OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Senic, June 27

    I found myself intrigued by the enigmatic reference to the name of Senic, commemorated on June 27. Canon O’Hanlon writes precisely two lines on him, including the detail that his name is Latinized to Seneca. I can add only two further details – first, his name does not appear on the earlier Martyrologies of Tallaght and Oengus and secondly, he is not the only saint of this name to be commemorated on the later Irish calendars. There is also a feast of Saint Senic recorded on November 10 in both the twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman and subsequently in the Martyrology of Donegal. Whether this is a secondary feast for today’s holy man or whether there was another saint of the same name whose feast fell in November, I have no way of finding out. I also found a reference to a Senic Óg in the Annals of Loch Cé in 1407 and this note:

    Senic (or Senicin) the Younger. He was apparently the son of Senicin (Jenkin) Savage who was slain in 1374, as above recorded.

    So I am left with some questions about the origins of this name. It sounds from the above note that it may be a Norman name, which might explain why it does not occur in the earlier Irish calendars. Canon O’Hanlon’s brief account below cannot help to shed any further light on this elusive saint:

    St. Senic.

    A festival in honour of Senic is found entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, at the 27th of June. His name is also rendered Seneca, in the table appended to this work.

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  • Saint Duthac, June 26

    Canon O’Hanlon has examined the Scottish calendars at June 26 to bring us the name of Saint Duthac. There is a relatively well-known eleventh-century saint of this name commemorated on March 8, Saint Duthac of Ross, whom the sources do seem to link to Ireland. Whether June 26 is a secondary feast of the patron of Ross or whether he is another saintly bishop of the same name is not made clear in the few lines that Canon O’Hanlon contributes, for his main aim is to stake a claim to him for the original Scotti – the Irish:

    St. Duthac.

    In the Scottish Kalendar of Hyrdmanistown, and in that of Nova Farina, we have a festival entered, at the 26th of June, for St. Duthac, a Bishop and Confessor. We know not whether by birth he belonged to Ireland or to Scotland; however, in this, as in many similar cases, we desire to include his name among our Celtic saints.Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • The Daughter of Mionghar, June 25

    The name of one of the many obscure Irish female saints is found on the earliest of the surviving Irish calendars at June 25. This holy lady is even more enigmatic than most, given that we do not have her Christian name, only that of her father. Canon O’Hanlon can only bring us a couple of lines:

    The Daughter of Mionghar.

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, we find the entry, Ingena Ninguir, at this date. The daughter of Mionghar was venerated at the 25th of June, as we find recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal.

     

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