Candida Casa

Candida Casa was the name given to the church established by St Ninian in Whithorn, Galloway, southern Scotland, in the mid fifth century AD. The name derives from Latin: casa and candidus/candida , referring possibly to the stone used to construct it, or the whitewash used to paint it.

Whithorn, an early trading center, precedes the island of Iona by 150 years as a birthplace of Scottish Christianity. In 397, St Ninian established the first Christian mission north of Hadrian's Wall here, while the Roman legions still occupied Britain. He erected a small stone church known as the "Candida Casa", or White House, which was Scotland's first Christian building, and the first Christian settlement north of Hadrian's Wall. The church site quickly grew to prominence in the early medieval period, becoming a cathedral and monastery, and remaining a centre for pilgrimage despite the unstable political situation in the region.

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