey of the Antiquities of North Rona’, Archaeol. Jnl., cxvii (1960), 88–115