St. Kentigern (ca. 510-601)
The patron saint of Glasgow, born of royal parents. He is said to have founded the cathedral at Glasgow, where he died. He is represented with his episcopal cross in one hand, and in the other a salmon and a ring, in allusion to the wellknown legend:
Queen Langoureth had been false to her husband, King Roderich, and had give her lover a ring. The king, aware of the fact, stole upon the knight in sleep, abstracted the ring, threw it into the Clyde, and then asked the queen for it. The queen, in alarm, applied to St. Kentigern, who after praying, went to the Clyde, caught a salmon with the ring in its mouth, handed it to the queen and was thus the means of restoring peace to the royal couple, and of reforming the repentant queen.
The Glasgow arms include the salmon with the ring in its mouth, and also an oak tree, a bell hanging on one of the branches, and a bird at the top of the tree:
The tree that never grew,
The bird that never flew,
The fish that never swam.
The bell that never rang.
The oak and bell are in allusion to the story that St. Kentigern hung a bell upon an oak to summon the wild natives to worship.
St. Kentigern is also known as "St. Mungo," for Mungho (i.e., dearest) was the name by which St. Servan, his first preceptor, called him. His day is January 13.
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