A Bishop of Irish origin, Machar is said to have been a former nobleman, baptized by St Colman.

His legend, however, in the Aberdeen breviary makes him "Archbishop of Tours", appointed by Gregory the Great for the last few years of his life.

[3] Much of what is claimed to be known about St Machar derives from the Aberdeen Breviary, a work compiled in the late fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries, long after the traditional date of Machar's life.

[4] The Cathedral's font by Hew Lorimer depicts the saint baptising converts.

[5][6] The Machar oil field in the North Sea is named after the saint.