'Ninian [St Ninian] (supp. fl. 5th–6th cent.), missionary and bishop, is credited with building Candida Casa at Whithorn, in south-west Scotland, where he was buried. It is symptomatic of the paucity of firm information about his life that there should be entrenched scholarly disagreement even about when he lived. It was generally assumed, on inadequate evidence, that he flourished in the fifth century; but more recently it has been argued, from the same inadequate evidence, that he was active as late as the mid-sixth century. Another suggestion is that there were, in fact, two Ninians, who flourished in the fifth and sixth centuries respectively. The only certainty is that the life and career of the real St Ninian is impenetrably obscure.'

from the oxford dictionary of national biography. scholarly writing, and all that.




p.s.

there is a notice on this page ('Create post') of blogger that says: 'Scheduled outage at 2:00AM PDT on Monday (5/11).' in my infinite wisdom, and, indeed, in my scholarly way, i thought i read 'Scheduled outrage at 2:00AM PDT on Monday (5/11).' i thought it a bit rich, and therefore re-read. and corrected myself. well.