OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Year: 2017

  • Saint Declan as a Pre-Patrician Saint

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

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

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

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

    chapter 9

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

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

    chapter 10

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

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

    chapter 13

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

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

    chapter 22

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

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

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

    Saints Ailbe and Declan receive their rewards as ‘second Patricks’:

    chapter 26

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

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

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

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  • The Pre-Patrician Saints of Munster

    Tomorrow, July 24, is the feast of Saint Declan of Ardmore. He features, along with three other holy men, as one of a quartet of so-called ‘pre-Patrician saints’, said to have introduced Christianity to the province of Munster before the coming of Saint Patrick.  Some time ago I read a paper by Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel on ‘The Question of the Pre-Patrician Saints of Munster’ in which she weighs up the evidence. Current scholarship is, of course, no longer defending the notion, so beloved of Canon O’Hanlon’s generation, that Saint Patrick evangelised the entire island of Ireland. We can begin with the author’s introduction to the four candidates and their claims:

    As is well known, four saints, the quatuor sanctissimi episcopi as they are called since Ussher first drew attention to them in the 17th century, Saint Ailbe of Emly, Saint Declan of Ardmore, Saint Ciaran of Cape Clear and Saighir and Saint Ibar of Beggery Island, are supposed to have brought Christianity to Munster. As no Life of Ibar exists, his dossier has to be reconstructed from that of his supposed nephew, Abban of Kilabban and Moyarney. The other three saints, however, have very full records which, leaving aside the usual miracle stories, agree in maintaining that their subjects converted many people before Patrick ever came to Ireland.

    O Riain-Raedel believes that fellow researcher Richard Sharpe has identified the central episode in this tradition – the conversion at Cashel of King Oengus Mac Nadfroich by Saint Patrick. I can never hear this story without recalling fond memories of an archaeological field trip in which a visit to the Rock of Cashel formed the climax. The site made a deep impression on me, as did the wonderful story that Saint Patrick, in converting the pagan king, inadvertently put his staff through the royal candidate’s foot. The king stood there stoically with blood pouring from his wound, thinking it was all part of the reception ceremony and doubtless also thinking that this Christianity was a religion for real men!

    This episode is recorded in Tirechan’s Life of Patrick, but O Riain-Raedel sees it as significant that it:

    received further elaboration in the Lives of the Saints in question. The Life of Ailbe, for instance, attaches to the episode the claim that Patrick specifically gave Munster to Ailbe, while the Life of Declan similarly names Ailbe as secundus Patricius et patronus Mumenie. Both of these texts also assert that Ailbe was to be the archbishop of Munster, with his seat at Cashel.

    She then goes on to place the Cashel link in the context, not of the 5th-century introduction of Christianity to Ireland, but of the ecclesiastical politics of the 12th century:

    As Sharpe has pointed out, Cashel was the focal point of most episodes involving pre-Patrician saints. However, Cashel became connected closely with Church affairs only after it was chosen as the site of an archiepiscopal see in 1111. Having no founder saint as such, it understandably came within the neighbouring monastery of Emly, Ailbe.

    and she further believes that the composition of the Lives of the pre-Patrician saints, which Sharpe has shown are all interlinked,

    must be set in a context involving the need for Munster churches to assert themselves against the predominance of Armagh.

    The Munster writers do this, not by seeking to outrightly deny the claims of Saint Patrick to the conversion of Ireland, but by compromising those claims in Munster by the introduction of pre-Patrician saints. And, for O Riain-Raedel, this reflects the contemporary realities of 12th-century church politics:

    The archiepiscopal see of Munster would seem to have been intent on consolidating its position as the second most important ecclesiastical institution on the island. The introduction in 1152, at the Synod of Kells, of the two additional archiepiscopal sees of Dublin and Tuam may have given rise to the need for such consolidation.

    She admits, however:

    We have little information on the background to the formation of the various diocesan territories during the 12th century. However, it may not be a coincidence that nearly all of the churches connected with the so-called pre-Patrician saints were threatened by the interests of other churches at this time. Emly, for instance, had to contend with the encroachment of the O’Brien-sponsored diocese of Killaloe, just as Roscarberry had to fend off a threat from Cork. Similarly, Ardmore’s claim to supremacy over the Deisi flourished for only a short time during the latter half of the 12th-century before losing out to the churches of Lismore/Waterford.

    Thus, the author concludes:

    The establishment and revisions of the Irish diocesan structures by the reforming synods of the 12th century in effect created the conditions that gave rise to the need for pre-Patrician saints… The saints were certainly a godsend when it came to arguing the case for one or other diocesan interest.

    What I found most fascinating in her analysis though, was the vehicle by which this need was fulfilled. For it seems that the Irish monasteries in Germany, the so-called Schottenklöster, were instrumental in making the pre-Patrician saints’ claims. Indeed, the author says:

    It would thus seem to be the case that the claim for pre-Patrician saints in Munster was first propagated in writing on the Continent in the Schottenklöster of Germany, in answer to conditions in Ireland.

    and given the challenges to the Munster churches in the late 12th century:

    very fortunately for Cashel, the industrious scriptorium at Regensburg in Germany was prepared to expend much ink on promoting and defending the interests of Munster.

    As an example, we can look at the Life of Saint Albert, who turns out to be Saint Ailbe in Germanic dress:

    About 1150 a monk there [Regensburg] composed the Life of Saint Albert, Archbishop of Cashel, who with his friend Archbishop Erhafd of Armagh, undertook a pilgrimage and ended up in Regensburg, where both found their last resting place. In the Germanic form of his name ‘Albert’, Ailbe is here firmly connected with the metropolitan see of Cashel.

    I found the paper an interesting read, relocating the pre-Patrician saints from the misty days of the early 5th century to the very different days of the late 12th, ironically at the very time when the ‘Celtic church’ that had produced these saints was itself passing away. It was equally challenging to see the possibility that their stories were not so much home-grown tales passed down through the generations, but creations of Irish monastics in Germany, tailored to meet a specific need. Although it might sometimes seem that modern scholars are spoilsports who want to ruin a good story and deprive us of the comfort of some of our most cherished myths, their research can open up a deeper and richer appreciation of the hagiographer’s art. Yet O Riain-Raedel does not totally dismiss the idea that there may be a genuine claim on the part of Munster to have a pre-Patrician Christian tradition:

    Whatever accommodation had to be made, whether Palladius had to cede ground to Patrick or Patrick had to contend with the priority claimed for some Munster saints, the argument almost always turned on the position of the patron of Armagh. And that he still has to contend with the notion of a pre-Patrician evangelization of Munster stems from the inherent plausibility of the claim that it was here that Christianity first took hold in Ireland.

    Dagmar O Riain-Raedel, ‘The Question of the “Pre-Patrician” Saints of Munster’ in M.A. Monk and J. Sheehan (eds.), Early Medieval Munster – Archaeology, History and Society (Cork University Press, 1998), 17-23.

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  • Irish Saints of July

    Irish Saints in July (Magdalene Rock)

    July 1
    Saint Cuimmein of Nendrum
    Saint Ailill of Cloonown
    Saint Lughaidh, Son of Lughaidh

    July 2
    Saint Ternoc of Cluain-Mór
    The Daughters of Cathbadh
    Saint Canice

    July 3
    Saint Cilline Droicteach of Iona
    Saint Tírechán
    Saint Breacnat
    Saint Mael-Muire Ua Gormáin
    (Marianus O’Gorman)

    July 4
    Saint Finbarr of Inis Doimhle
    Saint Bolcán of Kilcooley

    July 5
    Saint Etain of Tuama noadh
    Saint Fergus O’Huamaigh

    July 6
    Saint Moninne of Killeevy (Reade)
    Saint Moninne of Killeevy II (O’Hanlon)
    Saint Palladius

    July 7
    Saint Maelruain of Tallaght
    Saint Crone of Templecrone

    July 8
    Saint Killian of Würzburg (Goffine)
    Saint Killian of Wurzburg (Mac Geoghegan)

    July 9
    Saint Condmac of Átha Silain
    Saint Brocaidh of Emlagh

    July 10
    Saint Etto of Dompierre
    Saint Cuan of Airbhre
    Saint Senan
    Deacon Aedh of Cuil-Maine

    July 11
    Saint Failbhe of Disert Mic-Conlocha
    Saint Gaibhthene
    Saint Lonan of Ard Cruinn

    July 12
    Saint Nazair of Liethmore
    Saint Ultán of Cork
    Saint Colmán of Clonpriest
    Saint Menou of Quimper-Corentin

    July 13
    Saint Mosiloc of Cloonatten
    Saint Ernin of Inis-Caoin
    Saint Cruimther Fionntain of Cill-Airthir

    July 14
    Saint Id of Aghade
    Saint Maelceadar (Vincent Maldegarius) of Hainault
    Saint Colman, Son of Aingen

    July 15
    Saint Comman, son of Diomma
    Saint Ronan, son of Magh
    The Sons of Earcan of Brugh-Laogh

    July 16
    Saint Scoth of Cluain Mór Moescna
    Saint Torbach Mac Gorman of Armagh
    Saint Gobban Beg

    July 17
    Saint Craebhnat of Clenor
    Saint Sistan of Lough Melge
    Saint Fredigand of Deuren
    Saint Golgus?

    July 18
    Saint Cobhthach, Abbot of Kildare
    Saint Minnborinus, Abbot of Cologne

    July 19
    Saint Ossin and Fifty Monks of Tengaidh
    Saint Aedhan of Lismore
    Saint Ciarán of Tigh-na-Gortigh

    July 20
    Saint Curifin the Pious
    Saint Caramnan

    July 21
    Saint Arbogast of Strasbourg
    The Seven Bishops of Tamhnach Buadha

    July 22
    Saint Mobiu of Inis-Cooscry
    Saint Moroecha Mac Naeb

    July 23
    Saint Caencomhrac of Inchenagh
    Saint Lassar

    July 24

    July 25
    Saint Colman O’Liathain

    July 26
    Saint Furadhran
    Saint Toman of Mungret

    July 27
    Saint Beoghain of Moville
    Saint Lutt of Tigh Luta

    July 28
    Saint Uisseoit of Druim Uisseoit

    July 29 
     
     
    July 31 


    PLEASE NOTE: These indices are not designed as a calendar of Irish saints which can be crossposted anywhere else. They are my original work and relate only to this site. I would ask that they not be posted elsewhere without my permission and certainly not without linking back to this blog.

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