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Gazetteer
Cathan, WA -- U.S. Census Designated Place in Washington
Population (2000): 526
Housing Units (2000): 181
Land area (2000): 2.654780 sq. miles (6.875849 sq. km)
Water area (2000): 0.029290 sq. miles (0.075860 sq. km)
Total area (2000): 2.684070 sq. miles (6.951709 sq. km)
FIPS code: 10585
Located within: Washington (WA), FIPS 53
Location: 48.113880 N, 122.274621 W
ZIP Codes (1990):
Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
Headwords:
Cathan, WA
Cathan
Wikipedia
Cathan

Saint Cathan, also known as Catan, Cattan, etc., was a 6th-century Irish monk revered as a saint in parts of the Scottish Hebrides. He appears in the Aberdeen Breviary, Walter Bower's Scotichronicon, and the Acta Sanctorum, and a number of placenames in western Scotland are associated with him. He is said to have been one of the first Irish missionaries to come to the Isle of Bute, then part of the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata. Very little is known of him; he is generally only mentioned in connection with his more famous nephew Saint Blane, who was born on Bute and later proselytized among the Picts. Both saints were strongly associated with Bute and with Kingarth monastery, which became the center of their cults.

A number of churches were dedicated to Cathan across Scotland's western islands. Tobar Chattan, or Cathan's Well, at Little Kilchattan on Bute may represent the site of Catan's original church. Other churches, now in ruins, include St Cathan's Chapel on Colonsay, Kilchattan Chapel on Gigha, and Kilchattan Church on Luing. The Luing church served the historical Kilchattan parish; the modern Kilchattan Church was built at Achafolla in 1936. Cathan is said to have lived for a time at the monastery at Stornoway on the isle of Lewis, and his relics are said to have been housed at a chapel founded by Clan MacLeod on the same island. Cathan's name survives in the various toponyms in the area containing the element Chattan (where the first consonant is lenited), such as Ardchattan ("Cathan's Heights") and the many places called Kilchattan ("Church of Cathan"). Examples include the names of the hill of Suidhe Chattan and of the village of Kilchattan Bay, both on Bute. His name is also connected to Clan Chattan, a unique confederation of Scottish clans. His feast day is May 17.

Usage examples of "cathan".

There was more waiting to banditry than Cathan had thought, and his restlessness grew to anxiety, even with the training at arms his fellows gave him.

Tancred hadn’t been so lucky: For the past ten days, Cathan had tended to him, bringing his brother water to drink, porridge to eat, and bowls to puke in, while his life ebbed away.

His bloodshot eyes had gleamed unpleasantly as he raised a bony hand to beckon Cathan near.

Staring at the bushes where Tavarre had disappeared, Cathan believed it.

Embric, a boy of twenty who had been a childhood friend of both Tancred and Cathan had been one of the first to join Tavarre’s band, and he’d urged them to join up too.

There were a dozen of them, but they didn’t interest Cathan as much as the other who rode with them: a cleric of Paladine.

It was a wolfs call, but there hadn’t been any wolves in the hills around Luciel since before Cathan was born.

Finally, Cathan blew a long breath through tight lips, and nodded toward the tents.

Before he could say anything, though, his eyes fell on Cathan and widened.

They made their way through the night with the commotion of the camp falling behind as they went back the way Cathan had come.

When they reached the face-shaped boulder Tavarre stopped, so Cathan did too.

It was also a fortnight’s march away—far enough that Cathan had never seen it.

One was a bald swordsman in a fine suit of scale, but Cathan and Embric only glanced at him, staring instead at the other man.

He cast about, looking for a way to escape as the bald man raised his sword, stepping in front of him to head off Cathan and Embric.

His strides were long, but he was a heavy man, and Cathan was young and quick.