St Mungo Arrives at Glasgow

The Glasgow Coat of Arms contains a strange collection of images. The tree, robin, bell and salmon holding a ring all tell the story of the man who founded the City of Glasgow – St Mungo.

Mungo hadn’t spent his entire life in Glasgow, he was born on the east coast of Scotland in Fife, learning the word of God from St Serf. Here as a boy, he was bullied by the other children who constantly tried to get him into trouble. They killed their teacher’s pet robin to try and pin the blame on Mungo, but he resurrected it through prayer. They put out a fire that Mungo should have been watching but just by sheer will, hazel branches he had gathered caught alight.

Eventually, things were too much for St Mungo and he decided to leave Fife to become a missionary. He travelled to the house of a Holy Man named Fergus, finding him close to death. Mungo was just in time to catch the man’s final wish. Fergus wanted his body to be placed in a cart, pulled by two wild bulls and wherever they decided to stop, that was where he should be buried.

Following the holy man’s wish, Mungo followed the bulls until they came to a beautiful green spot, where the Molendinar burn flows into the great River Clyde. Here, he buried Fergus and decided to build his own small church from where he could preach to the Kingdom of Strathclyde. He named the area after the quiet green area, calling it Glasgu. Over the next 1500 years that little church would grow into Glasgow Cathedral.