St. Benedict Biscop, Bishop and Abbot of Wearmouth, who introduced glass windows to England and raised Saint Bede
12 January
Born in Northumbria, England, c. 628; died at Wearmouth, England, on January 12, c. 690.
Born of the highest Anglo-Saxon nobility, Biscop Baducing held office in the household of King Oswy (Oswiu) of Northumbria. But, after a journey to Rome when he was 25 (653) in the company of Saint Wilfrid, the saint renounced his inheritance and dedicated himself to God. He then spent his time in studying the Scriptures and prayer.
Following a second visit to Rome with Oswy's son Aldfrith in 666, he became a monk in the monastery of Saint-Honorat in Lerins near Cannes, France, taking the name Benedict. He remained there for two years strictly observing the rule.
His third pilgrimage to Rome in 669, coincided with the visit of Archbishop-elect Wighard of Canterbury, who died there prior to his consecration. Saint Theodore was finally selected to replace Wighard as archbishop of Canterbury, and Pope Saint Vitalian ordered Benedict to accompany Theodore and Saint Adrian to England as a missionary, which he did in obedience. Theodore appointed Benedict abbot of SS. Peter and Paul (now St. Augustine's) monastery in Canterbury, where he remained for two years before returning to Northumbria. (He was succeeded as abbot by Saint Adrian, who held this position for 39 years.)
Thereafter, Saint Benedict travelled to and fro between Britain and Rome (beginning in 671), returning always with books and relics, and bringing back with him also craftsmen to build and enrich the churches of Britain. This fourth journey was made with the view of perfecting himself in the rules and practice of a monastic life, so he stayed a while in Rome and visited other monasteries.
In 674, he was granted 70 hides of land by Oswy's son, Egfrid, at the mouth of the river Wear (Wearmouth), where he built a great stone church and monastery dedicated to Saint Peter. He was the first to introduce glass into England, which he brought from France along with stone and other materials. His foreign masons, glaziers, and carpenters taught their skill to the Anglo-Saxons. He spared no trouble or effort in seeking far and wide for all that would richly embellish his Romanesque church.
From his trip to Rome in 679, Benedict brought back Abbot John of Saint Martin's, the precentor (archcantor) from Saint Peter's. This was a result of Benedict persuading Pope Saint Agatho that Abbot John would be able to instruct the English monks, so that the music and ceremonies at Wearmouth might follow exactly the Roman pattern. Upon his return to England, he held training classes in the use and practice of church music, liturgy, and chants. (John also taught the English monks uncial script and wrote instructions on the Roman liturgy for them.)
But chiefly he brought books, for he was a passionate collector. His ambition was to establish a great library in his Wearmouth monastery. He also imported pictures from Rome and Vienne, coloured images, and music. Among these treasures imported from Rome were a series of pictures of Gospels scenes, of Our Lady and the Apostles, and of incidents described in the Book of Revelation, to be set up in the church.
Benedict also devised his rule based on that of Saint Benedict and those of the 17 monasteries he had visited. He doubtlessly organised the scriptorium in which was written the manuscript of the Bible that his successor as prior at Wearmouth, Saint Ceolfrid, took with him in 716 as a present to Pope Saint Gregory II: the very book was identified in the Biblioteca Laurentiana at Florence in 1887, the famous Codex Amiatinus. All this immeasurably enriched the early English Church.
Because his monastery and church at Wearmouth was so edifying, in 682 Egfrid gave him a further gift of forty hides of land, this time at Jarrow on the Tyne River. Here he established a second monastery six miles from St. Peter's, and dedicated it to Saint Paul (now called Jarrow) in 685, which became famous as a great centre of learning in the West, and the home of Saint Bede. Among its inmates were many Saxon thanes turned monks, who ploughed and winnowed, and worked at the forge, like the rest, and at night slept in the common dormitory, for rank and class had no place among them.
And because Benedict was busier than ever with all his enterprises and still governed both abbeys, he handed over some of his authority. Benedict first took to help him at Wearmouth his nephew, Saint Eosterwin, a noble like himself, and then Saint Sigfrid. In Jarrow, he placed Saint Ceolfrid in charge. While Benedict still ruled the abbeys as their founder, he made these men the abbots under his direction of the two foundations so that the monasteries would not be without leadership during his absences.
Benedict made his last voyage to Rome in 685, returning with even more books and sacred images and some fine silk cloaks of exceptional workmanship, which he exchanged with the king for three hides of land.
It was due to Benedict Biscop that so much material lay to hand for Bede and other scholars, and that a solid foundation was laid for the later glories of the English Church. After his death the school at Jarrow alone comprised 600 scholars, apart from the flow of constant visitors. It was also in large part due to him that the Church of Northumbria turned from the old Celtic forms to those of Rome. Out of his labours and travels came a rich and abundant harvest.
At the end of his life, Benedict suffered from a painful paralysis in his lower limbs. (It is interesting to note that Sigfrid was afflicted with the same paralysis about the same time.) Throughout his three-year confinement he asked the monks to come into his room to sing Psalms and he joined them when he could. His last exhortations to his monks, before he died at age 62, were to continue his work, to preserve his great library, to follow the monastic Rule of Saint Benedict, and elect an abbot based on his holiness and ability rather than his lineage. He said he would rather the monasteries be turned into wildernesses than to have his brother succeed him as abbot.
Benedict's biography was written by Saint Bede, who had been entrusted to his care at age seven, and whose learning was made possible by the library Benedict collected at Jarrow. Bede the historian says that the civilisation and learning of the 8th century rested in the monastery founded by Benedict.
Proof of a very early public cultus of Benedict Biscop comes from a sermon of Bede on him (Homily 17) for his feast, but the cultus became more widespread only after the translation of his relics under Saint Ethelwold about 980. Saint Benedict's relics are thought to rest at Thorney Abbey, although Glastonbury also claims them (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Walsh, White).
In art Saint Benedict is depicted as an abbot in episcopal vestments standing by the Tyne with two monasteries near him. Sometimes he is shown with the Venerable Bede. Patron of painters and musicians.
celticsaints.org
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St. Alan ab Erbin, Confessor in Cornwall, England
12 January
He was King of Cornwall, son of Cystennin Gorneau (Constantine the Cornishman), brother of St. Digain founder of Llangernywn, Denbighshire, father of Geraint who succeeded him. Two other sons Dywel and Erinid are mentioned as warriors at King Arthur's court.
He has one church dedicated to him in Wales, that of Erbistock (Erbin's Stock or Stockdale). It is situated partly in Denbighshire and partly in Flintshire. The vale below the Church is called the Vale of Erbine. He was possibly founder of St. Ervan's church in Cornwall.
A number of early Welsh Calendars give his feast as being January 13 or May 29. No dates are given for his Birth or Repose.
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St. Dermot, Abbot of Innis-Clotran Island, Ireland
10 January & 18 January
6th century. Ruins of six churches can be seen on Inchcleraun (Innis Clothran) in Louch Ree, where Saint Dermot founded a monastery. His burial site there became a pilgrimage centre. It is believed that Dermot was a native of Connaught and of royal blood. He is associated with Saint Senan.
celticsaints.org
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Saint Synkletika of Alexandria, Egypt
January 5
Saint Syncletica (Synklētikḗ) was a native of Alexandria, the daughter of wealthy parents. She was very beautiful, but from a young age she thought only about the things which are pleasing to God. Loving the purity of virginity, she refused to marry anyone, and spent all her time in fasting and prayer.
After the death of her parents, Syncletica distributed her inheritance to the poor. She left the city with her younger sister, and lived in a crypt for the rest of her life.
News of her ascetic deeds quickly spread throughout the region, and many devout women and girls came to live under her guidance. During the course of her ascetical life the Saint zealously instructed the sisters by word and by deed.
In her eightieth year Saint Syncletica was stricken with an intense and grievous illness. She bore her ordeal with true Christian endurance, and the day of her death was revealed to her in a vision. After giving final instructions to her nuns, she surrendered her soul to God around the year 350.
oca.org
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St. Cronan Beg, Bishop of Aendrum, Ireland
7 January
7th century. A bishop of ancient Aendrum, County Down, mentioned in connection with the paschal controversy in 640
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St. Athelm, Bishop of Wells, England
8 January
Died 923. Paternal uncle of Saint Dunstan, Athelm entered the abbey of Glastonbury, became its abbot, and was appointed to be the first bishop of Wells in Somerset. In 914 he was transferred to the see of Canterbury.
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Saint Colman of Kilmacduagh (St. Colman MacDuagh), Ireland (+632) - February 3
In the Martyrology of Tallaght, St Colman is commemorated on February 3, but in other Calendars and in Ireland today he is remembered on October 29.
Born at Corker, Kiltartan, Galway, Ireland, c. 550; died 632. Son of the Irish chieftain Duac, Colman was educated at Saint Enda's (f.d. March 21) monastery in Aran. Thereafter he was a recluse, living in prayer and prolonged fastings, at Arranmore and then at Burren in County Clare. With King Guaire of Connaught he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh, i.e., the church of the son of Duac, and governed it as abbot-bishop. The "leaning tower of Kilmacduagh," 112 feet high, is almost twice as old as the famous town in Pisa. The Irish round tower was restored in 1880.
There is a legend that angels brought King Guaire to him by causing his festive Easter dinner to disappear from his table. The king and his court followed the angels to the place where Colman had kept the Lenten fast and now was without food. The path of this legendary journey is called the "road of the dishes."
As with many relics, Saint Colman's abbatial crozier has been used through the centuries for the swearing of oaths. Although it was in the custodianship of the O'Heynes of Kiltartan (descendants of King Guaire) and their relatives, the O'Shaughnessys, it can now be seen in the National Museum in Dublin.
Other tales are recounted about Saint Colman, who loved birds and animals. He had a pet rooster who served as an alarm clock. The rooster would begin his song at the breaking of dawn and continue until Colman would come out and speak to it. Colman would then call the other monks to prayer by ringing the bells.
But the monks wanted to pray the night hours, too, and couldn't count on the rooster to awaken them at midnight and 3:00 a.m. So Colman made a pet out of a mouse that often kept him company in the night by giving it crumbs to eat. Eventually the mouse was tamed and Colman asked its help:
So you are awake all night, are you? It isn't your time for sleep, is it? My friend, the cock, gives me great help, waking me every morning. Couldn't you do the same for me at night, while the cock is asleep? If you do not find me stirring at the usual time, couldn't you call me? Will you do that?
It was a long time before Colman tested the understanding of the mouse. After a long day of preaching and travelling on foot, Colman slept very soundly. When he did not awake at the usual hour in the middle of the night for Lauds, the mouse pattered over to the bed, climbed on the pillow, and rubbed his tiny head against Colman's ear. Not enough to awaken the exhausted monk. So the mouse tried again, but Colman shook him off impatiently. Making one last effort, the mouse nibbled on the saint's ear and Colman immediately arose--laughing. The mouse, looking very serious and important, just sat there on the pillow staring at the monk, while Colman continued to laugh in disbelief that the mouse had indeed understood its job.
When he regained his composure, Colman praised the clever mouse for his faithfulness and fed him extra treats. Then he entered God's presence in prayer. Thereafter, Colman always waited for the mouse to rub his ear before arising, whether he was awake or not. The mouse never failed in his mission.
The monk had another strange pet: a fly. Each day Colman would spend some time reading a large, awkward parchment manuscript prayer book. Each day the fly would perch on the margin of the sheet. Eventually Colman began to talk to the fly, thanked him for his company, and asked for his help:
Do you think you could do something useful for me? You see yourself that everyone who lives in the monastery is useful. Well, if I am called away, as I often am, while I am reading, don't you go too; stay here on the spot I mark with my finger, so that I'll know exactly where to start when I come back. Do you see what I mean?
So, as with the mouse, it was a long time before Colman put the understanding of the fly to the test. He probably provided the insect with treats as he did the mouse--perhaps a single drop of honey or crumb of cake. One day Colman was called to attend a visitor. He pointed the spot on the manuscript where he had stopped and asked the fly to stay there until he returned. The fly did as the saint requested, obediently remaining still for over an hour. Colman was delighted. Thereafter, he often gave the faithful fly a little task that it was proud to do for him. The other monks thought it was such a marvel that they wrote it done in the monastery records, which is how we know about it.
But a fly's life is short. At the end of summer, Colman's little friend was dead. While still mourning the death of the fly, the mouse died, too, as did the rooster. Colman's heart was so heavy at the loss of his last pet that he wrote to his friend Saint Columba (f.d. June 9). Columba responded:
You were too rich when you had them. That is why you are sad now. Great troubles only come where there are great riches. Be rich no more.
A Prayer:
May God's angels guard us
and save us till day's end,
protected by God and Mary
and Mac Duach1 and Mac Daire
and Colm Cille
till days' end.
Aingil De dar gcoimhdeacht
's dar sabhail aris go fuin;
ar coimri De is Mhuire,
Mhic Duach is Mhic Daire
agus Colm Cille
aris go fuin.
Saint Colman of Kilmacduagh (St. Colman MacDuagh), Ireland (+632)
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St. Ergnad of Ulster, Ireland
8 January
Born in Ulster, Ireland in the 5th century. Ergnad is said to have received the tonsure from Saint Patrick.
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Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles
January 4
The Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles was established by the Orthodox Church to indicate the equal honor of each of the Seventy. They were sent two by two by the Lord Jesus Christ to go before Him into the cities He would visit (Luke 10:1).
Besides the celebration of the Synaxis of the Holy Disciples, the Church celebrates the memory of each of them during the course of the year:
Saint James the Brother of the Lord (October 23); Mark the Evangelist (April 25); Luke the Evangelist (October 18); Cleopas (October 30), brother of Saint Joseph the Betrothed, and Simeon his son (April 27); Barnabas (June 11); Joses, or Joseph, named Barsabas or Justus (October 30); Thaddeus (August 21); Ananias (October 1); Protomartyr Stephen the Archdeacon (December 27); Philip the Deacon (October 11); Prochorus the Deacon (July 28); Nicanor the Deacon (July 28 and December 28); Timon the Deacon (July 28 and December 30); Parmenas the Deacon (July 28); Timothy (January 22); Titus (August 25); Philemon (November 22 and February 19); Onesimus (February 15); Epaphras and Archippus (November 22 and February 19); Silas, Silvanus, Crescens or Criscus (July 30); Crispus and Epaenetos (July 30); Andronicus (May 17 and July 30); Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles (October 31); Aristobulus (October 31 and March 16); Herodion or Rodion (April 8 and November 10); Agabus, Rufus, Asyncritus, Phlegon (April 8 ); Hermas (November 5, November 30 and May 31); Patrobas (November 5); Hermes (April 8); Linus, Gaius, Philologus (November 5); Lucius (September 10); Jason (April 28); Sosipater (April 28 and November 10); Olympas or Olympanus (November 10 ); Tertius (October 30 and November 10 ); Erastos (November 30), Quartus (November 10 ); Euodius (September 7); Onesiphorus (September 7 and December 8); Clement (November 25); Sosthenes (December 8); Apollos (March 30 and December 8); Tychicus, Epaphroditus (December 8); Carpus (May 26); Quadratus (September 21); Mark (September 27), called John, Zeno (September 27); Aristarchus (April 15 and September 27); Pudens and Trophimus (April 15); Mark nephew of Barnabas, Artemas (October 30); Aquila (July 14); Fortunatus (June 15) and Achaicus (January 4).
With the Descent of the Holy Spirit the Seventy Apostles preached in various lands. Some accompanied the Twelve Apostles, like the holy Evangelists Mark and Luke, or Saint Paul’s companion Timothy, or Prochorus, the disciple of the holy Evangelist John the Theologian, and others. Many of them were thrown into prison for Christ, and many received the crown of martyrdom.
There are two more Apostles of the Seventy: Saint Cephas, to whom the Lord appeared after the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:5-6), and Simeon, called Niger (Acts 13:1). They also were glorified by apostolic preaching.
There are discrepancies and errors in some lists of the Seventy Apostles. In a list attributed to Saint Dorotheus of Tyre (June 5) some names are repeated (Rodion, or Herodion, Apollos, Tychicus, Aristarchus), while others are omitted (Timothy, Titus, Epaphras, Archippus, Aquila, Olympas). Saint Demetrius of Rostov consulted the Holy Scripture, the traditions passed down by the Fathers, and the accounts of trustworthy historians when he attempted to correct the mistakes and uncertainties in the list in compiling his collection of Lives of the Saints.
The Church in particular venerates and praises the Seventy Apostles because they taught us to honor the Trinity One in Essence and Undivided.
In the ninth century Saint Joseph the Hymnographer composed the Canon for the Synaxis of the Seventy Apostles of Christ.
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Saint Buo of Ireland, missionary in Iceland - February 5
Died c. 900. In the 7th and 8th century, Irish missionaries were working in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, before the discovery of the islands by the Norwegians in 860. When they arrived they found Irish bells, books, and staffs. The Irish geographer Dicuil in "De mensura orbis terrae" notes that certain clerics remained on the Iceland Island from February 1 until August 1. Saint Buo was one of the distinguished missionaries who evangelized the province around Esinberg, while he was still a very young man (D'Arcy, Fitzpatrick2, Little, Neeson, O'Hanlon, Toynbee).
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Saint Mel of Ardagh and Saint Melchu, Bishops and Martyrs in Ireland - February 6
Died c. 488-490. Mel and his brother Melchu (plus Munis and Rioch) were sons among the 17 sons and two daughters of Saint Patrick's sister, Darerca (f.d. March 22) and her husband Conis. While all of the children are reputed to have entered religious life, Mel and Melchu, together with their brothers Muinis and Rioch, accompanied Patrick to Ireland and joined him in his missionary work.
Patrick ordained Mel and Melchu bishops. Patrick is reputed to have appointed Mel bishop of Ardagh, and Melchu to the see of Armagh (or vice versa). There is some evidence that Melchu may have been a bishop with no fixed see, who may have succeeded his brother. Some scandal was circulated about Mel, who lived with his Aunt Lipait but both cleared themselves by miraculous means to Patrick, who ordered them to live apart.
According to an ancient tradition, Mel professed Saint Brigid as a nun. During the rite, he inadvertently read over her the episcopal consecration, and Saint Macaille (f.d. April 25) protested. The ever serene Mel, however, was convinced that it happened according to the will of God and insisted that the consecration should stand.
From the Life of Saint Brigid, 1 February http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/message/697
Brigid and certain virgins along with her went to take the veil from Bishop Mel in Telcha Mide. Blithe was he to see them. For humility Brigid stayed so that she might be the last to whom a veil should be given. A fiery pillar rose from her head to the roof ridge of the church. Then said Bishop Mel: Come, O holy Brigid, that a veil may be sained on thy head before the other virgins. It came to pass then, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, that the form of ordaining a bishop was read out over Brigid. Macaille said that a bishop's order should not be confirmed on a woman. Said Bishop Mel No power have I in this matter. That dignity hath been given by God unto Brigid, beyond every (other) woman. Wherefore the men of Ireland from that time to this give episcopal honour to Brigid's successor.
Most likely this story relates to the fact that Roman diocesan system was unknown in Ireland. Monasteries formed the centre of Christian life in the early Church of Ireland. Therefore, abbots and abbesses could hold held some of the dignity and functions that a bishop would on the Continent. Evidence of this can be seen also at synods and councils, such as that of Whitby, which was convened by Saint Hilda. Women sometimes ruled double monasteries; thus, governing both men and women. Bridget, as a pre-eminent abbess, might have fulfilled some semi-episcopal functions, such as preaching, hearing confessions (without absolution), and leading the neighbouring Christians.
Nothing is definitely known about these saints; however, Mel has a strong cultus at Longford, where he was the first abbot-bishop of a richly endowed monastery that flourished for centuries. The cathedral of Longford is dedicated to Mel, as is a college.
The crozier believed to have belonged to Saint Mel is now kept at Saint Mel's College in a darkened bronze reliquary that was once decorated with gilt and coloured stones. It was found in the 19th century at Ardagh near the old cathedral of Saint Mel.
The various sources are rather confusing. It is possible that Mel was bishop of Armagh and/or that Melchu and Mel are the same person (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Curtayne2, D'Arcy, Delaney, Farmer, Healy, Henry2, Montague, Ryan).
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St. Erhard Bishop of Ratisbon (Regensburg), Germany
8 January
Died c. 686. Erhard is described as another of the many Irish missionary bishops who crossed over to the continent and evangelized Bavaria, especially in the region around present-day Regensburg. Many miracles are attributed to his prayers. Erhard is mentioned in still strong local traditions. After his death a group of women formed into a religious group called the Erardinonnen (the Nuns of Erhard), to pray perpetually at his tomb in Regensburg, which they did until the Reformation (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Montague). In art Saint Erhard is portrayed as a bishop baptizing Saint Odilia, thereby restoring her sight. He is venerated at Regensburg.
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Theoctistus, Abbot at Cucomo, in Sicily
January 4
Saint Theoktistos lived in the second half of the eighth century, during a period of widespread iconoclastic heresy. The Venerable One was the founder and Igoumen of Cucomo Monastery on the island of Sicily. During that difficult time for the Church, the Orthodox were persecuted by iconoclastic Emperors. Orthodox churches were closed, and the Holy Icons were desecrated and destroyed. The monks, in particular, were affected by the iconoclastic persecution because they protected the Holy Icons. The monks were expelled from their monasteries, which were destroyed, and they were forced to flee their homeland. Saint Theoktistos sheltered these Greek monks in his monastery.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council, which was convened in 787, condemned the iconoclast heresy, but even after that, the heresy, supported by iconoclastic Emperors, continued to disturb the peace of the Church. Only in the reign of the Holy Empress Theodora, at the Council of 842, was iconoclasm finally condemned. The Triumph of Orthodoxy was appointed to be celebrated every year on the first Sunday of Great Lent.
Saint Theoktistos did not live to see that Triumph, for he fell asleep in the Lord in the year 800.
Saint Theoktistos of Sicily should not be confused with Saint Theoktistos of Palestine (September 3), the companion of Saint Euthymios (January 20) in the ascetic life.
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Saint Beoc (St Dabheog) of Island Lough Derg, Wales (+5th century)
1 January
5th or 6th century. Beoc was a Cambro-Briton, who crossed over from Wales to Ireland and founded a monastery on an island in Lough Derg, Donegal (Benedictines).
St Daibheog of Lough Derg
In the Martyrology of Tallagh we find this insertion : Aedh, Lochagerg, alias Daibheog. His name is Latinized Dabeocus, and he is frequently called Beanus.
At a very early date, this saint lived on the island ; but for what term of life does not seem to have been ascertained. Few notices of the place occur in our ancient annals. We read, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Dabheog belonged to Lough Geirg or Loch-gerc, in Ulster. There, also, three festivals were annually held in his honour, namely, on the 1st of January, on the 24th of July, and on the 16th of December.
According to St. Cummin of Connor, in the following translation from his Irish poem on the characteristic virtues of the Irish Saints :-
Mobeog, the gifted, loved, According to the Synod of the learned, That often in bowing his head, He plunged it under water.
Whether or not St. Patrick had any acquaintance with St. Dabeoc can hardly be discovered. But, we are told, while the latter, with his clerics, lived on the island, and when his vigils had been protracted to a late hour one night, a wonderful brightness appeared towards the northern part of the horizon. The clerics asked their master what it portended.
In that direction, whence you have seen the brilliant illumination, said Dabeog, the Lord himself, at a future time, shall light a shining lamp, which, by its brightness, must miraculously glorify the Church of Christ. This shall be Columba, the son of Feidlimid, son of Fergus, and whose mother will be Ethnea. For learning he shall be distinguished ; in body and soul shall he be chaste ; and he shall possess the gifts of prophecy.
See Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga. Quinta Vita S, Columbae. Lib. i., cap. X, pp. 390, 391.
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Saint Abbán of Leinster, Ireland (+520)
May 13
Saint Abbán moccu Corbmaic (d. 520 AD), also Eibbán or Moabba, is a saint in Irish tradition. He was associated, first and foremost, with Mag Arnaide (Moyarney or Adamstown, near New Ross, Co. Wexford) and with Cell Abbáin (Killabban, County Laois). His order was, however, also connected to other churches elsewhere in Ireland, notably that of his alleged sister Gobnait.
Three recensions of Abbán's Life survive, two in Latin and one in Irish. The Latin versions are found in the Codex Dublinensis and the Codex Salmanticensis, while the Irish version is preserved incomplete in two manuscripts: the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh's manuscript Brussels, Royal Library MS 2324-40, fos. 145b-150b and also the RIA, Stowe MS A 4, pp. 205–21.
Abbán arrives in the area between Éile and Fir Chell, i.e. on the marches between Munster and Leinster: Abbán converts a man of royal rank from the area and baptises his son. m
Other sources for Abbán's life and order include the Irish genealogies of the saints and the entries for his feast-day in the martyrologies. His pedigree is given in the Book of Leinster, Leabhar Breac, Rawlinson B 502 and in glosses to his entries in the Félire Óengusso.
His pedigree in the Irish genealogies, which appear to have been composed in the interest of Cell Abbáin, suggests that he belonged to the Uí Chormaic (also Moccu Chormaic or Dál Chormaic). It identifies his father as Laignech (lit. "Leinsterman"), son of Mac Cainnech, son of Cabraid, son of Cormac, son of Cú Corb, while an Irish note to the Félire Óengusso (for 27 October) largely agrees if substituting Cabraid for Imchad. The Lives, on the other hand, state that his father was Cormac son of Ailill, king of Leinster, who died in 435 according to the Annals of the Four Masters, and name his mother Mílla, sister to St Ibar.
Nothing is known of Abbán's early life. The Lives tell that he was expected to succeed his father in Leinster, but that his devotion to God and the saintly miracles which he wrought while still in fosterage soon made clear that he was destined for a career in the church. The boy was sent to his maternal uncle, the bishop Íbar, with whom he travelled to Rome. In Italy, Abbán's saintly powers proved to be of much use in warding off any danger presented by men, monsters and supernatural phenomena. Throughout the text, Abbán can be seen demonstrating his powers, exercising special authority over rivers and seas.
Abbán had six brothers who all appear in the Martyrology of Donegal as bishops: Damán Uí Chormaic of Tígh Damhain (Tidowan), in the barony of Marybouragh, Co. Laois; Miacca Uí Cormaic of Cluain Fodhla in Fiodhmar (borders Uí Duach/Bally Fíodhmor, Ossory); Senach Uí Chormaic of Cillmór; Lithghean Uí Chormaic of Cluain Mór Lethghian in Uí Failge (Barony Ophaly, Co. Kildare); Dubhán Uí Chormaic; Toimdeach Uí Chormaic of Rosglas, Monasterevin, Co. Kildare.
Dár Cairthaind and Ethne are listed as his sisters in the 'Accent of the Saints', while Gobnait of Baile Bhuirne, Cork and Craobh Dearg are mentioned as his sisters in other accounts.
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Saint Eustathius I, Archbishop of Serbia
January 4
Saint Eustathius, Archbishop of Serbia, lived in the second half of the thirteenth century, during the reign of the Serbian king Stephen Urosh (1262-1320).
He was born in the diocese of Budim into a pious Christian family, where he received a spiritual upbringing. Distinguished by remarkable talents, Eustathius was given a tutor by his parents to train him in spiritual wisdom. He studied Holy Scripture with particular diligence, perfecting himself in piety and good deeds. Having finished his education, the youth entered the Monastery of the Archangel Michael in the Zeta district (Montenegro) and led a strict monastic life. Soon he became known as a great ascetic. From thence he undertook a journey to Jerusalem, to venerate the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord. On the return journey he visited Mount Athos and settled there in the Serbian Hilandar monastery.
Saint Eustathius gained general renown and love as a strict ascetic and good teacher, and many came to him for spiritual advice. Later, he became igumen of the monastery.
After several years he was consecrated as Bishop of Zeta, and the saint returned to his native land. Experienced in spiritual life and in churchly matters, he won the love of his fellow countrymen, and continued to set an example for his flock.
Saint Eustathius was chosen as Archbishop of Serbia after the death of Archbishop Joannicius. Saint Eustathius guided the Serbian Church for seven years, and died about the year 1285. His body was buried in the Zhicha monastery, and later it was transferred to Pech and placed in the cathedral church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.
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Saint Enda, Abbot of Arranmore, Father of Irish Monasticism (+6th ce.)
21 March
Born in Meath; died at Killeany, Ireland, c. 530 or 590; feast day formerly on March 16.
In the 6th century, the wild rock called Aran, off the coast of Galway, was an isle of saints, and among them was Saint Enda, the patriarch of Irish monasticism. He was an Irish prince, son of Conall Derg of Oriel (Ergall) in Ulster. Legend has it that the soldier Enda was converted by his sister, Saint Fanchea (f.d. January 1), abbess of Kill-Aine. He renounced his dreams of conquest and decided to marry one of the girls in his sister's convent. When his intended bride died suddenly, he surrendered his throne and a life of worldly glory to become a monk. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and was ordained there. These stories told of the early life of Saint Enda and his sister are unreliable, but the rest is not. More authentic "vitae" survive at Tighlaghearny at Inishmore, where he was buried.
It is said that Enda learned the principles of monastic life at Rosnat in Britain, which was probably Saint David's foundation in Pembrokeshire or Saint Ninian's (f.d. September 16) in Galloway. Returning to Ireland, Enda built churches at Drogheda, and a monastery in the Boyne valley. It is uncertain how much of Enda's rule was an adaptation of that of Rosnat.
Thereafter (about 484) he begged his brother-in-law, the King Oengus (Aengus) of Munster, to give him the wild and barren isle of Aran (Aranmore) in Galway Bay. Oengus wanted to give him a fertile plot in the Golden Vale, but Aran more suited Enda's ideal for religious life. On Aran he established the monastery of Killeaney, which is regarded as the first Irish monastery in the strict sense, `the capital of the Ireland of the saints.' There they lived a hard life of manual labour, prayer, fasting, and study of the Scriptures. It is said that no fire was ever allowed to warm the cold stone cells even if "cold could be felt by those hearts so glowing with love of God."
Enda divided the island into ten parts, in each of which he built a monastery, and under his severe rule Aran became a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western Europe. Sheep now huddle and shiver in the storm under the ruins of old walls where once men lived and prayed. This was the chosen home of a group of poor and devoted men under Saint Enda. He taught them to love the hard rock, the dripping cave, and the barren earth swept by the western gales. They were men of the cave, and also men of the Cross, who, remembering that their Lord was born in a manger and had nowhere to lay His head, followed the same hard way.
Their coming produced excitement, and the Galway fishermen were kept busy rowing their small boats filled with curious sightseers across the intervening sea, for the fame of Aran-More spread far and wide. Enda's disciples were a noble band. There was Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (f.d. September 9), who came there first as a youth to grind corn, and would have remained there for life but for Enda's insistence that his true work lay elsewhere, reluctant though he was to part with him. When he departed, the monks of Aran lined the shore as he knelt for the last time to receive Enda's blessing, and watched with wistful eyes the boat that bore him from them. In his going, they declared, their island had lost its flower and strength.
Another was Saint Finnian (f.d. September 10), who left Aran and founded the monastery of Moville (where Saint Columba spent part of his youth) and who afterwards became bishop of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy. Among them also was Saint Brendan the Voyager, Saint Columba of Iona, Jarlath of Tuam (f.d. June 6), and Carthach the Elder (f.d. March 5) These and many others formed a great and valiant company who first learned in Aran the many ways of God, and who from that rocky sanctuary carried the light of the Gospel into a pagan world.
The very wildness of Aran made it richer and dearer to those who lived there. They loved those islands which as a necklace of pearls, God has set upon the bosom of the sea, and all the more because they had been the scene of heathen worship. There were three islands altogether, with lovely Irish names: Inishmore, Inishmain, and Inisheen.
On the largest stood Saint Enda's well and altar, and the round tower of the church where the bell was sounded which gave the signal that Saint Enda had taken his place at the altar. At the tolling of the bell the service of the Mass began in all the churches of the island.
O, Aran, cried Columba in ecstasy, the Rome of the pilgrims! He never forgot his spiritual home which lay in the western sun and her pure earth sanctified by so many memories. Indeed, he said, so bright was her glory that the angels of God came down to worship in the churches of Aran (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, D'Arcy, Delaney78, Encyclopaedia, Farmer, Gill, Healy, Husenbeth, Kenney, Montague).
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Saint Frigidian of Lucca, Bishop, from Ireland (+588)
18 March
Born in Ireland; died 588; feast day formerly March 15. In spite of the Italian name Frediano, by which he is usually called, St. Frigidian was an Irishman, the son of King Ultach of Ulster. He was trained in Irish monasteries and ordained a priest. His learning was imparted by such flowers of the 6th century Irish culture as Saint Enda and Saint Colman.
St. Frigidian arrived in Italy on a pilgrimage to Rome and decided to settle as a hermit on Mount Pisano. In 566, he was elected bishop of Lucca and was persuaded by Pope John II him to accept the position. Even thereafter the saint frequently left the city to spend many days in prayer and solitude. As bishop he formed the clergy of the city into a community of canons regular and rebuilt the cathedral after it had been destroyed by fire by the Lombards.
His most famous miracle:- the River Serchio frequently burst its banks, causing great damage to the city of Lucca. The citizens reputedly called on their bishop for aid. He asked for an ordinary rake. Fortified by prayer, Frigidian commanded the Serchio to follow his rake. He charted a new, safer course for the water, avoiding the city walls, as well as the cultivated land outside. Miraculously, the river followed him.
Sometimes there is confusion between Saint Finnian of Moville and St. Frigidian. They could perhaps be the same person but the links have never been well established. Frigidian is still greatly venerated in Lucca (Attwater, Bentley, Encyclopedia).
In art, St. Frigidian walks in procession as the Volto Santo crucifix is brought to Lucca on an ox cart. He may also be shown changing the course of the Serchio River or as a bishop with a crown at his feet (Roeder).
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Saint Aquila, Deacon, of the Kiev Caves
January 4
Saint Aquila the Deacon of the Kiev Caves (14th Century), became famous as a great faster, having spent a long while as a hermit. He ate neither vareny (pirogi) nor sweet food, he ate vegetables seldom and only in small quantities. During fasting periods, he ate only a single prosphoron.
Those thirsting for deliverance from “the enslavement of the passions of the stomach,” and those wishing to learn temperance turn to Saint Aquila entreating his help (Third Ode of the Canon to the monks venerated in the Far Caves).
Saint Aquila the Deacon is also commemorated on August 28 and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
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Saint Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland (+461)
17 March
Born in Scotland (?), c. 385-390; died at Saul, Strangford Lough, Ireland, c. 461.
I was like a stone lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came, and in His mercy lifted me up, and verily raised me aloft and placed me on the top of the wall. --Saint Patrick
The historical Patrick is much more attractive than the Patrick of legend. It is unclear exactly where Patricius Magonus Sucatus (Patrick) was born--somewhere in the west between the mouth of the Severn and the Clyde--but this most popular Irish saint was probably born in Scotland of British origin, perhaps in a village called "Bannavem Taberniae." (Other possibilities are in Gaul or at Kilpatrick near Dumbarton, Scotland.) His father, Calpurnius, was a deacon and a civil official, a town councillor, and his grandfather was a Christian priest.
About 405, when Patrick was in his teens (14-16), he was captured by Irish raiders and became a slave in Ireland. There in Ballymena (or Slemish) in Antrim (or Mayo), Patrick first learned to pray intensely while tending his master's sheep in contrast with his early years in Britain when he knew not the true God and did not heed clerical admonitions for our salvation. After six years, he was told in a dream that he should be ready for a courageous effort that would take him back to his homeland.
He ran away from his owner and travelled 200 miles to the coast. His initial request for free passage on a ship was turned down, but he prayed, and the sailors called him back. The ship on which he escaped was taking dogs to Gaul (France). At some point he returned to his family in Britain, then seems to have studied at the monastery of Lerins on the Cote d'Azur from 412 to 415.
He received some kind of training for the priesthood in either Britain or Gaul, possibly in Auxerre, including study of the Latin Bible, but his learning was not of a high standard, and he was to regret this always. He spent the next 15 years at Auxerre were he became a disciple of Saint Germanus (f.d. July 31) and was possibly ordained about 417. Germanus is also said to have consecrated him bishop. [This is incorrect - Patrick was consecrated bishop by St Maxim of Turin during the time he was returning from Rome to Auxerre].
Heric of Auxerre wrote in the 5th century:
Since the glory of the father shines in the training of the children, of the many sons in Christ whom St. Germain is believed to have had as disciples in religion, let it suffice to make mention here, very briefly, of one most famous, Patrick, the special Apostle of the Irish nation, as the record of his work proves. Subject to that most holy discipleship for 18 years, he drank in no little knowledge in Holy Scripture from the stream of so great a well-spring. Germain sent him, accompanied by Segetius, his priest, to Celestine, Pope of Rome, approved of by whose judgement, supported by whose authority, and strengthened by whose blessing, he went on his way to Ireland.
The cultus of Patrick began in France, long before Sucat received the noble title of Patricius, which was immediately before his departure for Ireland about 431. The centre of this cultus is a few miles west of Tours, on the Loire, around the town of Saint- Patrice, which is named after him. The strong, persistent legend is that Patrick not only spent the twenty years after his escape from slavery there, but that it was his home. The local people firmly believe that Patrick was the nephew of Saint Martin of Tours (f.d. November 11) and that he became a monk in his uncle's great Marmoutier Abbey.
Patrick's cultus there reverts to the writing, Les Fleurs de Saint-Patrice, which relates that Patrick was sent from the abbey to preach the Gospel in the area of Brehemont-sur-Loire. He went fishing one day and had a tremendous catch. The local fishermen were upset and forced him to flee. He reached a shelter on the north bank where he slept under a blackthorn bush. When he awoke the bush was covered with flowers. Because this was Christmas day, the incident was considered a miracle, which recurred each Christmas until the bush was destroyed in World War I. The phenomenon was evaluated many times and verified by various observers, including official organisations. He is now the patron of the fishermen on the Loire and, according to a modern French scholar, the patron of almost every other occupation in the neighbourhood. There is a grotto dedicated to him at Marmoutier, which contains a stone bed, alleged to have been his. It is said that in visions he heard voices in the wood of Focault or that he dreamed of Ireland and determined to return to the land of his slavery as a missionary in the footsteps of Saint Palladius (f.d. July 6). In that dream or vision he heard a cry from many people together come back and walk once more among us, and he read a writing in which this cry was named 'the voice of the Irish.'
In his Confessio Patrick writes: It was not my grace, but God who overcometh in me, so that I came to the heathen Irish to preach the Gospel . . . to a people newly come to belief which the Lord took from the ends of the earth. Saint Germanus consecrated him bishop about 432, and sent him to Ireland to succeed Saint Palladius (f.d. July 6). the first bishop, who had died earlier that year. There was some opposition to Patrick's appointment, probably from Britain, but Patrick made his way to Ireland about 435.
He set up his see at Armagh about 444 and organised the church into territorial sees, as elsewhere in the West and East. While Patrick encouraged the Irish to become monks and nuns, it is not certain that he was a monk himself; it is even less likely that in his time the monastery became the principal unit of the Irish Church, although it was in later periods. The choice of Armagh may have been determined by the presence of a powerful king. There Patrick had a school and presumably a small "familia" in residence; from this base he made his missionary journeys. There seems to have been little contact with the Palladian Christianity of the southeast.
There is no reliable account of his work in Ireland, where he had been a captive. Legends include the stories that he drove snakes from Ireland, and that he described the mystery of the Trinity to Laoghaire, high king of Ireland, by referring to the shamrock, and that he singlehandedly--an impossible task--converted Ireland. Nevertheless, Saint Patrick established the Church throughout Ireland on lasting foundations: he travelled throughout the country preaching, teaching, building churches, opening schools and monasteries, converting chiefs and bards, and everywhere supporting his preaching with miracles.
At Tara in Meath he is said to have confronted King Laoghaire on the Celtic Feast of Tara which coincided with Easter Eve. On that day the fires were quenched throughout the country. The penalty for infringing the superstitious custom by kindling a fire was death. Nevertheless, Patrick kindled the light of the Paschal fire on the hill of Slane (the fire of Christ never to be extinguished in Ireland). When Laoghaire and his men went to apprehend the violator of their sacred night, they were treated to a sermon that confounded the Druids into silence, and gained a hearing for Patrick as a man of power. During the course of the sermon, Patrick picked up a shamrock to use it as a symbol of the triune God.
Patrick converted the king's daughters Saints Ethenea and Fidelmia (f.d. January 11). He threw down the idol of Crom Cruach in Leitrim. Patrick wrote that he daily expected to be violently killed or enslaved again.
He gathered many followers, including Saint Benignus (f.d. November 9), who would become his successor. That was one of his chief concerns, as it always is for the missionary Church: the raising up of native clergy.
He wrote: It was most needful that we should spread our nets, so that a great multitude and a throng should be taken for God. . . . Most needful that everywhere there should be clergy to baptize and exhort a people poor and needy, as the Lord in the Gospel warns and teaches, saying: Go ye therefore now, and teach all nations. And again: Go ye therefore into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. And again: This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all nations.
In his writings and preaching, Patrick revealed a scale of values. He was chiefly concerned with abolishing paganism, idolatry, and sun-worship. He made no distinction of classes in his preaching and was himself ready for imprisonment or death for following Christ. In his use of Scripture and eschatological expectations, he was typical of the 5th-century bishop. One of the traits which he retained as an old man was a consciousness of his being an unlearned exile and former slave and fugitive, who learned to trust God completely.
There was some contact with the pope. He visited Rome in 442 and 444. As the first real organiser of the Irish Church, Patrick is called the Apostle of Ireland. According to the Annals of Ulster, the Cathedral Church of Armagh was founded in 444, and the see became a centre of education and administration. Patrick organised the Church into territorial sees, raised the standard of scholarship (encouraging the teaching of Latin), and worked to bring Ireland into a closer relationship with the Western Church.
His writings show what solid doctrine he must have taught his listeners. His Confessio (his autobiography, perhaps written as an apology against his detractors), the "Lorica" (or "Breastplate"), and the "Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus," protesting British slave trading and the slaughter of a group of Irish Christians by Coroticus's raiding Christian Welshmen, are the first surely identified literature of the British or Celtic Church.
What stands out in his writings is Patrick's sense of being called by God to the work he had undertaken, and his determination and modesty in carrying it out: I, Patrick, a sinner, am the most ignorant and of least account among the faithful, despised by many. . . . I owe it to God's grace that so many people should through me be born again to him.
The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters state that by the year 438 Christianity had made such progress in Ireland that the laws were changed to agree with the Gospel. That means that in 6 years a 60 year old man was able to so change the country that even the laws were amended. St. Patrick had no printing press, no finances, few helpers and Ireland had no Roman roads to travel on. See http://www.ireland-now.com/heritage/myths/histofpatrick.html
There are many places in Ireland associated with S. Patrick but none more than Croagh Patrick in County Mayo where he spent the forty days of Lent in 441 and saw devils as flocks of black birds and was sustained by the angels of God appearing as white birds filling the sky. On the last Sunday in July the age-long annual pilgrimage draws thousands to scale the mountain.
The National Museum at Dublin has his bell and tooth, presumably from the shrine at Downpatrick, where he was originally entombed with Saints Brigid and Columba. St Patrick's Church in Belfast claims to possess an enshrined arm.
The high veneration in which the Irish hold Patrick is evidenced by the common salutation, May God, Mary, and Patrick bless you. His name occurs widely in prayers and blessings throughout Ireland. Among the oldest devotions of Ireland is the prayer used by travellers invoking Patrick's protection, "An Mhairbhne Phaidriac" or "The Elegy of Patrick." He is alleged to have promised prosperity to those who seek his intercession on his feast day, which marks the end of winter. A particularly lovely legend is that the Peace of Christ will reign over all Ireland when the Palm and the Shamrock meet, which means when St. Patrick's Day fall on Palm Sunday.
We are told that often Patrick baptized hundreds on a single day. He would come to a place, a crowd would gather, and when he told them about the true God, the people would cry out from all sides that they wanted to become Christians. Then they would move to the nearest water to be baptized.
On such a day Aengus, a prince of Munster, was baptized. When Patrick had finished preaching, Aengus was longing with all his heart to become a Christian. The crowd surrounded the two because Aengus was such an important person. Patrick got out his book and began to look for the place of the baptismal rite but his crosier got in the way.
As you know, the bishop's crosier often has a spike at the bottom end, probably to allow the bishop to set it into the ground to free his hands. So, when Patrick fumbled searching for the right spot in the book so that he could baptize Aengus, he absent-mindedly stuck his crosier into the ground just beside him--and accidentally through the foot of poor Aengus!
Patrick, concentrating on the sacrament, never noticed what he had done and proceeded with the baptism. The prince never cried out, nor moaned; he simply went very white. When Patrick turned to take up his crosier and was horrified to find that he had driven it through the prince's foot!
But why didn't you say something? Your foot is bleeding and you'll be lame. . . . Poor Patrick was very unhappy to have hurt another.
Then Aengus said in a low voice that he thought having a spike driven through his foot was part of the ceremony. He added something that must have brought joy to the whole court of heaven and blessings on Ireland:
Christ, he said slowly, shed His blood for me, and I am glad to suffer a little pain at baptism to be like Our Lord (Curtayne).
In art, Saint Patrick is represented as a bishop driving snakes before him or trampling upon them. At times he may be shown (1) preaching with a serpent around the foot of his pastoral staff; (2) holding a shamrock; (3) with a fire before him; or (4) with a pen and book, devils at his feet, and seraphim above him (Roeder, White). He is patron of Ireland and especially venerated at Lerins (Roeder, White).
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Saint Ita of Limerick, Ireland (+570)
January 15
Died c. 570. Saint Ita is the most famous woman saint in Ireland after Saint Brigid (f.d. February 1), and is known as the Brigid of Munster. She is said to have been of royal lineage, born in one of the baronies of Decies near Drum in County Waterford, and called Deirdre.
An aristocrat wished to marry her, but after praying and fasting for three days and with divine help, she convinced her father to allow her to lead the life of a maiden. She migrated to Hy Conaill (Killeedy), in the western part of Limerick, and founded a community of women dedicated to God, which soon attracted many young women. She also founded and directed a school. It is said that Bishop Saint Erc gave into her care Saint Brendan (f.d. May 16), who would become a famous abbot and missionary (though the chronology makes this unlikely). Many other Irish saints were taught by her for years. For this reason, she is often called foster-mother of the saints of Ireland.
Brendan once asked her what three things God especially loved. She replied, True faith in God with a pure heart, a simple life with a religious spirit, and open-handedness inspired by charity.
An Irish lullaby for the Infant Jesus is attributed to her. Saint Ita's legend stresses her physical austerities. The principle mark of her devotion was the indwelling of the Holy Trinity. Like other monastic figures of Ireland, she spent much time in solitude, praying and fasting, and the rest of the time in service to those seeking her assistance and advice.
She and her sisters helped to treat the sick of the area. Many miracles are also attributed to her including one in which she reattached the head to the body of a man who had been decapitated, and another that she lived only on food from heaven.
Although her life is overlaid by much unreliable material, because she has been so popular and her "vita" was not written for centuries, there is no reason to doubt her existence. There are church dedications and place names that recall her both in her birthplace and around her monastery. She is also mentioned in the poem of Blessed Alcuin (f.d. May 19), and her cultus is still vibrant (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Montague, Riain, Walsh, White).
An extract from the entry on St. Ita in Edward Sellner's The Wisdom of the Celtic Saints.
Ita (also Ite or Ide) is, after Brigit, the most famous of Irish women soul friends. Her hagiographer even describes her as a second Brigit. A sixth-century abbess, Ita founded a monastery in Country Limerick at Killeedy (which means Cell of Church of Ita). She came from the highly respected clan of the Deisi, and her father, like Brigit's, was resistant to her becoming a nun. After gaining his permission, Ita left home and settled at the foot of Sliabh Luachra, where other women from neighbouring clans soon joined her. There she founded a monastic school for the education of small boys, one of whom was Brendan of Clonfert. She evidently had many students, for she is called the Foster-mother of the Saints of Erin.
Ita's original, some claim, was Deirdre, but because of her thirst (iota) for holiness she became known as Ita. This quality may have been what drew so many women to join her monastery and families to send their sons to her. Ita wanted her students to become acquainted with the saints as soul friends. Besides her mentoring, Ita is associated with competence in healing and with an asceticism that an angel had to warn her about.
Ita died in approximately 570. Her grave, frequently decorated with flowers, is in the ruins of a Romanesque church at Killeedy where her monastery once stood. A holy well nearby, almost invisible now, was known for centuries for curing smallpox in children and other diseases as well.
Her feast day is January 15.
Ita's Qualities as a Child, and the Fiery Grace of God
Ita was born in Ireland of noble lineage, that is, of the stock of Feidhlimidh Reachtmiher, by whom all Ireland was supremely ruled for many years from the royal fort of Tara. He had three sons, Tiacha, Cond and Eochaid. Ita was born of the people called the Deisi, and from her baptism on she was filled with the Holy Spirit. All marvelled at her childhood purity and behaviour, and her abstinence on the days she had to fast. She performed many miracles while she was yet a small child, and when she could speak and walk she was prudent, very generous and mild toward everyone, gentle and chaste in her language, and God-fearing. She consistently attempted to overcome evil and always did what she could to promote good. As a young girl she lived at home with her parents.
One day, while Ita was asleep in her room the whole place seemed to be on fire. When her neighbours came to give assistance, however, the fire in her room seemed to have been extinguished. All marvelled at that, and it was said that it was the grace of God that burned about Ita as she slept. When she arose from her sleep, her whole appearance seemed to be angelic, for she had beauty that has never been seen before or since. Her appearance was such that it was the grace of God that burned about her. After a short interval, her original appearance returned, which certainly was beautiful enough.
Ita's Dream and the Angel that Helped Discern Its Meaning
Another day when she went to sleep, Ita saw an angel of the Lord approach her and give her three precious stones. When she awoke she did not know what that dream signified, and she had a question in her heart about it. Then an angel appeared to her and said, Why are you wondering about that dream? Those three precious stoned you saw being given to you signify the coming of the Blessed Trinity to you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Always in your sleep and vigils the angels of God and holy visions will come to you, for you are a temple of God, in body and soul. After saying this, the angel left her.
Ita's Desire to be Consecrated to Christ, and her Parents' Resistance
Another day Ita came to her mother and announced to her the divine precepts the Holy Spirit had taught her. She asked her mother to seek her father's permission so that she might consecrate herself to Christ. But her father was defiantly opposed to what she desired. The request was also very displeasing to her mother , and when others added their petitions, Ita's father vehemently refused to give permission. Then Ita, filled with the spirit of prophecy, said to all: Leave my father alone for a while. Though he now forbids me to be consecrated to Christ, he will come to persuade me and eventually will order me to do so, for he will be compelled by Jesus Christ my Lord to let me go wherever I wish to serve God. And it happened as she had predicted. This is how it came about.
Not long afterward, Ita fasted for three days and three nights. During those days and nights, through dreams and vigils, it became clear that the devil was waging several battles against Ita. She, however, resisted him in everything, whether she slept or watched. One night, the devil, sad and grieving, left Ita with these words: Alas, Ita, you will free yourself from me, and many others too will be delivered.
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Saint Fechin of Fobhar (Fore), Ireland (+665) - January 20
Born at Bile Fechin (Connaught), Ireland; died c. 665. Saint Fechin, the abbot-founder of several Irish monasteries, was trained by Saint Nathy (f.d. August 9) at Achonry, County Sligo. After a life of sanctity, he died during the great pestilence which came upon Britain and Ireland in the year after the Council at Whitby and felled four Irish kings and nearly two-thirds of the populace.
Fechin's name is particularly connected with that of Fobhar (Fore or Foure) in Westmeath, which was his first monastic foundation, and an important one for its manuscripts. Fechin was the son of Coelcharna, descendant of Eochad Fionn, brother to the famous king Conn of the Hundred Battles, and his mother Lassair was of the royal blood of Munster. When fit to be sent to school he was placed under St Nathy of Achonry.
Having finished his studies he was ordained priest, and retired to a solitary place at Fore in Westmeath, there to live as a hermit. But he was followed by many disciples, and Fore became a monastery. Here he eventually governed over 300 monks. He is said to have pitied the monks engaged in grinding their corn in querns, he therefore brought water from a marsh to the monastery, by cutting a tunnel through the rock, and then established a water mill. Of this Giraldus Cambrensis relates the following :-
There is a mill at Foure, which St Fechin made most miraculously with his own hands, in the side of a certain rock. No women are allowed to enter either this mill or the church of the Saint; and the mill is held in as much reverence by the people as any of the churches dedicated to him.
His influence was very great with the kings and princes of his age. The Saint finding a poor leper, full of sores one day, took him to the Queen, and bade her minister to him as to Christ. She bravely overcame her repugnance, and tended him with gentle care. of three hundred monks. He also established a religious house in the island of Immagh, near the coast of Galway. The inhabitants were then pagans, but Fechin and his monks converted them.
The monastery dedicated to the Virgin Mary which he founded in Cong is renowned because of the Cross of Cong, one of the great treasures of Ireland, which had been hidden in an old oaken chest in the village, and now resides in the National Museum in Dublin. Both the church and monastery at Cong were rebuilt in 1120 for the Augustinians by Turlough O'Connor, who gave them the bejewelled processional cross he had made to enshrine a particle of the True Cross. Cong Abbey also served as the refuge for the last high king of Ireland, Roderick O'Connor. The monastery was suppressed by King Henry VIII.
St. Fechin's other foundations include those at Ballysadare (his birthplace?),Imaid Island, Omey and Ard Oilean, from which came the oldest manuscript about his life. All of these are now in ruins. His memory, however, is also perpetuated at Ecclefechan and Saint Vigean's (the name under which he is invoked in the Dunkeld Litany), near Arbroath in Scotland, where a fair was held on his feast day.
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Saint Tuda 4th Bishop of Lindisfarne, England (+664)
A consequence of the Synod of Whitby was the splitting of the position of Abbot of Lindisfarne and Bishop of Lindisfarne. For Saints Aidan, Finan and Colmán, they assumed and held each position simultaneously. After the departure of Saint Colmán, Saint Tuda became the Bishop of Lindisfarne. He was also Irish but he was from southern Ireland which in large part was following the Roman method. At the same time, an Anglo-Saxon called Saint Eata was made Abbot of Lindisfarne on the recommendation of the departing Saint Colmán.
However Saint Tuda’s abbacy was extremely brief because the Yellow Plague began in the same year as the Synod of Whitby (664). He caught the plague and died within months of taking the position. This was the end of an era for Lindisfarne because instead of electing a new Bishop of Lindisfarne, a new jurisdiction was drawn and the Bishop of York became the bishop for an area that included Lindisfarne. This situation would last from 664 until 678 when Lindisfarne would again have a bishop centred there (the first of whom would be the aforementioned Saint Eata who was already the Abbot of Lindisfarne). 664 was the end of an era for Lindisfarne as it was no longer closely associated with Iona and Irish monks but it would have saintly Anglo-Saxon abbots in the future and continue the legacy that began with Saint Aidan.
F.
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Saint Rumon οf Tavistock, England (+6th ce.)
4 January
Born c.AD 515.
Rumon is a saint of some controversy. He is chiefly the patron of Tavistock in Devon, but also apparently of several churches in Cornwall and Brittany where he is variously called Ruan or Ronan. It is not completely certain that the character referred to in each was the same man.
According to the relic lists of Glastonbury, Prince Rumon was a brother of St. Tugdual and, therefore, one of the sons of King Hoel I Mawr (the Great) of Brittany. Tradition says he was educated in Britain-probably Wales-but that he later accompanied St. Breaca on her return from Ireland to her Cornish homeland. Like Tudgual, he had presumably travelled to Ireland to learn the Holy Scriptures. He is said to have lived in a hermitage on Inis Luaidhe, near Iniscathy, and was eventually raised to the episcopacy. In Cornwall, he founded churches at Ruan Lanihorne (on the River Fal), Ruan Major & Minor (near the Lizard Peninsula), a defunct chapel in Redruth and at Romansleigh in Devon; but he quickly moved on to Cornouaille in Brittany, with St. Senan as his companion.
Rumon met up with St. Remigius in Rheims, which would place him in Brittany around the early 6th century, the probable time of his birth if he was a son of Hoel Mawr. At any rate, he settled first at St. Rénan and then moved on to the Forest of Nevez, overlooking the Bay of Douarnenez. He seems to have acquired a wife, named Ceban, and children at some point. He may be identical with Ronan Ledewig (the Breton), father of SS. Gargunan and Silan. His lady wife took a distinct dislike to Rumon's preaching amongst the local pagan inhabitants and considered him to be neglecting his domestic duties. The situation became so bad that she plotted to have Rumon arrested.
Hiding their little daughter in a chest, Ceban fled to the Royal Court at Quimper and sought an audience with the Prince of Cornouaille-supposedly Gradlon, though he lived some years earlier. She claimed that her husband was a werewolf who ravaged the local sheep every fortnight and had now killed their baby girl! Rumon was arrested, but the sceptical monarch tested him by exposing the prisoner to his hunting dogs. They would have immediately reacted to any sign of wolf, but Rumon remained unharmed and was proclaimed a holy man. His daughter was found, safe and well, whilst his wife appears to have received only the lightest of punishments. Despite this, her troublemaking persisted and Rumon was forced to abandon her and journey eastward towards Rennes. He eventually settled at Hilion in Domnonia, where he lived until his death.
There was much quarrelling over Rumon's holy body after his demise. His companion had thought to keep one of his arms as a relic and brutally cut it off. A disturbing dream soon made him put it back though. Later, the Princes of Cornouaille, Rennes and Vannes all claimed the honour of burying him in their own province. The matter was decided by allowing him to be drawn on a wagon by two three-year-old oxen who had never been yoked. Where they rested, he would be interred. However, the body would not allow itself to be lifted onto the cart, except by the Prince of Cornouaille; so it was no surprise when the cattle chose Locronan in the Forest of Nevez, near his former home.
It is unclear when Rumon's relics left Locronan-despite the 16th century shrine still to be seen there today. It was suggested by Baring-Gould & Fisher that they were removed to safety in Britain during the Viking coastal attacks of AD 913 & 14. Tradition says they were taken to Quimper, thence to Ruan Lanihorne in Cornwall. In AD 960, however, Earl Ordgar of Devon founded his great Abbey of Tavistock, on the edge of Dartmoor. He translated the body of Rumon into the abbey church with much pomp and ceremony and there it remained, working miracles for nearly six hundred years: until the Dissolution of the Monastery in the late 1530s. Some relics, however, may have made their way back to Brittany, by the 13th century, including, perhaps, his head.
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Saint Eleftherios, Bishop-Martyr (+126)
December 15
When the phrase "child prodigy" is mentioned it may bring to mind the name of Mozart, who composed music before he was twelve that is still extant, or Alexander Pope, who wrote the classic poem "Solitude" when he was but eleven years old. It would be difficult to recall any boy genius of religion, but the one who comes closest to this was a Roman lad of the second century. His name was Eleftherios and he was among the first and youngest to carve a niche for himself in Christianity in the eternal city of Rome, where he astounded his elders with his prodigious intellect and early development.
Had his father, a high public official of pagan Rome, lived to guide his immensely talented son, things might have taken a different turn for the boy and for Christianity, but his widowed mother, the beautiful Anthia, had accepted Christianity with all her heart. It followed, therefore, that the boy's talents would be applied to Christian endeavor, and he was as quick to embrace the Messiah as he was quick to acquire knowledge. His enormous capacity for learning so accelerated his intellectual pace that he outdistanced his teachers, one of whom suggested to Anthia that she take this marvelous boy to the bishop of Rome, Aniketos, who after witnessing the boy's intellectual display took him under his personal supervision.
Evincing a desire to serve the Savior that was as profound as his learning, Eleftherios embarked on a meteoric career as a man of the cloth, acquiring before he was twelve the equivalent of a college education and with such impressive credentials was tonsured a reader at the age of thirteen. When he was fifteen years old he was ordained a deacon and at the age of seventeen was ordained a priest of the Christian Church. With such early momentum propelling him and with an ever-increasing hope to serve Christ in the highest tradition of the apostles, he was elevated to the episcopacy at the age of twenty, the youngest bishop ever to reach that pinnacle through his own efforts.
As bishop in Illyricum, Eleftherios promoted the cause of Christianity with the adroitness of a seasoned campaigner, giving added impetus to the Christian movement at a time when the merciless persecutions not only made it difficult to win and hold converts, but also at a time when the gravest danger was in being a high-ranking prelate of the Church. Oblivious to this threat, he was acclaimed in the inner circle of Christianity as the brightest luminary of Christian Rome since the apostles. Even those whom he failed to convert held him in the highest esteem, and with this immense popularity he grew bolder and thereby more offensive to the state. This outstanding theologian, orator and benefactor of Christian and pagan alike was finally mentioned to Emperor Hadrian, who ordered his arrest.
Ordinarily the emperor would have questioned him personally because of his high station, but fearing a reprisal because of the prelate's popularity, Hadrian dispatched his most trusted centurion, a man named Felix, to bring the bishop before the prefect of Rome for trial and punishment. The centurion decided that rather than run the risk of seizing Eleftherios publicly he would seek out his place of worship and arrest him there. After some time Felix found the well-hidden church and crept in just as the bishop was commencing a sermon. The oratory of the brilliant Eleftherios was spellbinding, and when the sermon was over Felix came forth and asked to be converted to Christianity.
This done, Felix exposed his purpose and apologized for having come to the house of God with treachery in his heart. He was easily forgiven by Eleftherios, who thereafter instructed the centurion to return him to the prefect lest judgment be passed on both of them. With a great deal of reluctance Felix took the bishop to what appeared to be a sealed fate, offering along the way to help Eleftherios escape. But the proud prelate would not hear of it.
With the emperor conspicuous by his absence, Eleftherios went on trial before the prefect, but not even his oratorical power could save him. The bishop was cast into prison, tortured, and put to death. He died for Christ on December 15.
F.
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St. Brithwald, Abbot
(Beorhtweald, Berctuald, Bertwald, Brihtwald)
9 January
Died 731.
Saint Berhtwald was an Anglo-Saxon, probably educated at Canterbury, who became a monk and later abbot of Reculver in Kent. He was elected archbishop of Canterbury in 692 upon the death of Saint Theodore and was consecrated at Lyons by its Archbishop Godwin. Saint Bede describes him as learned in Scripture and ecclesiastical and monastic sciences, although far inferior to his predecessor in the see.
During his 37-year reign in that see, he was in correspondence with Saints Boniface, Aldhelm, and Wilfrid. In 703, Berhtwald presided over the synod of Austerfield (West Yorkshire), which decreed that Wilfrid should resign his see of York, accept virtual deposition and confinement, and give up his monasteries (Peterborough, Brixworth, Evesham, and Wing). Despite Wilfrid's appeal to the pope for reinstatement, Berhtwald remained adamant until a compromise was reached in 705 at the Synod of the River Nidd, during which it was agreed that Saint John of Beverley would continue as bishop of York, while Wilfrid would govern Hexham and resume control of his monasteries.
Berhtwald's cultus was never very widespread. His feast was only ever celebrated at Saint Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, where he was buried.
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Saint Peter, Abbot in Canterbury, England (+608)
December 30
Died c. 606-608; feast at Saint Augustine's in Canterbury is kept on December 30. Saint Peter was a monk at Saint Andrew's Monastery in Rome until, in 596, he was sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to England with the first group of missionaries under Saint Augustine of Canterbury. In 602, Peter became the first abbot of SS. Peter and Paul (afterwards Saint Augustine's) at Canterbury.
Saint Peter was probably the monk delegated by Augustine to take news to the pope of the first Anglo-Saxon conversions. He then brought back Saint Gregory's replies to Augustine's questions. Later Peter was dispatched on a mission to Gaul, but was drowned in the English Channel at Ambleteuse (Amfleet) near Boulogne. According to the Venerable Bede, the local inhabitants buried him in an "unworthy place" but, as the result of a prodigy of mysterious light appearing over his grave at night, translated his relics to a church in Boulogne with suitable honour.
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Saint Pega of Mercia, England (+719)
8 January
Born in Mercia, England; died in Rome, Italy, c. 719. Saint Pega, the virgin sister of Saint Guthlac of Croyland, had her hermitage in the Fens (Peakirk = Pega's church in Northhamptonshire) near that of her brother. When he realised that his death was near (714), he invited her to his funeral. In order to get there, Pega is said to have sailed down the Welland, and cured a blind man from Wisbech en route. Guthlac bequeathed to her his psalter and scourge, both of which she gave to the monastery that grew up around his hermitage. After Guthlac's death, she is said to have made a pilgrimage to Rome and to have died there. Ordericus Vitalis claimed that her relics survived in an unnamed Roman church in his day and that miracles occurred there.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0108d.html
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Saint Merryn Missionary in Cornwall, England & Brittany, France (+6th ce.)
4 April
6th century. Missionary in Cornwall and Brittany. Saint Merryn is the titular patron of a place in Cornwall. He may be identical with the Breton saint honoured at Lanmerin and Plomelin. During the medieval period, the legendary Saint Marina was believed to have been its patron. For this reason, the Cornish St. Merryn observes the feast on July 7, whereas the Breton feast is on April 4.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0404c.html
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Saint Ethelburga of Lyminge, England (+647)
5 April
Died c. 647. Saint Ethelburga was the daughter of King Saint Ethelbert of Kent (f.d. February 24), who had been converted to Christianity by his wife Bertha (Tata) and Saint Augustine of Canterbury (f.d. May 27). Ethelburga married the pagan King Edwin of Northumbria. She and her chaplain Saint Paulinus (f.d. October 10) helped persuade Edwin to become a Christian in 627 and a saint (f.d. October 12). The behaviour of his wife, as much as the preaching of Paulinus, must have had a great influence in the conversion of Edwin and his court. Pope Boniface wrote to her to encourage her, addressing the letter To his daughter, the most illustrious lady, Queen Ethelburga, Bishop Boniface, servant of the servants of God ... He sent her the blessing of St Peter, and a silver mirror with an ivory comb adorned with gold, asking her to accept the present in the same kindly spirit as that in which it is sent.
Edwin encouraged the advancement of Christianity in his kingdom, but on his death, paganism returned, and Ethelburga and Paulinus were forced to return to her native Kent. There she founded a double monastery at Lyminge where her brother Eadbald gave her the site of an old Roman villa at Lyminge, on Stone Street, near the Roman fort of Lymne.
St. Ethelburga continued at Lyminge to the end of her life, and there remains a recess in the South wall of the parish church, which was probably her tomb, and her well on the village green, in a good state of preservation. When Lanfranc founded the Collegiate Church at Canterbury for the parish clergy of the city, he translated the relics of St. Ethelburga, and they were enshrined there, just outside the Northgate, until the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney).
Saint Ethelburga is portrayed in art as a crowned abbess with the Abbey of Lyminge, where she is venerated.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0405c.html
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Quotes of Saint Sophrony of Essex, England (+1993)
No one can bear to live with a saint, because the saint’s word is fiery. The saint ascends the Cross with his whole life; he is crucified. And the one who lives with him cannot bear this life of the Cross.
There are no writings by female saints. This is not because there are fewer holy women than men. There are more holy women, but female saints lead a hidden life; they are able to keep their life secret. The All-Holy Virgin received great grace from God. We do not have revelations that come from the All-Holy Virgin, but we know that she had great grace; the Church and all who pray to her are aware of it.
Also, women did not need to reveal their experiences in order to guide their flock. All those who have left us a few of their words were Abbesses. But male saints, too, would have kept silent, and we would not have their writings, had it not been necessary for them, as people with responsibility and shepherds of the Church, to guide their flocks.
God’s covenant with human beings is His call to each one. Accepting the call is keeping the Covenant.
Priests share in Christ’s martyric priesthood. The Pope exercises his authority from a high position. Orthodox priests share in Christ’s self-emptying, in the martyric priesthood of Christ, Who was crucified and went down to Hades.
The trials that the saints underwent are greater than our own trials, because their hearts were sensitive and everything in their lives took on larger proportions. Christ’s Cross transcends any human martyrdom because Christ was sinless. We inherit death and we strengthen the power of death throughout our lives with our sins.
Christians will always be misunderstood by those around them.
We should also respect the freedom of non-believers and atheists, and not judge them. Then they too will leave us free to do our work.
In Greece they are prone to gossip and easily take offence, but at the same time they have intuition, and they understand that other people have good intentions and mean well. This is because Greece is an Orthodox country.
When someone has a rule from his spiritual father not to take Holy Communion, but he takes Holy Communion because he thirsts for it, then, apart from being disobedient, he does harm to his soul, because afterwards he stops thirsting for Holy Communion. If, however, he obeys his spiritual father, he will continue to thirst for Holy Communion. This thirst is beneficial. Just by keeping the word of one’s spiritual father one receives grace from God.
https://thoughtsintrusive.wordpress.com/2015/07/10/various-words-from-elder-sophrony-of-essex/
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Saint Oengus (Aengus, Oengoba) the Culdee, Abbot & Bishop (+830) - 11 March
Born in Ireland; died c. 830. The appellation "Culdee," Ceile De, or Kele-De means "worship of God," which became the name of a monastic movement otherwise known as the "Companions of God." Oengus was of the race of the Dalriadans, kings of Ulster. In his youth, renouncing all earthly pretensions, he chose Christ for his inheritance by embracing the religious life in the monastery of Cluain-Edneach (Clonenagh) in East Meath (County Laois). Here he became so great a proficient both in learning and sanctity, that no one in his time could be found in Ireland that equalled him in reputation for every kind of virtue, and for sacred knowledge.
To shun the esteem of the world, he disguised himself and entered the monastery of Tamlacht (Tallaght Hill), three miles from Dublin, where he lived for seven years as an anonymous lay brother. There he performed all the drudgery of the house, appearing fit for nothing but the vilest tasks, while interiorly he was being perfected in love and contemplation absorbed in God. After his identity was discovered when he tried to coach an unsuccessful student, he returned to Cluain-Edneach, where the continual austerity of his life, and his constant application to God in prayer, may be more easily admired than imitated. For example, he would daily recite one-third of the Psalter (50 Psalms) while immersed in cold water.
He was chosen abbot, and at length raised to the episcopal dignity: for it was usual then in Ireland for eminent abbots in the chief monasteries to be bishops. He was known for his devotion to the saints. He left both a longer and a shorter Irish Martyrology, and five other books concerning the saints of his country, contained in what the Irish call "Saltair-na-Rann." The short martyrology was a celebrated metrical hymn called "Felire" or "Festilogium." The longer, "Martyrology of Tallaght" was composed in collaboration with Saint Maelruain of Tallaght (f.d. July 7).
He died at Disertbeagh (now Desert Aenguis or Dysert Enos), which became also a famous monastery, and took its name from him (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth, Montague).
Another Life:
To Aengus many ascribe the reform of Irish monasticism and its emergence as an ordered ascetic and scholastic movement. He is called the Culdec because this reform produced the groups of monks in Ireland and Scotland, who were really anchorites but lived together in one place, usually thirteen in number after the example of Christ and His Apostles. The name Culdec probably comes from the Irish Ceile Dee (companion) rather than the Latin Cultores Dei (worshippers of God). The Culdees produced the highly decorated High Crosses and elaborately illuminated manuscripts which are the glory of the Irish monasteries.
Aengus was born of the royal house of Ulster and was sent to the monastery of Clonenagh by his father Oengoba to study under the saintly abbot Maelaithgen. He made great advances in scholarship and sanctity but eventually felt he had to leave and become a hermit to escape the adulation of his peers. He chose a spot some seven miles away for his hermitage which is still called Dysert. He lived a life of rigid discipline, genuflecting three hundred times a day and reciting the whole of the Psalter daily part of it immersed in cold water, tied by the neck to a stake. At his dysert he found he got too many visitors and went to the famous monastery of Tallaght near Dublin, without revealing his identity, and was given the most menial of tasks. After seven years a boy sought refuge in the stable where Aengus was working because he was unable to learn his lessons. Aengus lulled him to sleep and when he awoke he had learnt his lesson perfectly.
When the abbot of St. Maelruain heard of this monk's great teaching gifts he recognised in him the missing scholar from Clonenagh and the two became great friends. It was at Tallaght that Aengus began his great work on the calendar of the Irish saints known as the Felire Aengus Ceile De. As for himself he thought that he was the most contemptible of men and is said to have allowed his hair to grow long and his clothing to become unkempt so that he should be despised. Besides the Felire one of his prayers asking for forgiveness survives, pleading for mercy because of Christ's work and His grace in the saints.
Like all the holy people of God, Aengus was industrious and had a supreme confidence in His power to heal and save. On one occasion when he was lopping trees in a wood he inadvertently cut off his left hand. The legend says that the sky filled with birds crying out at his injury, but St. Aengus calmly picked up the severed hand and replaced it. Instantly it adhered to his body and functioned normally.
When St. Maelruain died in 792, St. Aengus left Tallaght and returned to Clonenagh succeeding his old teacher Maelaithgen as abbot and being consecrated bishop. As he felt death approaching he retired again to his hermitage at Dysertbeagh, dying there about 824. There is but scant evidence of the religious foundations at Clonenagh or Dysert but he will always be remembered for his Feliere, the first martyrology of Ireland. He is honoured on 11th March (Walsh, Cross, Flanagan).
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0311a.html
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Saint Samthann, abbess of Clonbroney, Ireland (+739)
Saint Samthann was a woman betrothed on orders of the king to a particular nobleman against her wishes. However on the night before the wedding, the fiancé was awoken by a vision of a supernatural light. Following it to see where it was landing, he arrived to see Saint Samthann’s face lit up by the light. Recognising that she had a great sanctity, the nobleman and king accepted her rejection of the marriage and allowed her to take vows as a nun as she desired. She grew in the spiritual life until she eventually became the Abbess of Clonbroney.
As abbess, she set an excellent standard for her nuns in regards to asceticism and voluntary poverty. She was blessed with miracles and Clonbroney would continue to be an important monastery for a long time to come.
https://irishortodoxa.wordpress.com/2022/05/31/8th-century-irish-saints/
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Sayings of Saint Patrick of Ireland (+461)
* If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me.
* I pray to God to give me perseverance and to deign that I be a faithful witness to Him to the end of my life for my God.
* Sufficient to say, greed is a deadly deed. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
* Daily I expect to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery if the occasion arises. But I fear nothing, because of the promises of heaven.
* I am imperfect in many things, nevertheless I want my brethren and kinsfolk to know my nature so that they may be able to perceive my soul's desire.
* Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
* He [God] watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.
* Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort me and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
* Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.
* May the strength of God pilot us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us, may the word of God direct us. Be always ours this day and for evermore.
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Saint Senan of Scattery, Ireland (+544) - March 8
Died c. 560. Senan was the principal of the numerous Irish saints with this name, and is credited with making a remarkable succession of monastic foundations on islands at the mouths of rivers and elsewhere, from the Slaney in Wexford to the coast of Clare. The stories that have survived about St. Senan suggest a man of considerable complexity of character. He is said to have visited Rome and on his way home stayed with St. David (f.d. March 1) in Wales. On his return to Ireland, he founded more churches and monasteries, notably one at Inishcarra near Cork. He finally settled and was buried on Scattery Island (Inis Cathaig) in the Shannon estuary, where there is still a fine round tower and other early remnants. There are indications that he spent some time in Cornwall, but appears to have had no connection with the Land's End parish of Sennen (Attwater, Benedictines).
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Senan was born at Kilrush in County Clare where his parents, Erguid and Comgella, owned land and were well to do farmers. In his youth he had to do some fighting for his overlord but it was while he was about the more peaceful occupation of looking after his father's cattle that the call came to forsake the world and devote himself to religious study. His conversion was caused by a great wave that broke at his feet as he was walking on the sea shore, then ebbed leaving a clear path for him across the bay, and finally closed behind him. He saw this as a sign that his lay life was over and, breaking his spear in two, he made a cross of it and set out for the monastery at Kilnamanagh in County Dublin.
Senan was obviously a resourceful man for he miraculously automated the mill at the monastery so that it ground the grain without him having to leave his books. He made great progress in his studies and after his ordination he visited other centres of learning before returning to his home country to found a number of religious houses. The most famous of his foundations was on Scattery Island, Iniscathaigh, and before he could build his monastery there he had to rid the island of a ferocious beast after which it was named, the Cata. The monster is described as exceedingly fierce and breathing fire and spitting venom which make some believe that it was a tribe of wild cats. However, Senan protected by his faith, expelled it with the sign of the Cross, ordering it never to harm anyone again.
The Archangel Raphael is said to have aided him and there was an incident when Senan was searching for water for his monks that the Archangel directed the holly stick with which he was probing and water gushed out of the dry ground. Senan left his stick in the hole and on the next day he found that it had grown into a tree. Raphael also helped S. Senan to ensure safe crossing to the island for his monks.
The ruins on Scattery include those of six churches, the Saint's grave which provides miraculous cures in the church known as Temple Senan and a spectacular round tower, the tallest in the whole of Ireland. He died on March 1st but his burial was postponed to the octave day of his death to enable those from the neighbouring communities to attend, so his festival is observed on March 8th.
https://celticsaints.org/2022/0308a.html
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Twelve Apostles of Ireland
Saint Finnian of Clonard is often called the "Teacher of the Irish Saints." At one time his pupils at Clonard included the so-called Twelve Apostles of Ireland:
Brendan of Birr (f.d. November 29)
Brendan the Voyager (f.d. May 16)
Cainnech (f.d. October 11)
Ciaran of Clommacnois (f.d. September 9)
Columba of Iona (f.d. June 9)
Columba of Terryglass (f.d. today)
Comgall of Bangor (f.d. May 11)
Finian of Moville (f.d. September 10)
Kieran of Saigher (f.d. March 5)
Mobhi (f.d. October 12)
Molaise (Laserian) of Devendish (f.d. August 12)
Ninidh of Inismacsaint (f.d. January 18)
Ruadhan of Lothra (f.d. April 15)
Sinell of Cleenish (f.d. October 12).
(You might note that this is more than 12; this is a very elastic twelve with different saints added at different times)
https://celticsaints.org/2021/1212a.html
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Saint Colman of Lismore, Ireland, Abbot and Bishop (+702) - January 23
Died c. 702. Saint Colman succeeded Saint Hierlug (Zailug) as abbot-bishop of Lismore in 698. During his rule the fame of Lismore reached its peak (Benedictines).
The Monastery of Lismore
As the School of Armagh in the North of Ireland, and that of Clonmacnoise in the centre, so the School of Lismore was the most celebrated in the South of Ireland. It was founded in the year 635 by St. Carthach the Younger, in a most picturesque site, steeply rising from the southern bank of the Blackwater. Its founder had spent nearly forty years of his monastic life in the monastery of Rahan on the southern borders of ancient Meath, in what is now King's County. He dearly loved that monastery which he had founded and which he fondly hoped would be the place of his resurrection; but the men of Meath - clerics and chieftains - grew jealous of the great monastery founded in their territory by a stranger from Munster, and they persuaded Prince Blathmac, son of Aedh Slaine, of the southern Hy Mall, to expel the venerable old man from the monastic home which he loved so well. The eviction is described by the Irish annalists as most unjust and cruel, yet, under God's guidance, it led to the foundation of Lismore on the beautiful margin of what was then called Avonmore, the great river, a site granted to St. Carthach by the prince of the Desii of Waterford.
Lismore was founded in 635; and the founder survived only two years, for he died in 637, but Providence blessed his work, and his monastery grew to be the greatest centre of learning and piety in all the South of Erin. The Rule of St. Carthach is the most notable literary monument which the founder left behind him. It is fortunately still extant in the ancient Gaelic verse in which it was written. It consists of 185 four-lined stanzas, which have been translated by O'Curry - who has no doubt of its authenticity - and is beyond doubt one of the most interesting and important documents of the early Irish Church.
The Rule of Saint Carthage can be found in The Celtic Monk: Rules & Writings of Early Irish Monks Uinseann O'Maidin OCR, pub. Cistercian Studies Series Number 162, 1996. ISBN: 0879076623 (pb) and 0879075627 (hb).
But Lismore produced a still more famous saint and scholar, the great St. Cathaldus of Tarentum. His Irish name was Cathal, and it appears he was born at a place called Rathan, not far from Lismore. Our Irish annals tell us nothing of St. Cathaldus, because he went abroad early in life, but the brothers Morini of his adopted home give us many particulars. They tell us he was a native of Hibernia - born at Rathan in Momonia - that he studied at Lismore, and became bishop of his native territory of Rathan, but that afterwards, inspired by the love of missionary enterprise, he made his way to Jerusalem, and on his return was, with his companions, wrecked at Tarentum - the beautiful Tarentum - at the heel of Italy. Its pleasure-loving inhabitants, forgetting the Gospel preached to them by St. Peter and St. Mark, had become practically pagans when Cathaldus and his companions were cast upon their shores. Seeing the city given up to vice and sensuality, the Irish prelate preached with great fervour, and wrought many miracles, so that the Tarentines gave up their sinful ways, and from that day to this have recognised the Irish Cathaldus as their patron saint, and greatly venerate his tomb, which was found intact in the cathedral as far back as the year 1110, with his name Cathaldus Rachan inscribed upon a cross therein. Another distinguished scholar of Lismore, and probably its second abbot, was St. Cuanna, most likely the half-brother and successor of the founder. He was born at Kilcoonagh, or Killcooney, a parish near Headford in the County Galway which takes its name from him. No doubt he went to Lismore on account of his close connection with St. Carthach, and for the same reason was chosen to succeed him in the school of Lismore. Colgan thought that the ancient but now lost "Book of Cuanach", cited in the "Annals of Ulster", but not later than A.D. 628, was the work of this St. Cuanna of Kilcooney and Lismore. It is also said that Aldfrid, King of Northumbria, spent some time at the school of Lismore, for he visited most of the famous schools of Erin towards the close of the seventh century, and at that time Lismore was one of the most celebrated. It was a place of pilgrimage also, and many Irish princes gave up the sceptre and returned to Lismore to end their lives in prayer and penance. There, too, by his own desire, was interred St. Celsus of Armagh, who died at Ardpatrick, but directed that he should be buried in Lismore - but we have sought in vain for any trace of his monument.
Two interesting memorials of Lismore are fortunately still preserved. The first is the crosier of Lismore, found accidentally in Lismore Castle in the year 1814. The inscription tells us that it was made for Niall Mac Mic Aeducan, Bishop of Lismore, 1090-1113, by Neclan the artist. This refers to the making of the case or shrine, which enclosed an old oak stick, the original crosier of the founder. Most of the ornaments are richly gilt, interspersed with others of silver and niello, and bosses of coloured enamels. You can see the crosier here:
http://www.discoverlismore.com/images/lismorecrozier.jpg
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/overbey/shrines/shrines-Thumb.00001.html
The second is the "Book of Lismore" found in the castle at the same time with the crosier, enclosed in a wooden box in a built-up doorway. The castle was built as long ago as 1185 by Prince John. Afterwards the bishops of Lismore came to live there, and no doubt both crosier and book belonged to the bishops and were hidden for security in troublesome times. The Book of Lismore contains a very valuable series of the lives of our Irish saints, written in the finest medieval Irish. It was in 1890 admirably translated into English by Dr. Whitley Stokes. One of the Saints' Lives (paraphrased), Saint Fanahan of Brigown, may be read here http://incolor.inetnebr.com/jskean/Fanahan.htm
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Saint Jarlath, first Bishop of Tuam, Ireland (+540)
December 26
Saint Jarlath, also known as Iarlaithe mac Loga (fl. 6th century), was an Irish priest and scholar from Connacht, remembered as the founder of the monastic School of Tuam and of the Archdiocese of Tuam, of which he is the patron saint.
Saint Jarlath of Tuam is said to have belonged to the Conmhaícne, who ruled over the greater part of what would become the parish of Tuam.
Saint Brendan the Voyager (+577) is said to have visited Connacht to study under the famous Jarlath. One day, when Jarlath was in his old age, Brendan advised his mentor to leave the school and to depart in a newly built chariot until its two hind shafts broke, because there would be the place of his resurrection (esséirge) and that of many after him. Because Jarlath acknowledged the divinity and superior wisdom of his pupil, saying "take me into thy service for ever and ever", he gladly accepted his advice. His travel did not take him very far, as the shafts broke at Tuaim da Ghualann ("Mound of two shoulders"), that is, at Tuam.
Saint Jarlath died, "full of days", on 26 December, circa 540, aged about 90 years old.
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St. Beoc (Beanus, Dabeoc, Mobeoc) of Ireland (+5th-6th ce.) - 1 January
5th or 6th century. Beoc was a Cambro-Briton, who crossed over from Wales to Ireland and founded a monastery on an island in Lough Derg, Donegal (Benedictines).
St Daibheog of Lough Derg
In the Martyrology of Tallagh we find this insertion : Aedh, Lochagerg, alias Daibheog. His name is Latinized Dabeocus, and he is frequently called Beanus.
At a very early date, this saint lived on the island ; but for what term of life does not seem to have been ascertained. Few notices of the place occur in our ancient annals. We read, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Dabheog belonged to Lough Geirg or Loch-gerc, in Ulster. There, also, three festivals were annually held in his honour, namely, on the 1st of January, on the 24th of July, and on the 16th of December.
According to St. Cummin of Connor, in the following translation from his Irish poem on the characteristic virtues of the Irish Saints :-
Mobeog, the gifted, loved, According to the Synod of the learned, That often in bowing his head, He plunged it under water.
Whether or not St. Patrick had any acquaintance with St. Dabeoc can hardly be discovered. But, we are told, while the latter, with his clerics, lived on the island, and when his vigils had been protracted to a late hour one night, a wonderful brightness appeared towards the northern part of the horizon. The clerics asked their master what it portended.
In that direction, whence you have seen the brilliant illumination, said Dabeog, the Lord himself, at a future time, shall light a shining lamp, which, by its brightness, must miraculously glorify the Church of Christ. This shall be Columba, the son of Feidlimid, son of Fergus, and whose mother will be Ethnea. For learning he shall be distinguished ; in body and soul shall he be chaste ; and he shall possess the gifts of prophecy.
See Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga. Quinta Vita S, Columbae. Lib. i., cap. X, pp. 390, 391.
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Saints Ethenea (Ethna) and Fidelmia (Fedelma) of Ireland, Virgins (+433) - January 11
Died 433. The story is told that one summer day the little daughters of King Laoghaire of Connaught, Ethna and Fedelma, who were barely out of childhood and full of fun, went for their daily bath in a private place near the palace, a place to which no one ever came so early in the morning. But this special day they were surprised to hear voices and see tents encamped on the grassy slope near the pool.
There was a drone of a strange language and every now and again a sweet voice broke into song and mingled with that of the birds in the nearby woods and the murmuring of the river. Saint Patrick and his companions, who had arrived during the night with a message for the King of Connaught, were praying the Divine Office in Latin. Finally, each group spied the other.
The older princess asked, Who are you, and where do you come from?
Patrick hesitated, then said: We have more important things to tell you than just our names and where we're from. We know who the one true God is whom you should adore. . . .
The girls were delighted, rather than annoyed. In a flash something seemed to light up inside them, to make a blinding white blaze in their hearts and minds. They knew at once that this was real, real news and that it was true. It all happened instantaneously. Then they asked a whole torrent of questions:
Who is God? Where does He live? Will He live forever? and on and on as excited young people do.
Patrick answered each question quickly and simply. He, too, was delighted: the light that blazed up in the girls was in the man, too, and the three lights together made a tremendous glow. Everyone else stood listening raptly, feeling lucky to be witnesses to the saintly man and the sweet girls--and the Holy Spirit in their midst.
Oh, tell us how to find the good God. Teach us more about the kind Jesus, who died upon the Cross. Tell us more, more, more, the princesses urged. But there was no need for more; the two had already received the gift of the Spirit of Truth.
Patrick led them to their bathing pool, where he baptized them. For a short time thereafter, Ethna and Fedelma were very quiet for they were in deep prayer. Meanwhile, Patrick prepared to offer the Holy Sacrifice. Then the princesses began again, I want to see Jesus Christ now, said Ethna.
And so do I, echoed Fedelma. I want to be with Him in His home forever.
Patrick, moved by this loving longing, very gently explained that they would not be able to see God until after their death. They were still young, so it would be a long time before they could see Him as He is. If they lived good Christian lives, then they would be able to go to God for always and great joys would replace the present sorrows. The girls pondered this as Patrick began the Offering.
As the holy Offering went on everyone was still, but the river and woods seemed to sing God's praises. Then the youngest man rang a little bell and all bowed their heads. Jesus Christ was with them in the grassy knoll in the king's park. Soon the bell rang again. Patrick beckoned the princesses forward and gave them Holy Communion.
For a little while the girls looked so happy and so beautiful that they were like angels. And then, we are told, they died. They longed so much to be with Jesus that they died of longing. Saint Patrick was exceedingly happy to have met such quick and whole-hearted belief (Benedictines, Curtayne).
This other retelling of the meeting between Patrick and the two young girls is from Muirchu's 7th century Life of Saint Patrick:
On his missionary travels, Saint Patrick came to Rathcroghan near Tulsk. At the well of Clebach beside Cruachan (probably today's Tobercrogheer), he pauses for a rest.
Rathcroghan, the rath of Croghan, is an ancient Celtic royal burial place, rich in earthworks and earlier megalithic remains. The seven-foot-high standing stone in the middle of a ring-fort is said to mark the burial place of the pagan monarch Daithi.
While Patrick and his clerics are assembled at the well, two royal maidens, fair Ethne and red-haired Fedelma, come to wash their hands. These two daughters of Loeghaire are being brought up in Connacht by the two wizards, the brothers Mael and Caplait. Surprised at the strange appearance of the monks and priests, the girls ask them who they are, and where they come from. Patrick replies that it were better for them to believe in the true God than to ask such questions.
Ethne then asks him:
What is God? Where is God. And of whom is God?
And where is God's dwelling place?
Does your God have sons and daughters?
Has he gold and silver? Is he immortal?
Is he beautiful?
Have many people fostered his son?
Are his daughters beautiful and beloved of men?
Is he in heaven or on earth?
Or on the plain?
In what manner does he come to us?
In the mountains? In the glens?
Is he young or old?
Tell us of him, in what manner is he seen?
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Patrick answers them:
Our God is the God of all men, the God of Heaven and Earth,
of seas and rivers, of Sun and Moon and stars,
of high mountains and deep valleys,
the God over Heaven and in Heaven and on Earth,
and in the sea and in all that is therein.
He informs all these things, he brings life to all things,
he surpasses all things, he sustains all things.
He gives light to the Sun, and to the Moon by night.
He makes fountains in the dry land and islands in the seas,
and he sets the stars in their places.
He has a Son, co-eternal with himself and in his own likeness.
Neither is the Son younger than the Father,
nor the Father older than the Son.
And the Holy Spirit breathes in them.
The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit cannot be divided.
In truth I wish to unite you to the Heavenly King,
you who until now are the daughters of an earthly king.
Believe!
With one voice and heart, the two girls answer: In what way can we believe in the Heavenly King? Instruct us most diligently so that we may see him face to face, inform us and whatever you tell us we will do.
Patrick asks them if they believe that in baptism the sin of their father and mother will be cast off, to which they reply We believe.
Patrick asks them if they believe in repentance after sin, in life after death, in resurrection on the Day of Judgement, in the oneness of the Church. To all of these questions the girls reply We believe.
They are then baptized, Patrick blesses the white veils over their heads, and they beg to see the face of Christ. Patrick tells them that until they receive Communion and taste death, they cannot see Christ's face. They reply: Give us the Communion so that we may see the Son, our Bridegroom.
They receive the Holy Eucharist and fall asleep in death. They are wrapped together in one shroud, and are greatly bewailed by their friends.
The Druid Caplait, the foster-father of one of the girls, comes to Patrick lamenting. Patrick preaches to him and he, too, believes, and is baptized and tonsured. The other Druid, Caplait's brother Mael, comes to Patrick to tell him that he will bring his brother back to the pagan creed, but Patrick preaches to Mael also, and he, too, is converted, and tonsured.
The period of mourning then being over, the bodies of Ethne and Fidelma are buried near the well of Clebach. A circular ditch is dug around the burial place, as is customary (Tirechan adds) among the inhabitants of Ireland.
from Muirchu's Life of Saint Patrick
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Saint Manach of Lemonaghan, Ireland (+7th ce.)
January 24
St. Manchan lived in Leamonaghan, it is about two kilometres from Pollagh. St. Kieran of Clonmacnoise gave him some land and he formed a monastery in the year 645 AD. Nothing now remains but the ruins and the surrounding graveyard. The foundations of the original buildings may still be traced but the larger ruins are those of a church built at a later date.
About 500m from the monastery is a little stone house which Monchan built for his mother Mella. This place is known locally as Kell and the ruins of the house can still be visited today. It is said that one day the saint was thirsty and there was no water at the monastery. He struck a rock and a spring well bubbled up, it is now known as St. Manahan's well. It is visited by people from all around especially on January 24 each year. It is claimed that many people have been cured of diseases after visiting the well.
There are many stories about the saint. One of the most famous of them explains why the people of Lemonaghan will not sell milk. St. Manchan had a cow that used to give milk to the whole country side for which there was no charge. The cow became famous and the neighbouring people of Kill-Managhan got jealous and stole his cow. When St. Manchan eventually found his cow it was dead, he struck it with a stick and the cow came back to life and returned to supplying milk.
St. Manchan's shrine was made in 1130 AD in Clonmacnoise, it contains some of his bones including the femur. On the shrine are placed brass figures, in 1838 it was placed in Boher church. It is the largest shrine of its kind in existence today. The guardians of the shrine through the centuries are the Mooney family (my ancestors!)
St Manchan's Shrine is preserved in Boher church, near-by. This shrine is the largest and most magnificent ancient reliquary in Ireland and was made at Clonmacnois about AD 1130. It is a gabled box of yew wood with gilt, bronze, and enamelled fittings. It still contains the relics of the saint. There are ten remaining figures of a possible 50 or 52 on the cover.
Shrine of Saint Manchan
http://www.ardaghdiocese.org/page5.html
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St. Manchan lived in Lemonaghan for 19 years. During this time he looked after the spiritual needs of the locality. He waas known for his kindness and generosity, his wisdom and his knowledge of sacred scripture.
In 664 AD he became ill and was struck down by the yellow plague a disease which desolated Ireland at the time. He died and wad buried locally. After his death the place became known as 'Liath Manchan', which means Manchan's grey land.
How St. Manchan came to Lemonaghan
In 644, Diarmuid, High King of Ireland was on his way to fight a battle against Guaire, the King of Connaught, when he stopped off at Clonmacnois to ask the monks for their prayers for his success. Having won the battle, a grateful Diarmuid granted Ciarán, abbot of Clonmacnois, the "island in the bog" which we now know as Lemonaghan, provided that he send one of his monks there to Christianize it.
St. Ciarán chose St. Manchan for the mission. The thriving community that was already on the island were converted to Christianity by St. Manchan. He then went on to establish a monastery there. He built a cell for his mother, St. Mella, in an adjoining piece of high ground, and the intervening bog was bridged by a togher or walkway made from sandstone laid on brushwood and gravel. St. Manchan is alleged to have taken a vow never to look at a woman as part of his orders, so he is supposed to have had to sit back to back with his mother in order to communicate with her.
St. Manchan had many followers at Lemonaghan and ancient headstones still survive from the era. St. Manchan's well was used for cures since pagan times, and continues to be used for a variety of cures today, as is the holy water font in the ruined church in the graveyard.
St. Manchan
a visit to a historic Offaly centre Monday, 24th January
Midland Tribune 27th April 1935
By Tomas O'Cleirigh, M.A., National Museum.
I was in the little two-horse train which labours west from Clara to Banagher and the outlook was desolate. There was another chap in the carriage. He sat hunched up in the corner with his nose to the window. One glance convinced me that it was useless to say anything and there the two of us kept on staring rather lovingly at a wilderness of bog stretching away to the Slieve Bloom Mountains. It seemed to me that there was a kind of promised land on the other side. On past a few scattered farm houses some grey boulders and the ruins of a church. I found myself thinking dismally enough of the tourists. After all what do they get? Just ruins, ruins and more ruins- the saddest ruins in Europe. Then suddenly I heard my friend of the opposite corner speak in a mournful kind of way with his nose still glued to the window - "That's Leamanaghan, a quare kind of place, decent people, too, the best in the world, people who'd give you all the milk you could drink but wouldn't sell a drop of it for all the gold in Ireland and it's all by raison of a cow, saint Manchan's cow."
The Grey Land
I went through a storm of real Irish rain to see Leamanaghan that very evening. It is four miles from Ferbane in County Offaly and hidden away in a vast bog region which is dotted with scattered boulders of magnesian limestone. The general depression is summed up in the name - Liath Manchan - the grey land of Manchan. Aye! The grey, lonely, chill land of Manchan. St. Manchan lived here and died in A.D. 664. That might have been only yesterday, however as far as the good neighbours are concerned because he is the one subject over which every man, woman and child can get really voluble.
I was taken to see the ruins of his church and then down to his well and heard how when you are sick should pray here, walk three times round it and then, go back and leave a little present for the saint himself in the window of the church. He had quite a good collection when I was there - a strangely human and pathetic little collection among which I noticed a girl's brooch, some small religious articles, a boy's penknife, a G.A.A. footballer's medal and strangest gift of all for a saint of Manchan's calibre - a demure little vanity box! After that I was told that on the 24th January when all the rest of the world works, the people of Leamanaghan just take a holiday and make merry because it would be the unpardonable sin to think of work on their Saint's day.
The Saint's Cow
They have all kinds of stories about the good saint but the best one of them all explains why Leamanaghan people don't sell milk. Here it is - Saint Manchan had a cow - a wonderful cow that used to give milk to the whole countryside - good, rich milk for which no charge was ever made by the saint. Then, the people of the neighbouring Kill Managhan got jealous and watched and there chance. One fine day when Manchan was absent they came and stole the cow and started to drive her along the togher through the bog back home to Kill Managhan. The good cow, suspecting something was wrong, went backwards and most unwillingly, fighting, struggling and disputing every inch of the way. Now she'd slip designedly on the stones: again she'd lie down but every where she went, she managed to leave some trace of her rough passage on the stones of the togher. The marks are there to this day, - hoof marks, tail marks - every kind of marks and the chef-d'oeuvre of them all has a place of honour at the entrance to the little school. Alas! In spite of that very gallant resistance, the cow was finally driven to Kill Managhan. There, horrible to say, she was killed and skinned.
In the meantime, the saint returned, missed his cow, and straightaway started in pursuit. He succeeded in tracing the thieves by the marks on the stones and arrived just at the moment when she was about to be boiled. He carefully picked the portions out of the cauldron pieced them together, struck at them with his stick and immediately the cow became alive again. She was every bit as good as ever, too, except that she was a wee bit lame on account of one small portion of a foot which was lost. She continued to supply the milk as before, and, of course, no charge was made by the saint. Ever since the famous custom still lives on, and good milk is given away but never gold by the loyal people of Leamanaghan. Now, can any lover of the grand faith of Medievaldom beat that?
The very old vellum books state that Manchan of Liath was like unto Hieronomus in habits and learning. I can well believe it. Some distance away from the church is the little rectangle cell which he built for his mother - Saint Mella. Cold, austere and with no window, you get the shivers by even looking at it. There is also a large flag-stone on the togher leading from the well, and they say the saint and his mother used to meet here every day and sit down back to back without speaking a word because the saint had vowed never to speak to a woman!
A Famous Shrine
Leamanaghan people are, I gather, a tenacious class. Not only have they so zealously guarded the cow tradition but they have succeeded, despite the groans of sundry learned antiquarians, in still keeping in their midst the saint's precious shrine. It has a special altar all to itself in the church of Boher. But the first thing I noticed when I went along to see it was a wonderful green in a Harry Clarke window. The shrine itself has been many times described, notably so by the Rev James Graves in 1875.
St. Manchan is credited with writing a poem in Irish that describes the desire of the green martyrs:
Grant me sweet Christ the grace to find-
Son of the living God!-
A small hut in a lonesome spot
To make it my abode.
A little pool but very clear
To stand beside the place
Where all men's sins are washed away
By sanctifying grace.
A pleasant woodland all about
To shield it (the hut) from the wind,
And make a home for singing birds
Before it and behind.
A southern aspect for the heat
A stream along its foot,
A smooth green lawn with rich top soil
Propitious to all fruit.
My choice of men to live with me
And pray to God as well;
Quiet men of humble mind --
Their number I shall tell.
Four files of three or three of four
To give the Psalter forth;
Six to pray by the south church wall
And six along the north.
Two by two my dozen friends --
To tell the number right --
Praying with me to move the King
Who gives the sun its light.
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Saint Cannera of Inis Cathaig, Ireland (+530) - January 28
Died c. 530. Little is known of Saint Cannera except that which is recorded in the story of Saint Senan (f.d. March 8), who ruled a monastery on the Shannon River, which ministered to the dying--but only men. Cannera was an anchorite from Bantry in southern Ireland. When she knew she was dying, she travelled to Senan's monastery without rest and walked upon the water to cross the river because no one would take her to the place forbidden to women. Upon her arrival, the abbot was adamant that no woman could enter his monastic enclosure. Arguing that Christ died for women, too, she convinced the abbot to give her last rites on the island and to bury her at its furthermost edge. Against his argument that the waves would wash away her grave, she answered that she would leave that to God.
Cannera told the abbot of a vision she had in her Bantry cell of the island and its holiness.
Double (male and female) monasteries already existed in Ireland.
Probably because Saint Cannera walked across the water, sailors honour their patron by saluting her resting place on Scattery Island (Inis Chathaigh). They believed that pebbles from her island protected the bearer from shipwreck. A 16th-century Gaelic poem about Cannera prays, Bless my good ship, protecting power of grace. . . . (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Markus, O'Hanlon).
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Saint Dallan Forghaill (of Cluain Dallain), Martyr in Ireland (+640)
January 29
Born in Connaught, Ireland; died 640. Dallan, a kinsman of Saint Aidan of Ferns (f.d. January 31) and a renowned scholar in his own right. The intensity of his study strained his eyes to the point where he became blind.
In 575, Dallan was the Chief Bard of Ireland, a position second only to the king in honour. When the king of Ireland, Aedh MacAinmire, called upon the Assembly of Drumceat to abolish the bardic guild and its privileges, Saint Columba (f.d. June 9) successfully argued that the bards were necessary to preserve the history of the nation and that it would be prudent to punish abusive bards rather than destroy the order.
In recognition of Columba's defence of the bards, Saint Dallan wrote a panegyric, "Amra Choluim Kille" or "Eulogy of Columba". To account for its obscure and intentionally difficult language, legend tells us that in his humility Columba would only permit it to be written if it were incomprehensible to the Irish. Saint Dallan also wrote the "Eulogy of Senan".
Today's saint reorganised and reformed the Bardic Order and initiated a strictly supervised school system for it that encouraged the cultivation of the Gaelic language and preservation of its literature. The order itself was active until 1738 when Turlough O'Carolan, the last of the great Irish bards and composer of the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner," died. Until that time, the bards participated in every major Irish celebration.
He is venerated as a martyr because he was murdered at Inis-coel (Inniskeel) by pirates who broke into the monastery (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Healy, Kenney, Montague, Montalembert, Muirhead).
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Saint Brigid of Kildare, Ireland (+525)
February 1
Born at Faughart (near Dundalk) or Uinmeras (near Kildare), Louth, Ireland, c. 450; died at Kildare, Ireland, c. 525; feast of her translation is June 10.
We implore Thee, by the memory of Thy Cross's hallowed and most bitter anguish, make us fear Thee, make us love Thee, O Christ. Amen.
--Prayer of Saint Brigid.
Saint Brigid was an original--and that's what each of us are supposed to be, an original creation of the Almighty Imagination. Unfortunately, most of us get caught up in the desire to be accepted by others. We conform to the norm, rather than opening up to the creative power of God and blooming to render Him the sweet fragrance of our unique lives. We miss the glory of giving God the gift of who we were intended to be.
Brigid lacked that fault. She got things done. She had a welcome for everyone in an effort to help them be originals, too. She was so generous that she gave away the clothes from her back. She never shied away from hard work or intense prayer. She would brush aside the rules--even the rules of the Church--if it was necessary to bring out the best in others. Perhaps for this reason, the saint who never left Ireland, is venerated throughout the world as the prototype of all nuns. She bridged the gap between Christian and pagan cultures.
Brigid saw the beauty and goodness of God in all His creation: cows made her love God more, and so did wild ducks, which would come and light on her shoulders and hands when she called to them. She enjoyed great popularity both among her own followers and the villagers around; and she had great authority, ruling a monastery of both monks and nuns.
Her chief virtue lay in her gentleness, in her compassion, and in her happy and devoted nature which won the affection of all who knew her. She was a great evangelist and joined hands gladly and gaily with all the saints of that age in spreading the Gospel. So great was her veneration throughout Europe that the Medieval knights, seeking a womanly model of perfection, chose Brigid as the example. This theory maintains that such was the image of Brigid as the feminine ideal that the word "bride" passed into the English language. (This is unlikely, however. The word probably derives from the Old German "bryd," meaning bride.)
Historical facts about Saint Brigid's life are few because the numerous accounts about it after her death (beginning in the 7th century) consist mainly of miracles and anecdotes, some of which are deeply rooted in pagan Irish folklore. Nevertheless, they give us a strong impression of her character. She was probably born in the middle of the 5th century in eastern Ireland. Some say her parents were of humble origin; others that they were Dubhthach, an Irish chieftain of Leinster, and Brocca, a slave at his court. All stories relate that they were both baptized by Saint Patrick. Some say that Brigid became friends with Patrick, though it is uncertain that she ever met him. Beautiful Brigid consecrated herself to God at a young age. She was veiled as a nun by Saint Macaille at Croghan and consecrated as Abbess by Bishop Saint Mel at Armagh.
The Book of Lismore bears this story:
Brigid and certain virgins along with her went to take the veil from Bishop Mel in Telcha Mide. Blithe was he to see them. For humility Brigid stayed so that she might be the last to whom a veil should be given. A fiery pillar rose from her head to the roof ridge of the church. Then said Bishop Mel: Come, O holy Brigid, that a veil may be sained on thy head before the other virgins. It came to pass then, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, that the form of ordaining a bishop was read out over Brigid. Macaille said that a bishop's order should not be confirmed on a woman. Said Bishop Mel No power have I in this matter. That dignity hath been given by God unto Brigid, beyond every (other) woman. Wherefore the men of Ireland from that time to this give episcopal honour to Brigid's successor.
Most likely this story relates to the fact that Roman diocesan system was unknown in Ireland. Monasteries formed the centre of Christian life in the early Church of Ireland. Therefore, abbots and abbesses could hold held some of the dignity and functions that a bishop would on the Continent. Evidence of this can be seen also at synods and councils, such as that of Whitby, which was convened by Saint Hilda. Women sometimes ruled double monasteries; thus, governing both men and women. Bridget, as a pre-eminent abbess, might have fulfilled some semi-episcopal functions, such as preaching, hearing confessions (without absolution), and leading the neighbouring Christians.
Beginning consecrated life as a anchorite of sorts, Brigid's sanctity drew many others. When she was about 18, she settled with seven other like-minded girls near Croghan Hill in order to devote herself to God's service. About 468 she followed Saint Mel to Meath.
There is little reliable information about the convent she founded around 470 at Kildare (originally Cill-Daire or 'church of the oak'), the first convent in Ireland, and the rule that was followed there. This is one of the ways Brigid sanctified the pagan with the Christian: The oak was sacred to the druids, and in the inner sanctuary of the Church was a perpetual flame, another religious symbol of the druid faith, as well as the Christian. Gerald of Wales (13th century) noted that the fire was perpetually maintained by 20 nuns of her community. This continued until 1220 when it was extinguished. Gerald noted that the fire was surrounded by a circle of bushes, which no man was allowed to enter.
It is generally thought to have been a double monastery, housing both men and women--a common practice in the Celtic lands that was sometimes taken by the Irish to the continent. It's possible that she presided over both communities. She did establish schools there for both men and women. Another source says that she installed a bishop named Conlaeth there, though the Vatican officially lists the See of Kildare as dating from 519.
Cogitosus, a monk of Kildare in the eighth century, expounded the metrical life of St. Brigid, and versified it in good Latin. This is what is known as the Second Life, and is an excellent example of Irish scholarship in the mid-eighth century. Perhaps the most interesting feature of Cogitosus's work is the description of the Cathedral of Kildare in his day:
Solo spatioso et in altum minaci proceritate porruta ac decorata pictis tabulis, tria intrinsecus habens oratoria ampla, et divisa parietibus tabulatis.
The rood-screen was formed of wooden boards, lavishly decorated, and with beautifully decorated curtains.
Probably the famous Round Tower of Kildare dates from the sixth century.
The sixth Life of the saint printed by Colgan is attributed to Coelan, an Irish monk of the eighth century, and it derives a peculiar importance from the fact that it is prefaced by a foreword from the pen of St. Donatus, also an Irish monk, who became Bishop of Fiesole in 824. St. Donatus refers to previous lives by St. Ultan and St. Aileran.
Even as a child Brigid showed special love for the poor. When her mother sent her to collect butter, the child gave it all away. Her generosity in adult life was legendary: It was recorded that if she gave a drink of water to a thirsty stranger, the liquid turned into milk; when she sent a barrel of beer to one Christian community, it proved to satisfy 17 more. Many of the stories about her relate to the multiplication of food, including one that she changed her bath-water into beer to satisfy the thirst of an unexpected clergyman. Even her cows gave milk three times the same day to provide milk for some visiting bishops.
Brigid saw that the needs of the body and the needs of the spirit intertwined. Dedicated to improving the spiritual as well as the material lives of those around her, Brigid made her monastery a remarkable house of learning, including an art school. The illuminated manuscripts originating there were praised, especially the Book of Kildare, which was praised as one of the finest of all illuminated Irish manuscripts before its disappearance three centuries ago.
Once she fell asleep during a sermon of Saint Patrick, but he good-humouredly forgave her. She had dreamed, she told him, of the land ploughed far and wide, and of white-clothed sowers sowing good seed. Then came others clothed in black, who ploughed up the good seed and sowed tares in its place. Patrick told her that such would happen; false teachers would come to Ireland and uproot all their good work. This saddened Brigid, but she redoubled her efforts, teaching people to pray and to worship God, and telling them that the light on the altar was a symbol of the shining of the Gospel in the heart of Ireland, and must never be extinguished.
Brigid is called the 'Mary of the Gael' because her spirit of charity, and the miracles attributed to her were usually enacted in response to a call upon her pity or sense of justice. During an important synod of the Irish church, one of the holy fathers, Bishop Ibor, announced that he had dreamed that the Blessed Virgin Mary would appear among the assembled Christians. When Brigid arrived the father cried, "There is the holy maiden I saw in my dream." Thus, the reason for her nickname. Her prayers and miracles were said to exercise a powerful influence on the growth of the early Irish Church, and she is much beloved in Ireland to this day.
When dying at the age of 74, St. Brigid was attended by St. Ninnidh, who was ever afterwards known as "Ninnidh of the Clean Hand" because he had his right hand encased with a metal covering to prevent its ever being defiled, after being the medium of administering the viaticum to Ireland's Patroness.
She was interred at the right of the high altar of Kildare Cathedral, and a costly tomb was erected over her. In after years her shrine was an object of veneration for pilgrims, especially on her feast day, 1 February, as Cogitosus related. About the year 878, owing to the Scandinavian raids, the relics of St. Brigid were taken to Downpatrick, where they were interred in the tomb of St. Patrick and St. Columba.
A tunic reputed to have been hers, given by Gunhilda, sister of King Harold II, survives at Saint Donatian's in Bruges, Belgium. A relic of her shoe, made of silver and brass set with jewels, is at the National Museum of Dublin. In 1283, three knights took the head of Brigid with them on a journey to the Holy Land. They died in Lumier (near Lisbon), Portugal, where the church now enshrines her head in a special chapel.
In England, there are 19 ancient church dedications to her. The most important of which is the oldest church in London--St. Bride's in Fleet Street--and Bridewell or Saint Bride's Well. In Scotland, East and West Kilbride bear her name. Saint Brigid's Church at Douglas recalls that she is the patroness of the great Douglas family. Several places in Wales are named Llansantaffraid, which means "St. Bride's Church." The Irish Bishop Saint Donato of Fiesole (Italy) built a Saint Brigid's Church in Piacenza, where the Peace of Constance was ratified in 1185.
The best-known custom connected with Brigid is the plaiting of reed crosses for her feast day. This tradition dates to the story that she was plaiting rush crosses while nursing a dying pagan chieftain. He asked her about this and her explanation led to his being baptized.
Traditional Irish blessings invoke her. Brid agus Muire dhuit, Brigid and Mary be with you is a common Irish greeting, and in Wales people say, Sanffried suynade ni undeith, St. Brigid bless us on our journey. A blessing over cattle in the Scottish isles goes: The protection of God and Colmkille encompass your going and coming, and about you be the milkmaid of the smooth white palms, Brigid of the clustering, golden brown hair (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopaedia, Farmer, Gill, Groome, Montague, O'Briain, Sellner, White).
She is usually portrayed in art with a cow lying at her feet, or holding a cross and casting out the devil (White). Her emblem is a lighted lamp or candle (not to be confused with Saint Genevieve, who is not an abbess). At times she may be shown (1) with a flame over her; (2) geese or cow near her; (3) near a barn; (4) letting wax from a taper fall upon her arm; or (5) restoring a man's hand (Roeder).
Brigid is the patron saint of Ireland, poets, dairymaids, blacksmiths, healers (White), cattle, fugitives, Irish nuns, midwives, and new-born babies (Roeder). She is still venerated highly in Alsace, Flanders, and Portugal (Montague), as well as Ireland and Chester, England (Farmer).
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