Saint Declan as a Pre-Patrician Saint

Yesterday I posted on a modern scholar's analysis of the tradition that Saint Declan of Ardmore, whose feast we celebrate today, was one of four 'pre-Patrician saints', credited with the introduction of Christianity to Munster before the coming of Saint Patrick. In reading the Life of Saint Declan, it is interesting to observe how the hagiographer is keen to establish his subject's pre-Patrician credentials whilst at the same time showing the proper respect to Saint Patrick as the chief bishop of the Irish. The headings below are mine, the text from the translation by Patrick Power at CELT .

In chapter 7 we are told that Declan first takes himself to Rome for study:

Declan judged it proper that he should visit Rome to study discipline and ecclesiastical system, to secure for himself esteem and approbation thence, and obtain authority to preach to the Irish people and to bring back with him the rules of Rome as these obtained in Rome itself. He set out with his followers and he tarried not till he arrived in Rome where they remained some time.

Declan obtains papal approval for his mission to his countrymen and even attracts some Roman followers:

chapter 9

When Declan had spent a considerable time in Rome he was ordained a bishop by the Pope, who gave him church-books and rules and orders and sent him to Ireland that he might preach there. Having bidden farewell to the Pope and received the latter's blessing Declan commenced his journey to Ireland. Many Romans followed him to Ireland to perform their pilgrimage and to spend their lives there under the yoke and rule of Bishop Declan, and amongst those who accompanied him was Runan, son of the king of Rome; he was dear to Declan.

and in the next chapter he encounters Saint Patrick, who is not yet either a bishop nor commissioned to undertake a mission to Ireland:

chapter 10

On the road through Italy Bishop Declan and Patrick met. Patrick was not a bishop at that time, though he was (made a bishop) subsequently by Pope Celestinus, who sent him to preach to the Irish. Patrick was truly chief bishop of the Irish island. They bade farewell to one another and they made a league and bond of mutual fraternity and kissed in token of peace. They departed thereupon each on his own journey, scil.:—Declan to Ireland and Patrick to Rome.

A few chapters later Declan's fellow pre-Patricians are named, but again, not at the expense of acknowledging Patrick's contribution as all-Ireland evangelist:

chapter 13

After this Declan came to Ireland. Declan was wise like a serpent and gentle like a dove and industrious like the bee, for as the bee gathers honey and avoids the poisonous herbs so did Declan, for he gathered the sweet sap of grace and Holy Scripture till he was filled therewith. There were in Ireland before Patrick came thither four holy bishops with their followers who evangelized and sowed the word of God there; these are the four:—Ailbe, Bishop Ibar, Declan, and Ciaran. They drew multitudes from error to the faith of Christ, although it was Patrick who sowed the faith throughout Ireland and it is he who turned chiefs and kings of Ireland to the way of baptism, faith and sacrifice and everlasting judgment.

Yet not all of the pre-Patrician four were as reconciled to Patrick as Declan:

chapter 22

After this the holy renowned bishop, head of justice and faith in the Gaelic island came into Ireland, i.e. Patrick sent by Celestinus, the Pope. Aongus Mac Nathfrich went to meet him soon as he heard the account of his coming. He conducted him (Patrick) with reverence and great honour to his own royal city—to Cashel. Then Patrick baptised him and blessed himself and his people and his city. Patrick heard that the prince of the Decies had not been baptised and did not believe, that there was a disagreement between the prince and Declan and that the former refused to receive instruction from the latter. Patrick thereupon set out to preach to the prince aforesaid. Next, as to the four bishops we have named who had been in Rome: Except Declan alone they were not in perfect agreement with Patrick. It is true that subsequently to this they did enter into a league of peace and harmonious actions with Patrick and paid him fealty. Ciaran, however, paid him all respect and reverence and was of one mind with him present or absent. Ailbe then, when he saw the kings and rulers of Ireland paying homage to Patrick and going out to meet him, came himself to Cashel, to wait on him and he also paid homage to him (Patrick) and submitted to his jurisdiction, in presence of the king and all others. Bear in mind it was Ailbe whom the other holy bishops had elected their superior. He therefore came first to Patrick, lest the others, on his account, should offer opposition to Patrick, and also that by his example the others might be more easily drawn to his jurisdiction and rule. Bishop Ibar however would on no account consent to be subject to Patrick, for it was displeasing to him that a foreigner should be patron of Ireland. It happened that Patrick in his origin was of the Britons and he was nurtured in Ireland having been sold to bondage in his boyhood. There arose misunderstanding and dissension between Patrick and Bishop Ibar at first, although (eventually), by intervention of the angel of peace, they formed a mutual fellowship and brotherly compact and they remained in agreement for ever after. But Declan did not wish to disagree at all with Patrick for they had formed a mutual bond of friendship on the Italian highway and it is thus the angel commanded him to go to Patrick and obey him:—

Next Declan acts to placate Patrick and stop him from cursing his land and people:

The angel of God came to Declan and said to him ‘Go quickly to Patrick and prevent him cursing your kindred and country, for to-night, in the plain which is called Inneoin, he is fasting against the king, and if he curses your people they shall be accursed for ever.’ Thereupon Declan set out in haste by direction of the angel to Inneoin, i.e. the place which is in the centre of the plain of Femhin in the northern part of the Decies. He crossed Slieve Gua and over the Suir and arrived on the following morning at the place where Patrick was. When Patrick and his disciples heard that Declan was there they welcomed him warmly for they had been told he would not come. Moreover Patrick and his people received him with great honour. But Declan made obeisance to Patrick and besought him earnestly that he should not execrate his people and that he should not curse them nor the land in which they dwelt, and he promised to allow Patrick do as he pleased. And Patrick replied:—‘On account of your prayer not only shall I not curse them but I shall give them a blessing.’ Declan went thereupon to the place where was the king of Decies who was a neighbour of his. But he contemned Patrick and he would not believe him even at the request of Declan. Moreover Declan promised rewards to him if he would go to Patrick to receive baptism at his hands and assent to the faith. But he would not assent on any account. When Declan saw this, scil.:—that the king of the Decies, who was named Ledban, was obstinate in his infidelity and in his devilry—through fear lest Patrick should curse his race and country—he (Declan) turned to the assembly and addressed them:—‘Separate yourselves from this accursed man lest you become yourselves accursed on his account, for I have myself baptised and blessed you, but come you,’ said he, ‘with us, to Patrick, whom God has sent to bless you, for he has been chosen Archbishop and chief Patron of all Erin; moreover, I have a right to my own patrimony and to be king over you as that man (Ledban) has been.’ At this speech they all arose and followed Declan who brought them into the presence of Patrick and said to the latter:—‘See how the whole people of the Deisi have come with me as their Lord to thee and they have left the accursed prince whose subjects they have been, and behold they are ready to reverence you and to obey you for it is from me they have received baptism.’ At this Patrick rose up with his followers and he blessed the people of the Deisi and not them alone, but their woods and water and land. Whereupon the chiefs and nobles of the Deisi said:—‘Who will be King or Lord over us now?’ And Declan replied:—‘I am your lord and whomsoever I shall appoint offer you as lord, Patrick and all of us will bless, and he shall be king over you all.’ And he whom Declan appointed was Feargal MacCormac a certain young man of the nation of the Deisi who was a kinsman of Declan himself. He (Declan) set him in the midst of the assembly in the king's place and he was pleasing to all. Whereupon Patrick and Declan blessed him and each of them apart proclaimed him chieftain. Patrick moreover promised the young man that he should be brave and strong in battle, that the land should be fruitful during his reign. Thus have the kings of the Deisi always been.

Saints Ailbe and Declan receive their rewards as 'second Patricks':

chapter 26

As Patrick and the saints were in Cashel, i.e. Ailbe and Declan with their disciples, in the territory of Aongus Mac Nathfrich, they made much progress against paganism and errors in faith and they converted them (the pagans) to Christianity. It was ordained by Patrick and Aongus Mac Natfrich in presence of the assembly, that the Archbishopric of Munster should belong to Ailbe, and to Declan, in like manner, was ordained (committed) his own race, i.e. the Deisi, whom he had converted to be his parish and his episcopate. As the Irish should serve Patrick, so should the Deisi serve Declan as their patron, and Patrick made the rann:—

Humble Ailbe the Patrick of Munster, greater than any saying,
Declan, Patrick of the Deisi—the Decies to Declan for ever.

This is equivalent to saying that Ailbe was a second Patrick and that Declan was a second Patrick of the Decies. After that, when the king had bidden them farewell and they had all taken leave of one another, the saints returned to their respective territories to sow therein the seed of faith.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2017. All rights reserved.

Saint Mocelloc in the Life of Saint Declan of Ardmore

March 7 is the feast of Saint Mocelloc of Magh-Scethe, a hermit said to have been a contemporary of the famous Saint Declan of Ardmore. He and his fellow hermits feature in the Life of Saint Declan:

Their first appearance is as witnesses of the miraculous fiery globe of light which heralded the saint's birth and as prophets of his future greatness:

There were seven men dwelling in Magh Sgiath, who frequently saw the fiery globe which it has been already told they first beheld at the time of Declan's birth. It happened by the Grace of God that they were the first persons to reveal and describe that lightning. These seven came to the place where Declan abode and took him for their director and master. They made known publicly in the presence of all that, later on, he should be a bishop and they spoke prophetically:—‘The day, O beloved child and servant of God, will come when we shall commit ourselves and our lands to thee.’ And it fell out thus (as they foretold), for, upon believing, they were baptised and became wise, devout and attentive and erected seven churches in honour of God around Magh Sgiath.

In the second extract, the names of the holy men, including that of Mocelloc are listed:

Once on a time Declan came on a visit to the place of his birth, where he remained forty days there and established a religious house in which devout men have dwelt ever since. Then came the seven men we have already mentioned as having made their abode around Magh Sgiath and as having prophesied concerning Declan. They now dedicated themselves and their establishment to him as they had promised and these are their names:—Mocellac and Riadan, Colman, Lactain, Finnlaoc, Kevin, etc. These therefore were under the rule and spiritual sway of bishop Declan thenceforward, and they spent their lives devoutly there and wrought many wonders afterwards.

P.Power, ed. and trans., The Life of Saint Declan of Ardmore, (London, 1914), 15, 23.

Saint Comán of Lismore, October 31

We close the month of October with the commemoration of an abbot of Lismore, County Waterford, a successor to the founder, Saint Carthage or Mochuda. The Martyrology of Donegal lists two abbots of Lismore at 31 October - Comán and Colman - but, as the following extract from a diocesan history suggests, we may be dealing with a single individual:

31 C. PRIDIE KAL. NOVEMBRIS. 31.

COMÁN, Ua Ciarain, Abbot of Lis-mor.
COLMAN, Abbot of Lis-mor. The age of Christ when he resigned his spirit was 702.

The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint's Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda's place of birth the saint's successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

Comman, grandson of Ciaran, abbot of Lismore ... ... ... Oct. 31.

[His name is written Colman in Martyr. Donegal.]

Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore - A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Maedóc of Lismore, December 29

December 29 is the feast day of a saint of the monastery of Lismore, Saint Maedóc. In the Irish annals the successors to Saint Carthage of Lismore are sometimes styled as abbots and sometimes as bishops. The Martyrology of Donegal gives our saint the latter title:

29. F. QUARTO KAL. JANUARII. 29.

MAEDHOG, Bishop, of Lis-mór.

Here is a brief reminder of the history of Lismore and its founder:

The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint's Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda's place of birth the saint's successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

Maedoc, bishop of Lismore ... . .. Nov. 29.

Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore - A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

Not for the first time I notice that Power's quotation of the feast days from the Martyrologies seems to be out, for in both the Martyrology of Donegal and in that of Marianus O'Gorman our saint is listed at December 29 and not November. I assume this is a typo.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Mac-óige of Lismore, December 3

December 3 sees the commemoration of a saint associated with the monastery of Lismore, County Waterford. This important monastic school was founded by Saint Carthach (also known as Mochuda) and produced a number of notable saints and scholars. A diocesan historian gives this brief description of it:

The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint's Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda's place of birth the saint's successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

Macoige, abbot of Lismore ... ... ... Dec. 3.

Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore, A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

 The Martyrology of Donegal for 3rd December simply commemorates 'MACCOIGE, Abbot, of Lis-mór-Mochuda', but there is a less prosaic entry in the metrical Martyrology of Oengus:

A. iii. nonas. Decembris.

Macc-óige with
perfect goodness, pilot of
marvellous Lismore.

The scholiast goes on to record a rather extraordinary legend associated with this saint:

3. Macc óige, i.e. abbot of Less mór Mochutu, and he was called 'the Frightener or the Disturber,' and this is the cause : when he was a little child, the plough-teams of the world, and every other kind of cattle which used to serve human beings, when they used to see him, would flee before him in panic and terror. Hence was understood the great servitude to him in which they were all to be thereafter.

It would seem that Saint Mac-óige was a contemporary of the eighth-century Céile-Dé leader, Maelruain of Tallaght. In the collection of materials published under the title 'The Monastery of Tallaght', some of Mac-óige's own teaching is preserved:

76. This is what Mac Óige of Lismore said in reply to a certain man who inquired of him which attribute of the clerical character it would be best for him to acquire. He replied: ‘That attribute with which he has never yet heard fault found. If a man be distinguished [for charity],’ said he, ‘it is said that his charity is too great; if humble, it is said again that that man is too humble; if ascetic, that his abstinence is excessive, and so with the rest. I have never heard, however,’ said he, ‘of anyone of whom it was said that “this man is too steady”. Whatever task a man has set his hand to, it is best for him to persevere in it,’ etc.

‘The Monastery of Tallaght’, ed. E. J. Gwynn & W. J. Purton, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 29C (1911-12) 115-180.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saints Laidhgenn, Cainneach and Accobran, November 28

November 28 is the feastday of a trio of brothers, Laidhgenn, Cainneach and Accobran, the sons of Bochra. The Martyrology of Oengus and its accompanying gloss record:

28. A chief trio that is not transitory,
with Trophimus the unabating,
Bochra's (three) sons perennial triumph!
from smooth Ached Rathin.

sons of Bochrae, i.e. three brothers from Achad rathin in the Dési of Munster. Bochrae was their mother's name. Laidgenn and Caindech and Aed-cobran their names.

The Martyrology of Gorman records:

The soldiers have been magnified: Bochra's three warlike sons.

to which the gloss has been added:

i.e. Laidcenn, Cainnech and Accobran, from Achad Rathin in Húi meic Caille in Dési of Munster. Bochra is their mother's name.

In an an article on an inscribed ogham stone discovered in County Kerry in 1893, the Anglican antiquary, Bishop Graves, identified the inscription as a request for a prayer for the soul of one Comaign, son of Fitalin. His researches began with the name Fitalin as he explains:

I lost no time in trying to find the name FITALIN in Irish hagiological and historical documents. I looked in vain in the Annals and Martyrologies, and in the different copies of the Sanctilogium Genealogicum. At last, in the treatise De Matribus Sanctorum Hiberniae (ascribed by Colgan and others to Aengus the Culdee), I lighted upon a name, Fidlin, which, as the hard t of the ancient Ogam would be softened into n in the more modern mss., can safely be identified with that which appears in the inscription. This name occurs in two passages of the treatise De Matribus, as given in the Book of Leinster:

(1). Bochra was the mother of the three sons of Fidlin, viz. Laidcend, and Cainnech, and Aedchobran.
(2). Bochra was the mother of the three sons of Irlamain, viz. Fidlin, and Liadnain, and Dulechain.

The Book of Ballymote and Book of Lecan agree with the Book of Leinster as to (2) ; but in (1) they read "Bochra was the mother of the three sons of Bochra," the names of the sons being the same. Laidhgenn, Cainneach, and Accobran, the three sons of Bochra, are commemorated on November 28, in the Martyrologies of Donegal and Tallaght, and by Marianus Gorman. In the Felire, "the sons of Bochra" are celebrated in the text on that day, while the Commentator in the Lebar Breac gives their names as above. They are described as "of Achad Raithin in Ui-mic-Caille in Deisi Mumhan."

Rt.Rev. Dr. Graves, On an Ogham Monument Recently Found in County Kerry in PRIA. 3rd ser: v.3 (1893), 374-379.

Another 19th-century Anglican cleric, Sabine Baring-Gould, was confident that he had identified the last of the three sons of Bochra, Accobran, with a Saint Achebran, patron of Saint Keverne in Cornwall:

Achebran is presumedly the Irish Aed Cobhran, one of the sons of Bochra; and his brothers were Laidcenn and Cainrech. Bochra was the name of the mother. Their father's name is unknown. The three brothers were commemorated as Saints of Achad Raithin in Ily MacGaille, in Waterford. But Aed Cobhran had a special commemoration on January 28, as having a cell under Inis Cathy. He was consequently associated with S. Senan, if he belonged to the period. His cell was not in the island of Inis Cathy, but at Kilrush on the mainland, in Clare. He is there forgotten; there are two old churches in the place, but both are named after S. Senan. This is due to Aed Cobhran not having founded his church, but to his having occupied one belonging to S. Senan.

It is probable that Achebran came to Cornwall along with S. Senan and the party that attended S. Breaca, and that he made his settlement in the Lizard district. Cobhran became Kevern, for the Irish bh is sounded like v. In later times he seems to have been forgotten or mistaken for S. Cieran, from whom he is wholly distinct. If we are not mistaken, he settled permanently in France, where his name was still further corrupted into Abran...

..The day of Aed Cobhran, as already said, in the Irish Martyrologies, is January 28, but he is also commemorated along with his brothers on November 28. In that of Donegal he is mentioned as of Cill-Ruis or Kilrush, in the county of Clare, but he is no longer there remembered. Cill-Ruis was in the diocese of Iniscathy, which seems to indicate, as already mentioned, that he was a disciple of S. Senan, who is the Cornish Sennen. He is commemorated in the Felire of Aengus, and in the Martyrology of Tallagh as well.

S. Baring-Gould and J. Fisher, The Lives of the British Saints: the Saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish saints as have dedications in Britain in four volumes. Vol. I. (London, 1907), 106-7.

I was interested to see that Canon O'Hanlon in his entry for Saint Acobran of Kilrush on January 28, makes no mention of a Cornish (much less a French) career for this saint, nor does he identify him with the son of Bochra. A modern scholar of Cornwall's saints, Nicholas Orme, says of Saint Keverne:

Achevran or Achovran (modern Keverne), a male saint, since at least 1086 and probably since at least the 10th century as he occurs in the early list of Cornish saints. He was probably in origin an independent figure, but by 1266 he was equated with the Irish saint Ciarán of Saighir, and by the 15th both were identified also with Piran.

Nicholas Orme, English Church Dedications with a Survey of Cornwall and Devon (Exeter, 1996), 94.

I don't think therefore that we can put much trust in Baring-Gould's thesis that Saint Acobran of Kilrush is to be equated with Acobran, one of the three sons of Bochra and with the Cornish saint Keverne. I haven't been able to discover any further information on him or his brother saints.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Connait of Lismore, November 15

Among the saints commemorated on November 15 on the Irish calendars is Connait, an eighth-century abbot of Lismore. The Martyrology of Donegal records the date of his repose:

15. D. DECIMO SEPTIMO KAL. DECEMBRIS. 15.

CONNAIT, Abbot, of Lismor, A.D. 759.

A diocesan historian of Lismore gives this summary of Abbot Connait's monastery:

The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint's Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda's place of birth the saint's successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

Connait, abbot of Lismore (died 759) ... Nov. 15.

Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore - A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

The Birthplace of Saint Declan

July 24 is the feastday of Saint Declan (Deglan) of Ardmore, County Waterford. Below is an article on the birthplace of the saint from a 19th-century antiquarian journal which draws on the hagiographical tradition:

THE BIRTHPLACE OF ST DEGLAN

BY VERY REV. F. O’BRIEN, P.P., V.G., M.R.I,A.

The better to understand the subject and object of the paper which I am about to read for you, I beg to call your attention to the Ordnance Map of the County of Waterford. You are aware that the eminent men under whose inspection and supervision that map was compiled and published as the result of their survey of Ireland, were accompanied by and had associated with them during their labours two of the most eminent Irish scholars of their time, namely, Mr. Eugene O’Curry and Mr. John O’Donovan. The ordnance surveyors availed themselves of the services of those learned men for the purpose of discovering the names by which the various places they visited had been popularly known, and the history traditionally attached to them. On that map is marked the townland of Dromroe, between Lismore and Cappoquin, on the road between the railway crossing at Round Hill and Tourin. You will find marked there in that townland a small shrubbery within which is a small plot enclosed by a fence, with a representation of a monument in the corner of it Within the same fence you will find marked by dots upon the map the vestiges of the remains of an oblong structure, covered with grass and brambles. The shrubbery and vestiges of remains are designated on the Ordnance Map “ Graveyard and St. Deglan’s Chapel in ruins.” The grass and brambles having been removed, the lower walls of the oblong structure have come to light, made up of stones piled over each other without mortar. Its dimensions are about fourteen feet long by between six and eight feet wide. From the manner in which the stones are placed in the portion of the walls that remains it is easily conjectured that this ruin belongs to that class of antient ecclesiastical stone buildings, some of which are to’ be met with in a pretty good state of preservation in Ireland at the present day. These are admitted by archaeologists to be the most antient specimens of Christian buildings to be found in Ireland, and in point of antiquity that which is the subject of this paper may claim a place among the first.

The ruin, as already stated, bore the name of "St. Deglan’s Chapel,” and the land adjoining “graveyard,” when inspections were made and measures were taken for the compilation of the Ordnance Map now more than fifty years ago.

The least curious and most unconcerned about antient local history visiting this romantic spot, situated, I may truly venture to say, in the loveliest part of Munster, may very naturally ask why was this ruin, which had all but disappeared from the notice as well as from the memory of the neighbouring inhabitants, called "St. Deglan’s Chapel,” and why was the little field surrounding. it, which a short time ago was about being incorporated with the adjoining farm, and from being “God’s Acre ” was to become man’s property, called the “ graveyard,” or, as the people designate it at the present day, religin deaglai. To answer those questions it will be necessary for us to make ourselves acquainted from the most reliable sources within our reach with the history of St. Deglan, who were his ancestors, where was he born, at what time did he live, and why was this ruin called after him “St. Deglan’s Chapel.”

We learn from the Bollandists, on the authority of Colgan, Ware and Usher, that the ancestors of St. Deglan belonged to a colony who had come from Tara, or rather who had, been expelled from a place there called the Desii, and who had settled- down in the County of Waterford, and had called the place of their new settlement after that from which they had been expelled, the Nan Desii. Their expulsion from Tara took place, according to Smith in his history of the County and City of Waterford, about the year 278. We do not exactly know how soon after the settlement of this colony in the Desii St. Deglan was born, but it is pretty certain some considerable time must have elapsed. Smith also mentions that the part of the country in which they settled extended from the river Suir to the sea, and from Lismore to Creadan Head, comprising, in a manner, all the country at present known as the County of Waterford.

We are told that St. Deglan’s father’s name was Erc, and that his mother’s name was Dethidin. We are told, too, that Erc, St. Deglan’s father, being invited to the house of a relative called Dobraun or Dobhran, besides many other companions, was accompanied by his wife, Dethidin, and that during this their visit to their relative, Dobhran, Dethidin, the wife of Erc, gave birth to St. Deglan. This particular place in which St. Deglan was born is stated by the Bollandists, on the authority of Colgan, supported by Usher and Ware, to be situated in the southern part, of the Desii. To use the original words of the writers, “In australi plaga N. Desii,” -in the southern part of the Desii. The barony of the Desii, as you are aware, begins a very short distance below or to the south of this spot, so that it is accurately described as being in the Southern part of the barony of the Desii. It is stated, too, on the authority of the same writers, to be situated in the eastern part of the country, which the Scoti, a name by which the antient Irish were then known, called mag sciat, or the Plain of the Shields or Bucklers. To give the original language of the writers, “ In orientali seilicet plaga campi quem scoti vacant mag sciat campum scuti.” Smith states that the country around Lismore was antiently known by this name, and the spot to which I am now calling your attention is in the eastern part of this locality. The Bollandists, moreover, as if, to leave nothing wanting as to accuracy in defining this precise spot, state that it is not far distant from the famous City of St Carthage, called Lismore- “Non longe abest a clara Civitate St, Carthagi quae dicitur Lismor,” and that it is distant from the City of Ardmore, where he was afterwards Bishop, about thirteen thousand paces or thirteen miles. “Et abest ab Civitate de Ardmore ubi postea fuit Episcopus per tredecim millia passuum.”

We are told that St Coleman, having heard of the birth of the infant, came to the place where he was born and begged of his parents , who were then pagans, to permit him to baptise it and bring the child up a Christian. To this request the parents consented. And we are also told that Dobhran, in whose house, the infant was born, made a present to St. Deglan’s parents of this the place of his birth, and removed themselves to another place.

Some doubt still exists as to who the St. Colman was who baptized St. Deglan. There were many holy Bishops bearing that name in Ireland, so that it is not easy to determine who amongst them is here designated. Neither Usher, who cites extracts from our Saints’ Acts, nor Colgan throws any light on the subject. It appears to me probable that this Colman was the saint of that name who is still venerated in a parish adjoining that of Ardmore called the Old Parish, or as the people there call it, paraiste an tsean pobuil. There is a townland in this parish called Kilcoleman where the remains of an antient church may be seen, and near it a very old tree and well called tobar colmain, or Colman’s Well. It is generally admitted that there were Christians in Ireland before the coming of Palladius, or St. Deglan, or St. Patrick. St. Prosper, speaking of the mission of Palladius, says----“ Ad Scotos in Christum Credentes ordinatus a Papa Celestino Palladius primus Episcopus Mittitur.” -To the Scoti or antient Irish believing in Christ, Palladius is ordained by Pope Celestine and is sent as their first Bishop. We may reasonably believe that such Christians lived in the Old Parish before St. Deglan’s time, and that it was for this reason it: got the name which it retains to the present day, Old Parish, or Sean Pobul. We may suppose that an acquaintance and an intimacy existed between this St. Colman and St. Deglan’s family before the birth of St. Deglan, as they were near neighbours- St. Deglan’s family and parents we are told inhabited that portion of the Desii around Ardmore.

St. Colman after baptising the infant and predicting many wonderful things as to its future, retired to his habitation with much rejoicing. He recommended that this holy infant should be carefully nursed, and that when his seventh year had been attained he should be sent for instruction to a lettered Christian, if such a one could be found. Dobhran, the aforesaid kinsman of the chieftain Erc, the father of our saint, on hearing and witnessing those things, earnestly entreated the infant’s parents to deliver this child to him to be nursed and fostered by him, as he had been born at his residence. The parents willingly assented to Dobhran’s request.

At the expiration of the seven years of his tutelage a, religious and wise man, named Dymma, as we are told, had lately arrived in Ireland, which was the country of his birth. Having embraced the Christian religion, to the observances of which he addicted himself, this pious servant of God built a cell in this part of the country. To this teacher the boy Deglan was entrusted by his parents and foster-father Dobhran according to St. Colman’s directions. Deglan spent much time under Dymma’s teaching, and Usher tells us that he drained large draughts of learning from various mundane and sacred writings. Through this instruction his understanding, we are told, was rendered acute, and he was distinguished for his eloquence.

About this time Deglan resolved to go to Rome, as the Acts of his Life state, that he might there be initiated to a knowledge of ecclesiastical discipline, receive Holy Orders, and a mission to preach from the Apostolic See. The Acts of his Life also state that after some time Deglan was ordained priest and consecrated Bishop by the Sovereign Pontiff, and that he remained in Rome for a considerable time after. At length having obtained some books, a rule for his guidance and mission to teach from the Pope, his Benediction, and also the blessing of the high dignataries of the Roman Church, Deglan prepared for his return to Ireland, It is related on the authority of Usher, quoted by the Bollandists, that St. Patrick, the future Apostle and Archbishop of Ireland, being then on his way to Rome, met St. Deglan in the north of Italy on his way from Rome, and that both holy persons saluted each other with the kiss of peace and established a mutual friendship before leaving for their respective destinations.

There is some diversity of opinion among ecclesiastical writers as to the precise time St. Deglan arrived in Ardmore on his first return from Rome and fixed his See there, for we are assured that he paid several visits to Rome. Usher, quoted by Smith, states that he commenced his preaching among the people of the Desii about the year 402, or thirty years before the arrival of St. Patrick. He states that he instructed the people with much zeal and success, and that many attracted by the fame of his sanctity flocked around him. He built monasteries, churches, and chapels in various places through the country, and amongst others, we are told by the Bollandists, who quote Usher, Ware and Colgan, that he built a chapel on the very spot he was born. The words of the Bollandists are-“ Ipse enim Dobranus nutritus St. Declani obtulit ipsum locum Sancto Deglano in quo natus fuerat, in quo post multum’tempus Sanctus Declanus cum esset pontifex cellam Deo, aedificavit.“--For Dobhran, the foster-father of St. Deglan, presented the very spot to St. Deglan, that is, the spot on which he was born, on which after a considerable time St. Deglan, when he was bishop, built a chapel in honour of Almighty God. I have reserved this quotation in reference to St. Deglan’s Chapel for the last, as marked on the Ordnance Map, to which I beg to call your attention. Relying on the authority of the writers from whom I have quoted, and the historians through whom the memory of the facts I have stated has been handed down to us, I think we can claim for Dromroe the honour of being St. Deglan’s birthplace, and fix on the very spot on which he was born there, and claim for his chapel, the ruins of which only now remain, an antiquity of fourteen or fifteen hundred years.

Journal of the Waterford & South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, Volume 1 (1894-5), 39-44.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Aedhan of Lismore, July 19

On July 19 the Irish calendars record the commemoration of Saint Aedhan,  an abbot of Lismore, County Waterford. We will start with a summary of the history of this famous foundation by a diocesan historian:   

The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint's Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda's place of birth the saint's successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

Aedhan, abbot of Lismore .. . ... July 19.

Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore - A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

Canon O'Hanlon's account of Saint Aedhan, brings in a few other sources:

St. Aedhan, Abbot of Lismore, County of Waterford.

The name of St. Aedhan, Abbot of Lismoir, appears in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 19th of July. In the list of Aids or Aedhans given by Colgan, the present holy Abbot is included. In the Irish Calendar, compiled for use of the Irish Ordnance Survey, at xiv. of the August Kalends, there is an entry of this holy man, who is not designated, however, as Abbot. His name also occurs in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this date, as Aedhan of Lis-mor.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Cathaldus of Taranto, May 10

May 10 is one of the feastdays of an Irish saint whose memory is still very much cherished in Italy, Saint Cathal (Cathaldus) of Taranto. Patrick Montague, author of The Saints and Martyrs of Ireland, records in the preface to his book how he first encountered this Irish saint:

In early summer of 1944, I arrived in Taranto, Italy, as a Staff Officer of the Eighth Army. The next morning, I was urgently summoned to assist an American soldier who had driven his jeep into the path of a procession of Italians who were celebrating the Feast of their local saint. Since nobody was hurt, the situation was quickly adjusted. I was able to deal with it in Italian, aided by the presence of a local priest. Between us we calmed the excited people and rescued the soldier from his awkward predicament.

In conversation later, the priest informed me that the Saint was Cathaldo, and it was common knowledge that he was Irish. I wondered at the time whether this unusual fact was so so well-known in Ireland. In the years which followed, I have often pondered on the strange anomaly that the memory of Irish exiles like Cathal, or Cathaldo, of Taranto, can inspire public holidays and gatherings of the faithful all over Europe, and receive no more than a brief reference in works of scholarship in Ireland.

Below is an abridged version of a paper by Father J. F. Hogan from the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, which contains a useful summary of the main points from the mass of traditions surrounding Saint Cathaldus. The article begins with an account of the founding of the city of Taranto but I have omitted this and the concluding paragraphs on its later history in order to concentrate on the details of its patron's life. Saint Cathal's story is certainly not a dull one, he is associated with the monastery of Lismore but leaves the scholar's life for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and ends up in Taranto following a shipwreck:

ST. CATHALDUS OF TARANTO

...A tradition of immemorial standing seems to ascribe the first conversion of Tarentum to St. Peter and his disciple and companion, St. Mark. Seeing that it is held by many writers that St. Peter paid two visits to Rome, during the second of which he suffered martyrdom, it is natural enough to suppose that, on his way to or from the East, he may have passed through Tarentum, and have preached the good tidings of Christianity to its people. However this may be, it is certain that the seeds of Christian life did not take deep root there on its first sowing, and that in the political turmoil which followed the transfer of the seat of Empire to Constantinople, its young shoots were almost completely smothered. In these disturbances Tarentum passed from Romans to Greeks, and from Greeks to Romans. It was handed about to all kinds of freebooters. For a time it was held by Belisarius for Justinian; then it was occupied by Totila and his Goths. These in their turn were expelled by the Imperial arms, and the citadel was held for the empire until the arrival of the Longobardi, whose commander, Romoald (Duke of Beneventum) got possession of the town and province.

It must be acknowledged that such stormy conditions of life were not very favourable to the spread of Christianity. No wonder, therefore, that little trace should have been found of the Christian settlement that had once been established at Tarentum when St. Cathaldus first appeared within its walls.

That St. Cathaldus was a native of Ireland, is a fact which cannot be seriously questioned. Indeed it is not denied by anybody worthy of a moment's notice. It has been the constant tradition of the Church of Tarentum; and in every history of the city or of its apostle that is of Italian origin, there is but one voice as to the country from which St. Cathaldus came. The most valuable biography of the saint which we possess was written in the seventeenth century by an Italian Franciscan named Bartolomeo Moroni. As this work professes to be based on very ancient codices and manuscripts of the Church of Taranto, we must conclude that it contains a good deal that is accurate and trustworthy, whilst a very cursory examination is sufficient to convince us that fable and fiction have entered not a little into its composition. It tells us, at all events, that Cathaldus was a native of Ireland; that he was born at a place called Rachau according to some, at Cathandum according to others; that as a happy augury of his future mission to the half Greek, half Italian city of Taranto, his father's name was Euchus, and his mother's Achlena or Athena.

A good deal of discussion has been indulged in as to the identity of his birthplace. The general opinion seems to be that Rachau was the place from which he took his title as bishop, and that Cathandum was the place of his birth. This Cathandum is supposed to be identified either with ''Ballycahill," in the Ormond district of North Tipperary, and in the diocese of Killaloe, or with a place of the same name not far from Thurles, in the diocese of Cashel. As for Rachau, it is believed to be intended either for Rahan in the King's Co., where St. Carthage had his famous monastery, and where he ruled as a bishop before his expulsion by the Hy Niall of Meath, or for one of the numerous places called Rath in the immediate neighbourhood of Lismore; or, finally, as Lanigan thinks probable, the place now called Shanraghan in Southern Tipperary and on the confines of Waterford. It is distinctly stated that the place was, at all events, in the province of Munster, and not far from Lismore. Nothing more precise can be laid down with certainty.

What does not, however, admit of the slightest doubt, is the fact that St. Cathaldus was surrounded by spiritual and religious influences of a very special kind from his infancy upwards. These influences found in his soul a most sympathetic response, and when they had lifted the thoughts and aspirations of this fair youth above earthly things, he was sent by his parents to the neighbouring school of Lismore. This school, although it had been established only for a very short time, had already acquired widespread fame, and had attracted students from all parts of England and Scotland, and from several continental countries besides.

What a busy place this famous southern university must have been in the days of its prosperity! When we read the account of it that has come down to us, glorified though it may be, and exaggerated, as no doubt it is, by the imaginations of its admirers, writing, some of them, centuries after its decay, and seeing it chiefly through the scholars and apostles that it produced, we cannot help being struck by the features of resemblance, and yet the strong contrast, it presents with those Grecian cities that, in far-off times, gathered to their academies and their market-places the elite of the world orators, poets, artists, grammarians, philosophers, all who valued culture or knew the price of intellectual superiority. Lismore had no spacious halls, no classic colonnades, no statues, or fountains, or stately temples. Its houses of residence were of the simplest and most primitive description, and its halls were in keeping with these, mere wooden structures, intended only to shut off the elements, but without any claim or pretence to artistic design. And yet Lismore had something more valuable than the attractions of either architecture or luxury. It possessed that which has ever proved the magnet of the philosopher and the theologian truth, namely, and truth illumined by the halo of religion. It sheltered also in its humble halls whatever knowledge remained in a barbarous age of those rules of art that had already shed such lustre on Greece and Rome, or had been fostered in Ireland itself according to principles and a system of native conception. Hence it drew around it a crowd of foreigners Saxons and Britons, Franks and Teutons, Sicambrians and Helvetians, Arvernians and Bohemians:

"Undique conveniunt proceres quos dulce trahebat
Discendi studium, major num cognita virtus
An laudata foret. Celeres vastissima Rheni
Jam vada Teutonici, jam deseruere Sicambri.
Mittit ah extreme gelidos Aquilone Boemos
Albis, et Arverni coeunt, Batavique frequentes,
Et quicumque colunt alta sub rupe Gebennas.
Non omnes prospectat Arar, Rhodanique fluenta
Helvetios; multos desiderat ultima Thule.
Certatim hi properant, diverse tramite ad urbem
Lesmoriam, juvenis primes ubi transigit annos." 1

1 These lines are taken from a metrical Life of St. Cathaldus, entitled Cathaldiados, which was composed by Bonaventure Moroni, brother of Bartolomeo, the author of the prose Life. See Ussher's Antiquitates, page 895.

At Lismore Cathaldus edified his brethren by his extraordinary piety as well as by his great love of study. In due time he passed from the student's bench to the master's chair, and whilst he taught in the schools, he was not unmindful of the world's needs. He raised a church at Lismore to the glory of God and the perpetual memory of His Virgin Mother. Frequent miracles bore testimony at this period to the interior sanctity of the young professor. So great was the admiration of the people for him that one of the princes in the neighbourhood grew jealous of his influence, and denounced him to the King of Munster as a magician, who aimed at subverting established authority and setting up his own in its place. The King accordingly sent his fleet to Lismore, where Cathaldus was taken prisoner and confined in a dungeon until some favourable opportunity should offer to have him conveyed into perpetual exile. The King, however, soon found what a mistake he had committed, and, instead of banishing Cathaldus, he offered him the territory of Rachau, which belonged to Meltridis, the Prince who had denounced him, and who was now overtaken by death in the midst of his intrigues. Cathaldus refused the temporal honours which the King was anxious to confer upon him, and proclaimed that he vowed his life to religion, and sought no other honours. He was, therefore, raised to the episcopate, and constituted the chief spiritual ruler of the extensive territory of the deceased Meltridis, whose tanist rights were made over on the church.

After Cathaldus had ruled the see of Rachau for some years, he resolved to set out on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He committed the care of his diocese to his neighbouring bishops, and set sail, without any retinue, for the Holy Land. It is probable that he was accompanied by his brother, Donatus, who afterwards became Bishop of Lupiae, now Lecce, in Calabria. In due course he reached his destination, and had the supreme happiness of kneeling at the great sepulchre, or as Tasso expresses it: "D'adorar la Gran Tomba e sciorre il voto."

With all the love and reverence of a pilgrim he sought out the holy places that had been sanctified by the presence of his Heavenly Master ; and so great was his joy to live in these solitudes, and dwell on the mysteries of man's salvation, amidst the very scenes in which it had been accomplished, that he earnestly desired and prayed to be relieved of his episcopal burden, and allowed to live and die in the desert in which our Lord had fasted, or in some one of the retreats that had been made sacred for ever by His earthly presence. Whilst engaged in earnest prayer on these thoughts, his soul was invaded by a supernatural light, which made clear to him that Providence had other designs about him. He accordingly started on the journey that Heaven had marked out for him; and, having been shipwrecked in the Gulf of Taranto, he was cast ashore not far from the city of which he was to become the apostle and the bishop. The cave in which he first took refuge is still to be seen in the neighbourhood of Otranto, not far from the point of the Japygian promontory.

The shipwrecked pilgrim, henceforward an apostle, soon made his way to the eastern gate of Tarentum. At the entrance of the city a blind man was to be seen, asking for assistance from those who passed by. His condition was symbolical of the darkness that prevailed within. Cathaldus addressed him, spoke to him of Christ and of the Blessed Trinity, and, as he found him amenable to Christian teaching, he instructed him in the mysteries of salvation; and whilst he imparted to him the light of grace through the Sacrament of Baptism he restored to him the light of natural vision through that supernatural power that had been vouchsafed to him. This whole circumstance was regarded as a happy omen, and as a symbol of the change to be wrought by the apostle within the city.

A parallel has sometimes been drawn between the condition of Taranto, when St. Cathaldus first entered its gates, with that of Athens when it was first visited by St. Paul. The parallel holds good in some respects, but not in all. Taranto was, to all intents and purposes, as deeply plunged in paganism as Athens was. There was scarcely a vestige left of the early religious settlement that had been made there by St. Peter and St. Mark, or by whoever had preached the Gospel to its people in early times. Paganism reigned supreme; but, in so far as it constituted a religion at all, it was paganism in its most corrupt and repellent form. The days of Archytas and of Pythagoras were now left far behind. The artistic splendour which had never entirely disappeared from Athens, had long since vanished from Taranto. There was no culture now, but ignorance and barbarism, the result of centuries of war and strife. With minds thus steeped in ignorance, with hearts corrupted by licence and perverted by superstition, the people of this neglected city did not offer a very encouraging prospect to the new missionary who appeared amongst them. His success, nevertheless, was greater than that of St. Paul at the capital of Greece. He won his way to the hearts of the people by his eloquence, his zeal, his power of working miracles; and when the prejudice entertained against his person and speech was once removed, the divine origin of the Gospel that he preached was acknowledged readily enough. We have, unfortunately, but very meager details as to the methods of his apostolate; but we are assured, at all events, that they were so effective as to win over the whole city in a few years. Certain it is that Cathaldus was acknowledged without dispute, during his own lifetime, as Bishop of Tarentum, and that he has ever since been revered as the founder of the Tarentine Church and the patron saint of the converted city.

It is said that when the saint felt that his death was at hand, he called around him his priests and deacons and the chief men of the city, and earnestly exhorted them to remain faithful to his teaching.

"I know [he said], that when I am gone dreadful and relentless enemies shall rise up against you, and endeavour, by heretical sophistry, to tear asunder the members of the Catholic Church, and lead astray the flock which I brought together with such pains. Against these enemies of your faith and of the Christian religion, I entreat you to strengthen the minds of the people by your own firmness, ever mindful of my labours and vigils."

The remains of the holy Bishop were committed, at his own request, to their native earth in his Cathedral Church. They were enclosed in a marble tomb, portion of which is still preserved. For some time the exact position of this tomb was unknown, but when Archbishop Drogonus of Tarentum was restoring the cathedral, in the eleventh century, the tomb was discovered. It was opened by the Archbishop, and the body of the saint was found well preserved. A golden cross had been attached to the body of the saint at the time of his burial. This also was discovered, and found to bear upon it the name of Cathaldus. The relics of the saint were then encased and preserved in the high altar of the cathedral. During the pontificate of Eugenius III they were transferred to a beautiful silver shrine adorned with gems and precious stones. A silver statue of Cathaldus was also cast, and erected in the church. These and many other memorials of the saint are still to be seen, and are held in great veneration by the people of Taranto.

The miracles attributed to the saints of the Church are often spoken of with derision by those who regard themselves as the children of light. These, whilst they minister to their own vanity, and fancy that nature has taken them specially into her confidence, revealing her inmost secrets to their ardent gaze, sometimes succeed in deceiving others: but they deceive themselves more than all. Indeed it is almost impossible to conceive how those early saints could have succeeded in winning over to Christianity, in the space of a few years, whole cities and districts that had hitherto been steeped in vice and superstition, without the power of working miracles. When that power is once granted, the explanation of wholesale conversion becomes easy and plain. Something is necessary to strike and astonish the multitude, and when wonder and alarm have become general, half the battle is already gained.

That St. Cathaldus possessed this power in a high degree, is testified not only in the records of his life, but still more authentically in the wholesale nature of the conversions that he wrought, and the unfading memory he left impressed on the city to which he ministered. The veneration for Cathaldus was not confined to Tarentum alone. It spread far and wide through Italy, Greece, and the Ionian islands. The village of Castello San Cataldo on the Ionian coast, midway between Brindisi and Otranto, perpetuates his name. Chapels dedicated to the saint, or statues erected in his honour, may be seen in many of the neighbouring towns of Calabria. The Cathedral of Taranto itself is, however, his greatest monument...

J. F. HOGAN

Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume XVII (1896), 403-416.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Siollan of Lismore, December 21

Among the saints commemorated at December 21 on the Irish calendars is Siollan, Bishop of Lismore. The Martyrology of Donegal records:

21. E. DUODECIMO KAL. JANUARII. 21.

SIOLLAN, Bishop of Lis-mór.

A diocesan historian gives this summary of the famous monastery of Lismore:

The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint's Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda's place of birth the saint's successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

Sillan, bishop of Lismore . .. . .. Nov. 21.

Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore - A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

I note that Power has listed our bishop's feast at November 21, but as we have seen he is listed at December 21 in the Martyrology of Donegal and also at this date in the Martyrology of Gorman. I assume, therefore, that this is a typo, as I can find no saint of this name listed at November 21, only at December 21.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Colman O'Liathain, July 25

July 25 is the commemoration of one of the many saints bearing the name of Colman. This one is a 7th-8th century abbot of Lismore, the great monastic foundation of Saint Mochuda, as Canon O'Hanlon explains:

Feast of St. Colman O'Liathain, Bishop or Abbot of Lismore. [Seventh and Eighth Centuries].

The feast of this saint, called Mocholmoc, is set down in the "Feilire" of St. Oengus, at the 25th of July. A comment is affixed, which throws some light on his family. In this gloss we read ‘Colman, descendant of Liathan, of Less Mor Mochuda’. A festival is registered, likewise, at the 25th of July, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, to honour St. Colman, said to have been identical with Mocholmoc h-Fachrach. According to the Calendar of Cashel, a festival in honour of this holy person occurs, on the 25th of July. He has been confounded with another St. Colman, Bishop and Abbot of Lismore, whose feast was kept on the 22nd of January. This latter died in the year 702. The present saint appears to have succeeded Cronan Ua Eoan, Abbot of Lismore, who died on the 1st of June, A.D. 716.

Colgan calls St. Colman O'Liathain a Bishop of Lismore, in one place. The Four Masters, however, when recording his death, only style him a select doctor. It is probable, that he was both Bishop and Abbot of Lismore; for, he is called Comorban or successor of St. Mochudda, in the Calendar of Cashel. According to his usual computation, the Rev. Dr. Lanigan places the death of St. Colman O'Liathain, in the year 726. This learned writer believes, likewise, that his natalis should be assigned to the 25th of July. The Four Masters place his death at A.D. 725, as also do the O'Clerys. Colgan, also assigns the death of St. Colman O'Liathain, Bishop of Lismore, to A.D. 725. In the Annals of Ulster, his death is placed at A.D. 730. In neither entry, however, do we find St. Colman O'Liadain called Bishop of Lismore. At this same date, the Martyrology of Donegal enters the name, Colman Ua Liathain, Doctor. In the table appended to this Martyrology, the compiler has a Latin comment, written in Irish characters, to the purport, that Oengus calls him Mocholmog, in the same way as Miarnog for Iarna, Mosiolog, Maodhdg, Moedoein.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Declan of Ardmore, July 24

July 24 sees the feastday of Saint Declan of Ardmore, County Waterford. Hagiographical tradition remembers him as one of the four pre-Patrician saints, credited with having been active in Munster, prior to the coming of Saint Patrick. His feastday on July 24 is marked in the Martyrology of Oengus thus:

24. If thou hast a right, O Erin,

to a champion of battle to aid thee,

thou hast the head of a hundred thousands,

Declan of Ardmore.

and in the later Martyrology of Donegal, where reference is made to some of the miracles surrounding him:

24. B. NONO KAL. AUGUSTI. 24.

DECCLAN, of Ard-mor, son of Ere, son of Maicniadh, Bishop and Confessor. He was of the race of Eochaidh Finn Fuathairt, from whom Brighit descended, and Deitsin was the name of his mother. Colman, a holy bishop, baptized him. Life of Declan, chap. 3.

On one occasion, as he was coming from Rome, he forgot a bell (which had been sent him from Heaven,) upon a rock which was in the port, and the rock swam after him, so that it arrived before the ship in Erin, and Declan said that where the rock should touch land, there God would permit him to erect a church, and this was afterwards fulfilled. This church is situated in Deisi of Munster, where he performed many signs and miracles.

The Life of Saint Declan is available from a number of online sources, including CELT.

Below is a 19th-century summary of his life, written by Irish Anglican writer, the Rev. Thomas Olden:

DECLAN, SAINT (fl. 600-650), bishop, of Ardmore, co. Waterford, was son of Erc, a chieftain of the Desii, who was descended from Fiacha Suidhe, son of Fedlimidh Rechtmar, king of Ireland (164-174). The three sons of Fiacha had been banished from their original territory, the barony of Deece, co. Meath, and had settled in the districts in the county of Waterford still called Decies after the name of their clan. Here St. Declan was born. His parents, converted from heathenism by Colman, son of Lenin [q. v.], presented their child to him for baptism, and he gave him the name of Declan. According to the 'Book of Munster,' St. Colman was converted to Christianity in 570, and died in 600. Declan's birth must be placed between these limits. The unauthentic story accepted by Colgan, and apparently by Ussher, is that Declan was one of four bishops who preceded St. Patrick in Ireland. Having been consecrated a bishop at Rome, he was commissioned to evangelise the Irish. Afterwards, when in Ireland, these four bishops refused to obey St. Patrick on the ground that ' they were sent from Rome as he was.' In the end, however, a compromise was effected which was embodied in an Irish stanza supposed to have been uttered by St. Patrick, and which it was strictly forbidden to translate from the vernacular. In this it is said, ' Declan is the Patrick of the Desii, the Desii are Declan's for ever.' But Dr. Todd has shown that this story has no better authority than a legend which chronology summarily condemns as false.

For seven years he remained in the house of Dobran, where he was born, and was then placed in charge of Dimma, a learned Christian, afterwards bishop of Connor (d. 658). We next hear of his building a ' cell ' on ground given by Dobran in the south of the territory of the Desii, in the east of the plain called Magh Sceithi, 'the plain of the shield,' not far from Lismore. Here several persons whom he had converted to Christianity, and who afterwards became well-known saints, were placed by him.

Declan was probably at some time in Gaul, with which the Irish clergy in early times had some communication. It was while abroad that he became possessed of the article known as the duibhin. According to an early manuscript, while Declan was ' offering' in a certain town on his journey, there was sent to him out of heaven from God a small black cymbalum, which came through the window and ' stood on the altar before him, which St. Declan, receiving with joy, gave thanks to Christ and was strengthened by it against the barbarous ferocity of the heathen.' He then gave it in charge to one of his followers, ' Lunanus, son of the king of the Romans. The Scoti (Irish) called it the duibhin Declain (small black object of Declan), terming it so from its blackness, and ascribing it to St. Declan. From that day to this many wonders have been wrought by it, and it remains and is honoured in his city, i.e. Ardmore.' The duibhin is still known by the name mentioned, and there is some reason to think that it is a genuine relic of the saint. It is a small black slab of stone measuring about two inches by one and a half, and three quarters of an inch thick, on which is an incised cross. Originally of rectangular shape, it is much worn and chipped at the edges. It is believed to have been found in St. Declan's tomb, and is still credited with many marvellous cures. The statement in the ' Life' that it ' stood on the altar,' and that the sight of it encouraged the saint in his labours among the heathen, implies that it represented an altar-cross. The missionary altar of that age was a wooden slab about eight inches square. Placed on edge this slab represented the cross in a position where one with a shaft would be impossible. Cymbalum in Low Latin interchanges with symbolum, from the Greek sumbolon ton staurou, the term by which Sozomen (A..D. 440) describes an altar-cross (BlNGHAM).

After this, 'Declan came with his disciples to the sea of Ycht, which separates Gaul from Britain.' This is one of the few passages which identify muir n-Icht, or the sea of Icht, so often mentioned by Irish writers, as the English Channel. It was the sea of the Portus Iccius supposed to have been the village of Vissent or Witsand. Applying for a passage, he found the terms demanded by the sailors too high, but an empty vessel having been miraculously supplied to him, he passed over. It may have been when crossing England on this occasion that he visited St. David at Menevia. On his voyage to Ireland he was divinely guided to a spot called Ard na-gcaorach, 'the hill of the sheep,' to which he afterwards gave the name of Ardmore, 'the great height,' which it still retains. Here he fixed his church and monastery. The story of his attempt to convert Oengus, king of Munster, is disposed of by the fact that the king died in 489, nearly a century before Declan was born. Towards the close of his life he visited the original seat of his clan in Meath, where he founded a monastery and left a remarkable copy of the gospels, which was held in great honour and believed to possess miraculous powers. Here he probably placed his disciple St. Ultan of Ardbraccan (d. 657). Among the buildings at Ardmore that known as the Dormitory of St. Declan is believed by Dr. Petrie to be his primitive oratory. The year of his death is uncertain, but he seems to have lived far on into the seventh century. His day is 24 July.

[MS. E. 3, 11, Trin. Coll. Dublin ; Bollandist's Act, Sanct. torn. v. Julii, p. 590; Todd's St. Patrick, 205-14, 219 ; Irish Xennius, p. 31 ; Bingham, book viii. ch. vi. sec. xx. note; Petrie's Round Towers, p. 353 ; Ussher's Works, vi. 332, 343, 344, 355; Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. i. 25; Ducange, art. ' Cymbalum , 'Book of Munster, MS. 23, E. 26, Royal Irish Academy ; Journal of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, iii. 48.]

T.O.

Dictionary of National Biography edited by Leslie Stephen, Vol. XIV, (London, 1888), 267-8.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Cronan of Lismore, June 1

Among the saints commemorated on June 1 is Cronan, Abbot of Lismore, whose repose is recorded in the early eighth century. A diocesan historian gives this summary of the history of his monastery:

The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint's Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda's place of birth the saint's successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:

Cronan, abbot of Lismore ... ... June 1.

[He died, 717.]

Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore - A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.

Canon O'Hanlon is unable to add much further detail but does discuss the sources:

...The death of an Abbot Ronan is entered, on the authority of the Annals of Munster, at A.D. 703. Soon after him, the present St. Cronan succeeded. The Annals of Ulster state, that he belonged to the Hi Ecain family. Nearly similar to this is the statement of Tigernach, who calls him Cronan h. Hecain. It is difficult, at present, to ascertain his race; but, under this form of name, it seems to resemble O h-Aedhagain, Anglicized sometimes O'Hegan or Egan. He is said to be of the Ua Eoan, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. We may fairly infer, however, that he was born, sometime about the middle of the seventh century. The date for his birth certainly fell sometime within that age; but, the exact year has not been ascertained. It seems probable enough, that his early education had not been neglected, and that he had been trained to a religious life in Lismore; for, it was usual to single out some domesticated monk, to succeed as Abbot, in that house where he had been living. On this day, the Martyrology of Tallagh has an entry, regarding St. Cronan of Lismore; but, furthermore, it seems to furnish little to elucidate his history....The Martyrology of Donegal registers the name of Cronán, Abbot of Lismor Mochuda, at the 1st of June. However, in the great Collection of Saints, by the Bollandists, at this day, we find no mention of St. Cronan made.

The silence of our Annals, on the subject of those pious inmates of the religious establishments erected at Lismore, from the death of Abbot Ronan, until the obituary record of St. Cronan Hua Ecain, appears to favour a belief, that from at least twelve to fourteen years, the latter holy personage had been superior over the large community, which had been there congregated, during the period of his rule. About the beginning of the eighth century, likewise, the schools of Lismore were in the zenith of their reputation... 

The Irish Annals of the Four Masters assign his death, to the 1st day of June, A.D. 716; but, the Annals of Ulster record his decease, under the following year. The death of Cronan n-Hecain, Abbot of Lismore, is entered at A.D. 718, in the Annals of Tighernach...The present holy man lived, at a glorious period in the history of our Irish Church.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Saint Carthage of Lismore, May 14

The Story of St Carthage (1937)

May 14 marks the feast of another important monastic saint, Carthage (Carthach)  or Mochuda of Lismore. The various Lives portray Saint Carthage as a master of the ascetic life who, attracting the envy of others, was forced to leave his home of 40 years, the monastery of Raithin, and to undertake a 'long march', before founding the monastery at Lismore. A surviving monastic rule is attributed to Saint Carthage, which I hope to make available on the blog in the future. The Irish calendars agree in listing his feastday at May 14 and the entry in the Martyrology of Donegal pays tribute to his reputation for penitence:

14. A. PRIDIE IDUS MAIL 14.

MOCHUDA, Bishop, of Lis-mor; and he was also abbot of Raithin at first. He was of the race of Ciar, son of Fergus, son of Ross, son of Rudhraighe, and of the progeny of Ir, son of Miledh.Carthach was another name for him. It was he that had the famous congregation consisting of seven hundred and ten persons, when he was abbot at Raithin; an angel used to address every third man of them. Cuimin, of Condeire, in the poem beginning, “Patrick of the fort of Macha loves”, states that no one that ever lived before him had shed half as many tears. Thus he says:

“Mochuda loves the piety;

Famous is every story of his stories ;

Before him no one had shed

Half what he shed of tears.”

A.D. 636

Canon O'Hanlon has a very full account of the life and miracles of Saint Carthage, but I reproduce below a shorter piece written by Irish Jesuit scholar, Father John Ryan, best known for his seminal work Irish Monasticism, first published in 1931 but still used as a reference source today. He contributed an introduction to a 1937 book, issued to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the saint's death. Father Ryan is in fine form as he introduces the life of Saint Carthach, but first, let us turn to the synopsis of "The Story of St. Carthage" given in the book to get the basic facts of the saint's career:

St. Carthage or Mochuda was born in vicinity of Castlemaine 564; as a boy while herding his father's flocks he forms a friendship with Maoltuile, Chieftain of Ciarraighe Luchra; at age of twelve he meets Bishop Carthage, the Elder. After some opposition on part of his father, the boy becomes a disciple of the Bishop. He makes religious profession at age of twenty, 584; is ordained priest and founds monastery of Kiltullagh 590-592. Compelled to leave Kiltullagh, he visits Bangor, where he spends a year. Various other visits. At last he founds Rahan 594-595. Spends forty years at Rahan during which he occasionally journeys to Kerry and the South. Expulsion from Rahan, Foundation of Lismore 635 or 636. Death 637.

Introduction

by Father John Ryan, S.J.

St. Carthach's life belongs so much to the seventh century that he is usually not numbered among the great monastic founders. Legend relates that St. Columcille visited him at Rahan, but the celebrated Saint of Iona was about to enter on the way of eternity when first settled in the midlands, and it is not recorded, nor is it likely, that he left his island home in the closing days of his earthly pilgrimage. Whilst St. Carthach was still young Monasterboice had entered on the the second century of its existence. Before his death Iona had been ruled for fourteen years by its fifth abbot, and no less than six successors of St. Ciaran had sat in the abbatial chair of Clonmacnoise. His appearance is thus at the end rather than at the beginning of Irish monastic origins.

Yet the life of St. Carthach differs in no substantial feature from the lives of the distinguished founders of the sixth century. The tragedy of his expulsion from Rahan, which has given him a place apart in monastic history, which was not the consequence of any personal eccentricity. He had come from Kerry to Meath, but hundreds of monks before him had left their native heath and had been acclaimed enthusiastically by the people among whom they settled. Thus St. Enda though born in Meath was welcomed in Arran; St. Bairre, a Conachtman, was welcomed in Cork; St. Brendan came from Kerry to Clonfert, St. Cainnech from Ulster and St. Molua from Limerick to Ossory; and so on. That St. Carthach fell a victim to regional jealousy is a phenomenon so strange that it calls for special explanation. Some light is thrown upon it by the politics of the day, on which a word will be said presently.

To assure proper balance and proportion it is of supreme importance to note that the expulsion from Rahan has a very small place in the record of St. Carthach's doings and sufferings. Attention should be fixed on the life led by him and his monks and on the good done by their example and teaching during the forty years of their activity in the midlands. This is what Father Carthage's simple, sincere, and devotional biography so effectively helps to achieve. Those who read this book will find themselves deeply moved by the ascetic earnestness of those early days. St. Carthach's Rule tended, if anything, on the side of strictness. The Saint refused at first to acquire even an ox or plough, so that tillage had to be done by the spade alone. The land about Rahan, rich and fertile beyond what would be expected in that relatively barren countryside, still bears witness to the enrichment of the soil by many generations of monastic toilers. In old age as in youth St. Carthach remained rigid in his preventative measures against relaxation, to such an extent that some Britons among his monks, distraught by the stern discipline, determined to drown him in the neighbouring Cloddagh! But pleasant memories also survived of the Saint's kindliness and charity, and there can be no doubt that Rahan and Lismore, like the countless other monasteries of the country, were homes of prayer and work and tender selfless piety, replete with the spirit of gladness that springs from the love of Christ our Saviour, verdant oases in the dreary waste of human pride and cruelty.

To return to the expulsion from Rahan. The early seventh century was a period of rapid advance of the Eoghanacht power of Munster and of Uí Néill power in Central Ireland. In the clash between the dynasts of these proud, ambitious septs, St. Carthach came unwittingly to figure. We must recollect that men whose names the passage of time has clothed in a romance of legend were to their contemporaries just ordinary beings of flesh and blood who controlled political destinies. Such a prince in Carthach's childhood was Diamait, son of Fergus Cerrbeóil, son of Conall, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Diarmait's chief fortress seems to have been at Kells. His son Aed Sláine, and his son Colman Mór, became ancestors of the ruling families in the eastern and western midlands. Rahan was founded within ancient Mide territory when Aed Sláine was Joint-King of Ireland. After that monarch's death the policy of Uí Néill expansion was pursued vigorously by five of his sons. At this time too, the Eoghanachts of Munster were adding day by day to their strength in the South. Munster territory, moreover, happened to include a section of Éile which was later transferred to Leinster. Through this small state Munster extended so far north that Rahan might also be regarded as a frontier monastery. Now St. Carthach was a Munsterman and many of his monks were doubtless drawn from the same province. Rahan might thus be looked upon as a Munster foundation just within the Mide border. As such it was obnoxious to the sons of Aed Sláine, who in 636, in a time of extreme political tension, compelled the aged abbot to return to his own people. The episode was so dramatic that the storytellers seized on it avidly as the ground-work for a tale. Thanks to their expert hands the romance of the expulsion makes good reading, but who can tell how much of it is history? Thus, the sinister role, as instigators, assigned to the abbots of Clonard, Durrow and Clonmacnoise, must be considered doubtful; all the more so as the abbot of the last mentioned monastery, Crónán Derg, was himself a Munsterman. What can be said with certainty is that St. Carthach was expelled from Rahan by local overkings, the sons of Aed Sláine, and that the blow was borne bravely by the outraged abbot and his faithful community.

Man proposes but God disposes. What was meant to be a humiliating retreat, became, in fact, a triumphal march; and what appeared to be a catastrophic end became, in fact, a glorious beginning. St. Carthach's misfortunes brought him generous sympathy in his own Déise country, and before his death he had seen arise a new foundation that was to outshine Rahan in brilliance. For the jewel that had been snatched away a brighter jewel was providentially substituted. All that Lismore did to promote the honour of God and to perpetuate the memory of St. Carthach is described delightfully in Father Carthage's pages.

Father Carthage O.C.S.O., The Story of Saint Carthage, (Browne and Nolan, 1937), ix-xii.

Canon O'Hanlon depicts the repose of Saint Carthage in his diseart as the crowning of a long and fruitful life:

After this, finding his strength failing him, on account of his labours and extreme age, the holy bishop began to feel a great disinclination for interruptions caused by people, who flocked to him from every side. Having taken council with the brethren, and obtained their unanimous consent, he went to a certain secret and safe place. Here, there was a renowned monastery, in a valley. It lay eastwards from his own greater monastery, and yet, not far removed from it. Here, too, with a few attendants, he remained during a year and six months, leading an eremitical life, and being wholly occupied, in the contemplation of holy things. After some time spent in this place, he was visited by his monks, and by some of the older and more decrepid brethren. To these, he addressed religious discourses, full of instruction, on dogmas of the Church. His homilies also contained admonitions, suitable for the lives of those, to whom they were directed. The author of his Life represents Carthage, as a solace to the aged; as safety, for the infirm; as a source of consolation, for the sorrowful; as a foundation, for those in despair; as abounding in faith, for those in doubt; and, as a firm guide, for those who were young. St. Carthage saw, that the holy old men and many of his monks had much trouble in ascending and descending the steeps, leading to that valley, where he dwelt, and when coming to visit him. Finding that his end was fast approaching, he called the brothers, and then ordered, that he should be brought to the parent house, so that he might not be an occasion of further trouble to them. But, the merciful and omnipotent God had now intended to remove his illustrious servant, from the scene of his labours. The Heavens were suddenly opened. Then, an army of Angels was sent, and it seemed as if these blessed spirits were moving in triumph to welcome him. On seeing the Heavens open, and the Angels advancing towards him, St. Carthage caused himself to be brought into the middle of the valley. Telling the holy seniors what he beheld, he ordered the Body and Blood of our Lord to be brought, and towards a place, where a fountain was afterwards seen. Here, a cross was also erected, and it was called, in future time, "the cross of migration." Having then given many pious admonitions, and having received the Body and Blood of our Lord, in the Most Holy Sacrament, being surrounded by his holy seniors, and a multitude of brothers, he bade them all farewell. Then, kissing each one in order, with great piety and affection, he ascended with the Angels from earth to Heaven.

The holy Abbot departed this life, on the second of the May Ides 7—corresponding with the 14th of this month—the date assigned for his feast. His death is placed, so early as 631, in the Bodleian copy of the Annals of Inisfallen; but, at 636, by Duald Mac Firbiss, as also in the Annals of Ulster, of Innisfallen, and of the Four Masters. The feast of St. Carthach is commemorated, in the "Feilire" of St. Oengus, at the 14th of May. At the 14th of May, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, his name is set down as Carthaigh, /.., Mochutta Lis-moir. On the 14th of May, the Kalendar of Drummond inserts the Natalis of St. Carthach, Bishop and Confessor, in Ireland, with an encomium on his virtues. This day, the Martyrology of Donegal enters the name of Mochuda, Bishop, of Lis-mor ; and, as it notes, he was also abbot of Raithin, at first. Under the head of Lis-mor, Duald Mac Firbis enters, Mochuda, bishop, quievit 636, May 14th.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.