OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Colman of Ros Branduibh, September 26

    September 26 is the commemoration of Saint Colman of Lann Elo, author of that wonderful collection of Irish monastic wisdom, The Alphabet of Devotion. This famous saint Colman shares his feast with another lesser-known saint of the same name, Colman of Ros Branduibh, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Colman, of Ros Branduibh.

    We read in the published Martyrology of Tallagh that veneration was given, at the 26th of September, to Colman, of Ruis Branduib… A similar entry is found, at this date, in the Book of Leinster copy. Where Ruis or Ros Branduib was located we cannot ascertain. At the 26th of September, Marianus O’Gorman notices the festival of a second Colman of Ross. In a Manuscript Calendar of Professor Eugene O’Curry, Colman is named, likewise, for this day. There is a Rosbran, in the parish of St. John’s, partly in the baronies of Narragh and Reban West, County of Kildare, and partly in the barony of Ballyadams, Queen’s County. This is probably the nearest Irish denomination, approaching to Ros Branduibh, which can now be found; but, it is possible, some better identification may be imagined. At this same date, the Martyrology of Donegal records the name Colman, of Ros-Branduibh.

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  • Saint Iomchaidh of Kill Drochoid, September 25

    On September 25 we commemorate a northern saint of the Ards peninsula, Iomchaidh of Kill Drochoid. His name appears on the earliest of the Irish calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght, at this date and the 12th-century Martyrology of Gorman adds ‘of Cell droichit in Ard Ulad’. The Anglican scholar bishop, William Reeves, notes the feast of Saint Iomchaidh on the calendar of saints he appended to his work on the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, and comments:

    Kill Droichid, – ‘Church of the Bridge’. Now unknown. There is no river in the Ards deserving a bridge except the Blackstaff which divided the Great and Little Ards. Near this was the chapel of Gransha. (note d, p.380).

    The Catholic diocesan historian, Father James O’Laverty, made another suggestion in Volume 1 of his Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor:

    In the townland of Lisban there are the remains of an extensive early Christian cemetery; its site is now in part occupied by the house and farmyard of Mr. Patrick M’Grath, into the wall of whose stable is built a stone, on which is inscribed a cross. The graves in that cemetery were lined and covered with flag-stones, and in many of them were found remains of the ferns, on which were cushioned the heads of the dead. This was probably the site of “the chapel of Moyndele,” which, with the church of Ardkeen, was valued in the Taxation of Pope Nicholas at ten marks.

    There was in the Ards a church called Kil-droichid (the Church of the Bridge), in which the festival of St. Iomchaidh was celebrated on the 25th of September —”Iomchaidh of Cill-droichit in Ard Uladh.” There is no river in the Ards which in ancient times would have been spanned by a bridge except, perhaps the Blackstaff, but it is probable that a bridge may have been built over an inlet of Lough Strangford, immediately below the site of this ancient church, in the townland of Lisban, which therefore may, with probability, lay claim to be the Kill-droichid of St. Iomchaidh.

    In the townland of Gransha (Grainseach—a grange) was an ancient church, which, as it stood not far from the Blackstaff River, may have been the Kill droichid already referred to… (p.424-425).

    In his account in Volume 9 of the Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon O’Hanlon can do no more then reprise this information:

    St. Iomchaidh, of Kill Drochoid, County or Down.

    In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, as also in the Book of Leinster copy, we find the simple entry, Imchad, at the 25th of September. In the Feilire of Marianus O’Gorman, his name, place and feast are entered at the 25th of September. From the name of this Saint’s locality, it must be Anglicised, “Church of the Bridge.” Doubt exists as to the exact place where this Saint had been venerated, within that peninsula called the Ards of Ulster. There is no river in the Ards, deserving a bridge, except the Blackstaff, which divides the Great and Little Ards. The chapel of Grangia or Gransha, a townland at the south end of Inishargy parish, was situated near the Blackstaff river. The name of Iomchaidh is also entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same date, as being of Cilldroichit, in Ard Uladh.

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  • The Daughters of Cainnech, September 24

    When I first saw the notice for The Daughters of Cainnech in the list of contents of saints commemorated on September 24 in Volume 9 of the Lives of the Irish Saints, I assumed that Canon O’Hanlon would be unable to bring us any details apart from the notices from the calendars. In this case, however, a County Waterford priest had written to the author with details of the lineage and locality of these holy women, whom he linked to Saint Declan. Cainnech’s daughters are only one of a number of similar filial groupings recorded on the Irish calendars, the most famous of which is probably the Daughters of Leinin, whose name lives on in the County Dublin placename now Anglicized as Killiney. In some of these cases, like Leinin’s daughters or the Daughters of Comgall who are commemorated on January 22, tradition records the names of the individuals who make up the group. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, but the locality where the daughters of Cainnech flourished is firmly identified with Molough, near Clonmel, County Tipperary. In the 14th century the Butler family founded a nunnery dedicated to Saint Brigid of Kildare on the site, and I have reproduced the details and sketch of the ruins.

    The Daughters of Cainnech, or Maghlocha, County of Tipperary. [Sixth Century.]

    According to the manuscript and published Martyrology of Tallagh, the Daughters of Cainnech had veneration paid them, at the 24th of September. The Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman commemorates the festival of Cainnech’s chaste daughters, at this same day. The glossographer adds, that they belonged to Maigh Locha. Their parentage and locality have been fully identified. These holy women were the children of a chieftain who lived in the time of St. Declan, patron of Ardmore, and whose castle had been saved from fire by the latter. Their place was formerly called Magh Locha, now Molough, near the great bend of the River Suir, and not many miles from Clonmel, in the County of Tipperary. There they seem to have lived in religious retirement, most probably some time in the sixth century. Of their lives, however, we find no record.

    Long after that time, their place is said to have been the site for a nunnery, dedicated to St. Brigid, in the former diocese of Lismore. It is mentioned by Archdall, as being in the County of Tipperary; but, he is wrong in placing it near Carrick-on-Suir. The ruins of the old nunnery of Moylough are situated on level ground, about one furlong north of the River Suir. In the year 1840, two parts of this building remained, viz., a chapel and a lateral house; but, from the fragments of walls about them, it appeared to have been a habitation of considerable extent. The church or chapel remaining was then in a tolerable state of preservation, extending from east to west, and measuring in length on the inside 60 feet, in breadth it was 27 feet, 6 inches. Two windows were in the east gable, constructed of chiselled and brownish sand-stone. There were three windows on the southwall, but these were much disfigured and built up with rough masonry. The door-way was on the south wall, and at a distance of fourteen feet from the west gable; it was constructed of chiselled and ornamental lime-stone on the outside, and of chiselled sand-stone on the inside. The west gable had been surmounted by a belfry, having two semi-circular arches, constructed of brownish and chiselled sand-stone. The lateral house extended to the northwest of the chapel, and touching it at the north-west corner. It was fifty-five feet in length on the outside, and twenty-seven in breadth. Its walls were three feet six inches in thickness, and about fourteen feet in height.

    In the Martyrology of Donegal, their festival is also inserted, at the 24th of September.

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