OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Froechán of Bó-chluain, November 20

    On November 20 there is an entry in the Martyrology of Oengus on the commemoration of what appears at first sight to be two Irish saints – Escon and Froechán:

    20. Beseech Escon with Froechan
    in front of strong (Slieve) Bloom,
    with the mysterious sufferings
    of the hosts of Bassus below the clouds.

    to which this gloss has been added:

    20. Escon with Froechán, i.e. Bó-chluain in Leix in the west of Leinster. Or bishop Froechan would be proper there, ut alii putant, a little east of Clúain eidnech. Idea dicitur Esconn ‘impure,’ because for thirty years he was unbaptized.

    I wondered what this enigmatic reference might mean and thankfully Father Michael Comerford’s diocesan history of Kildare and Leighlin was able to shed some light on the puzzle:

    In this immediate neighbourhood, but within the parish of Ballyfin, is Buchlone, a place with which is connected one, if not two, of our early Irish saints. In referring to this place in chapter on Ballyfin, the following curious extract was omitted: it is from the Feilire of Aengus, at 20 Nov:- “Beseech Esconn and Froechan, before strong (Slieve) Bloom.” To which the gloss in Leab. Breac adds: “i.e. pray Bishop Fraecan in Bochluain in Leix, to the east of Cluain Eidnech, or (it is) episcop Froechan that is here ut alii putant, escon, i.e. thirty years was he without baptism et ideo dicitur scon, impure, sed non verum. But Guid episcop Fraechain (is the true reading), i.e. Froechan was his name, and a bishop was he, and in Bochluain he is, i.e. in Leix, and in Druim Daganda in Dalaradia. He is called Escon, because he slew a King of Leinster, i.e. by the dipping with his staff which he made at him while he (the saint) was at Bo-chluain and the king in a bathing-tub at Naas, i.esca ideo dicitur quia aquam baptismatis infudit.” Dr. Whitley Stokes remarks in a note, that the meaning of this last passage obviously is that esconn is a vessel used for distributing water, and that the saint was so called because he baptized many.

    Rev M Comerford “Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin” Vol. 3 (1886)

    So it would appear that we are commemorating just one saint, Bishop Froechán of Buchlone, County Laois, who was given the name ‘esconn’ perhaps because of a connection to a baptismal vessel. He would also appear to have a northern connection as he is linked to a place in Dalariada.

    I turned to Canon O’Hanlon, this time in his capacity as a local historian, since he did not live to publish a volume of Lives of the Irish Saints for the month of November, to see what he made of this mystery. He writes:

    Almost forgotten at present, but yet situated near the old coachroad between Maryborough and Mountrath, is the former burial-ground of Bocluain. It is surrounded by high hedgerows of hawthorn, with some larger trees of that species now shading the grass-grown graves, and several rude headstones there, are now scarcely visible; yet, in former times, some kind of a church must have been erected on this site. In our Calendars, a St. Fraechan, Bishop of Bochluain, to the east of Clonenagh, in Laoighis, seems to have been venerated on the 20th day of November. The period when he flourished is not known to the writer; but it must have been during or before the eighth century; for he IS mentioned in the “Feilire” of St. Oengus, at the same date, and assigned to the same place. A scholiast on this passage states, that besides Bochluain in Leix, he was also venerated in Druim Daganda in Dalaradia. According to one tradition, he came from the north, accompanied by a saint called Escon. Others think the latter term is a corruption of the text, and that Epscop should be read, which should simply imply Bishop Froechan. His place is described as having been right before Sliabh Bladhma, now the Slieve Bloom Mountains. The etymon Bo-Chluain, in Irish, has been translated “the Cow’s Lawn” or “Meadow.” The spot here referred to lies about two miles south-west from Maryborough.

    Rev. John O’Hanlon, History of the Queen’s County, Volume 1 (Dublin, 1907), 215.

    Canon O’Hanlon’s suggestion that this troublesome word ‘escon’ might be nothing more than a textual corruption of the word ‘epscop’ (bishop) would solve this conundrum but whether it is correct I am not sure. We can at least be sure, however that a Bishop Froechán was commemorated on 20 November at this place.

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  • Saint Noémlug, November 19

     

    On November 19 the Martyrology of Gorman records the name of Saint Noémlug, with a prayer for his protection:

    19. A.

    N[o]emlug dena nemdaib fri demnaib in domain.

    Noemlug of the heavens (be) against the demons of the world.


    The Martyrology of Donegal records the name only, in the later rendering Naemhlugh and an interesting name it is too as it seems to contain both the element holy noem/naemh and the name of the pagan deity Lug/Lugh. Thus to call our holy man Saint Noémlug is actually a tautology. The index of persons appended to the 1895 edition of The Martyrology of Gorman, however, gives a different derivation for the name:
    Noémlug (‘holy-small’), Nov. 19. Naemhlugh, Mart. Don. better spelt Noéblug. Not known.

    The corresponding index of the Martyrology of Donegal simply records:

    Naomh Lugh, 19 Nov. 


    but adds a note from the translator:

    Lugh. i.e. Saint Lugh or Holy Lugh. This name ought perhaps to have been under Lugh in this index. Nesslugh, one of the three sons of Nesan, occurs at 15 Mar. 
    Indeed, even a quick glance at the entries for saints by the name of Lugh and its variants Lughaidh, Lughan, Lughair etc. reveals around two dozen holy men recorded in this Martyrology alone. Obviously, the name of this Irish pagan deity is not an uncommon one among Irish Christian holy men. Another plain and simple ‘Lugh’ is recorded on January 16, but whether he, or the Nesslugh mentioned above bear any relationship to the saint commemorated today is another matter. 

    The name of Noémlug does not occur in the earlier Martyrology of Oengus at November 19 and I have no further information on when and where he flourished.

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  • Saint Ronan of Dromiskin, November 18

    November 18 is the feast of a seventh-century County Louth abbot, Ronan of Dromiskin, a victim of the dreaded Buidhe Chonaill plague of the 660s. When I first began to look into the details of the saint’s life I was confused by references to a Ronan of Drumshallon, who may have been the same person. In the extract below however, from a 19th-century antiquarian paper on the monastic history of County Louth, this confusion is put down to the great 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, having been somewhat imprecise in his terminology regarding the location of Dromiskin:

    THE earliest mention of Dromiskin, or, as it would be more correctly spelt now, Drumiskin, is the establishment there of a church, or monastery, by St. Patrick

    “Extruxit etiam ecclesiam, postea celebrem, quae Druim-Inisclainn, appellatur, in regione de Delbna; in qua etiam duo ex ejus discipulis, nempe DaLuanus de Croebheach et Lugadius Aenghusio, Natfraichi filio, Mumoniae Rege, natus.”

    to which Colgan appends this note:

    “Nobile Monasteriutu de Druim inis clinn (Canonicorum, ut puto, Regularium) est in ea Comitatus Luthensis parte quae hic Delbna appellatur, et est juxta civitatem Pontanam”

    a remark which, evidently, misled Archdall, Lanigan, and others, as to its position, which they assigned to Drumshallon, within four miles of the municipal bounds of Drogheda.

    The neighbouring abbey of Louth maintained its ecclesiastical position much longer than did that of Dromiskin. It may appear improbable that two churches, each intended to be a centre of missionary work in a country only dimly illuminated by a glimmer of Christianity, should have been established and built about the same time, at Dromiskin and at Louth, within six miles of each other, but it is really not so. The fertile plain of Muirtheimhne was a granary for the marsh and forest country on its west, which grew comparatively little corn, and for the mountainous districts to the north, which mostly reared cattle. The beauty of its gently undulating surface attracted the notice of the apostle as he travelled northwards from Munster, after his seven years’ sojourn there.

    Dromiskin lay close to the high road leading to Ulster, along the shore of Dundalk bay. It seems evident that the founding of a church at Dromiskin must be assigned to this time, for the first presiding bishop or abbot of the establishment was Lugaidh, son of Aenghus, King of Munster, who had been baptized by St. Patrick, at Cashel, while he was in the South of Ireland. Colgan mentions another disciple of the saint as being at Dromiskin at the same time, Dala, or Molua of Creevah, but of him we know nothing further here. Lugaidh is numbered among the saints of Ireland. He died A.D. 515 or 516, and his festival is November 2nd…

    The next abbot at Dromiskin, of whom we have any account, though he was not the next in succession, was Ronan, son of Berach. Berach was a disciple of St. Dagoeus, bishop of Inis Chaoin (Iniskeen), about the middle of the sixth century. A miracle, performed by him, similar to Elisha’s, in 2 Kings iv. 42-44, as we are told, caused his master to say he was unworthy of such a pupil; and on his leaving, Dagoeus gave him a short staff (Bacull gearr), and a bell, which, under the name of Clogberaigh, was preserved, as a relic, at Cluan da lochia. However this may be, after leaving Iniskeen, he entered into the monastic state at Glendalough, and died Abbot of Cluain-Cairpthe, in Roscommon.

    St. Ronan was a more remarkable character than his predecessor, St. Lugaidh, of whom we have but little more than his name and royal pedigree. His name occurs in history; he was venerated for a long time after his death, and is still remembered by a holy well at Dromiskin bearing his name. He is said to have suffered an indignity at the hands of Suibhne, son of Colman Guar, prince of Dalaradia, whom he denounced; in consequence of which Suibhne went mad after the battle of Magh Rath (Moira). If, according to Tighernach, this battle was fought in A.D. 637, St. Ronan must have been abbot before that year, and the period of his rule must have been a long one.

    In the year 664 a pestilence, which broke out first in England, made its appearance in Ireland. Irish writers call it Buidhe Chonail, or the Yellow Jaundice. Among its numerous victims, St. Ronan’s name is recorded. He died, November 18th. His relics, which we may presume had been carefully preserved at Dromiskin, were, one hundred and thirty-two years afterwards, placed in a shrine of gold and silver. But the Danes were even then coming into Ireland; forty-three years after that they had begun plundering in Louth, and it must have fallen into their hands soon after……

    F. W. Stubbs, ‘Early Monastic History of Dromiskin, in the County of Louth’ in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Fifth Series, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Jun. 30, 1897), pp. 101-113.

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