FILLAN

fillan, saint, or faelan, the name of the two scottish saints, of irish origin, whose lives are of a purely legendary character. the st fillan whose feast is kept on the 20th of june had churches dedicated to his honour at ballyheyland, queen's county, ireland, and at loch earn, perthshire. the other, who is commemorated on the 9th of january, was specially venerated at cluain mavscua, co. westmeath, ireland, and so early as the 8th or 9th century at strathfillan, perthshire, scotland, where there was an ancient monastery dedicated to him, which, like most of the religious houses of early times, was afterwards secularized. the lay-abbot, who was its superior in the reign of william the lion, held high rank in the scottish kingdom. this monastery was restored in the reign of robert bruce, and became a cell of the abbey of canons regular at inchaffray. the new foundation received a grant from king robert, in gratitude for the aid which he was supposed to have obtained from a relic of the saint on the eve of the great victory of bannockburn. another relic was the saint's staff or crozier, which became known as the coygerach or quigrich, and was long in the possession of a family of the name of jore or dewar, who were its hereditary guardians. they certainly had it in their custody in the year 1428, and their right was formally recognized by king james iii. in 1487. the head of the crozier, which is of silver-gilt with a smaller crozier of bronze inclosed within it, is now deposited in the national museum of the society of antiquaries of scotland. the legend of the second of these saints is given in the bollandist _acta ss._ (1643), 9th of january, i. 594-595; a.p. forbes, _kalendars of scottish saints_ (edinburgh, 1872), pp. 341-346; d. o'hanlon's _lives of irish saints_ (dublin), n.d. pp. 134-144. see also _historical notices of st fillan's crozier_, by dr john stuart (aberdeen, 1877). fillet (through fr. _filet_, from the med. lat. _filettum_, diminutive of _filum_, a thread), a band or ribbon used for tying the hair, the lat. _vitta_, which was used as a sacrificial emblem, and also worn by vestal virgins, brides and poets. the word is thus applied to anything in the shape of a band or strip, as, in coining, to the metal ribbon from which the blanks are punched. in architecture, a "fillet" is a narrow flat band, sometimes called a "listel," which is used to separate mouldings one from the other, or to terminate a suite of mouldings as at the top of a cornice. in the fluted column of the ionic and corinthian orders the fillet is employed between the flutes. it is a very important feature in gothic work, being frequently worked on large mouldings; when placed on the front and sides of the moulding of a rib it has been termed the "keel and wings" of the rib. in cooking, "fillet" is used of the "undercut" of a sirloin of beef, or of a thick slice of fish or meat; more particularly of a boned and rolled piece of veal or other meat, tied by a "fillet" or string.