OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • The Seven Bishops of Aelmagh, August 23

     

    August 23 is the commemoration of a group of bishops on the earliest of the surviving Irish calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght. It is one of a number of entries which group individuals in this way, in his account below Canon O’Hanlon believes it reflects the use of sacred numbers in a Christian context. We do not know much about these particular bishops, Canon O’Hanlon wonders if they are also mentioned in the Litany of Aengus which can be read on the blog here.

    The Seven Bishops of Aelmhagh, i.e. at Donihnachmor, probably in the County of Leitrim.

    The mystic number seven marked some of the most important events and regulations among the Jews. Thus, the seventh day was the Sabbath; the seventh year was the sabbath of the land, in which the people were commanded not to sow the land, nor to prune the vineyards. And again, when seven weeks of years—(i.e. forty-nine years)—were past, the people were ordered to hold the jubilee on the fiftieth year, when “remission was to be proclaimed to all the inhabitants of the land.” But, it is needless to multiply examples from the Old Testament, where the word occurs nearly one hundred times, as a sacred and peculiar mode of enumeration. So are we struck with the use of the word seven, in our old Litanies and Calendars. It is entered in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, that veneration was given at the 23rd of August, to Sect— Septem—nesp. Domnaighmoir, Elmaighi. Somewhat differently is this entered in the Book of Leinster copy of the Martyrology, at the same date. This place, or its equivalent, Aelmhagh, signifying “Plain of the Lime,” was in Calraighe; but, we are not told, in which of the many districts thus called in Ireland it had been situated. There were several tribes called Calraidhe or Calry, and so noticed as being descended from Lewy Cal. The names of the places so called serve to perpetuate the memory of those clans. Thus, one of them settled in the ancient Tenia, and the denomination is locally preserved in Slievegolry, near Ardagh, in the County of Longford. Moreover, Calry, in the County of Sligo, and it is thought Calary in Wicklow, still preserve the names of those tribes. Although in the notice of Aelmhagh, at A.M. 3790, Dr. O’Donovan does not attempt to identify Aelmhagh, in Calraighe; yet, when he meets an account of the Calraighe of Aelmhagh, at A.D. 781, he says, this Sept was probably one, otherwise called Calraighe-an-Chala, and seated in the barony of Clonlonan, in the County of Westmeath.

    Under the heading of Domhnach-mor-Aolmaighe, Duald Mac Firbis records the seven bishops of Domhnach-mor-Aolmaighe, at August, 23rd. In that old Irish Litany, ascribed to St. Aengus, there is an invocation of the seven bishops of Domnach Calliraigi—most probably referring to those of Aelmaighe, although the latter denomination has not been introduced. The history of those bishops we are unable to unfold; nor is it possible for us to state when they lived, or if all had been contemporaries. It seems most probable, however, that they were commemorated, as having passed out of this world, in successive periods, and as having been buried subsequently in the place which has been mentioned. We are assured by Duald Mac Firbis, and by his learned Irish topographical commentator, that Domhnach-mor-Aelmhagh or Aolmaighe is in Breifne-O’Ruiarc; and consequently, that it is now known as Donaghmore, in the barony of Dromahire, and County of Leitrim. We find recorded, likewise, in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same date, The Seven Bishops, of Aelmhagh, i.e., at Domhnach-mor.

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  • Saint Beoghna of Bangor, August 22

    On August 22  we commemorate an Abbot of Bangor, Beoghna, whose repose is recorded in the Irish annals in the early seventh century. The Annals allow us to reconstruct the list of succession of the abbots of Bangor, and they place Beoghna as the immediate successor to this County Down monastery’s founder, the great Saint Comgall. This is further borne out by a hymn entitled “Commemoration of our Abbots” in the Bangor Antiphonary which lauds the first fifteen of Bangor’s abbots, and here the name of Beogna immediately follows that of Saint Comgall:

    The holy, valiant deeds
    Of sacred Fathers,
    Based on the matchless
    Church of Benchor;
    The noble deeds of abbots
    Their number, times, and names,
    Of never-ending lustre,
    Hear, brothers; great their deserts,
    Whom the Lord hath gathered
    To the mansions of his heavenly kingdom.
    Christ loved Comgill,
    Well too did he, the Lord;
    He held Beogna dear;

    The evidence from the Annals, however, suggests that our saint did not enjoy a long rule as Saint Comgall’s successor, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Beoghna, Abbot of Bangor, County of Down.
    [Sixth and Seventh Centuries.]

    Doubtless where he had so long, as student, priest, and high official, discharged his duties with honour to himself and with benefit to all who came within the sphere of his influence, the memory of this holy abbot must have been held in benediction. In a misplaced manner, the published Martyrology of Tallagh enters this saint, as Beogaes, Abb. Bennchoir. Another entry is evidently allowed to intervene, between the first and the last of these denominations. In that copy contained in the Book of Leinster, his name and that of his father are given. The name of the latter, according to that record was Daigre. His record and feast are set down by Marianus O’Gorman, at the 22nd of August. The present holy man was born, probably in the early half of the sixth century. It seems quite likely, that his religious profession must have been made under St. Comgall, the first founder of Bangor, and who was called away from this life, on the 10th of May, A.D. 601. Soon after his decease, it would appear, that St. Beoghna was elected to succeed him. However, he did not long survive his illustrious predecessor. The age of Christ, when the holy man resigned his spirit to heaven, was 605, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. At this date of August 22nd, in the Martyrology of Donegal, we likewise find a festival recorded, in honour of Beoghna, Abbot of Bennchor, after Comhgall. In that carefully compiled Calendar, referring to the Diocese of Down, Connor, and Dromore, his feast has been registered for this day.

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  • Saint Celba of Kilbeg, August 21

    Last year on August 21 we looked at the commemoration of Saint Senach, a bishop associated with the famous monastery of Clonard in County Meath. We are staying in the royal county to look at another saint also commemorated today on the Irish calendars, Celba or Caelbadh. Canon O’Hanlon summarizes the little that is known of him:

    St. Celba, or Caelbadh, of Cill-Caelbadh, probably Kilbeg or Kilmainhambeg, County of Meath.

    The published Martyrology of Tallagh, registers Celba, at the 21st of August. In that copy, contained in the Book of Leinster, this name is united with that of another saint, at the present date. From the following account of his locality, lying on the north side of Ceananus, now Kells, in the County of Meath, it may be possible to identify his church. The Martyrology of Donegal mentions Caelbadh, of Cill Caelbaidh, on the north side of Ceananus, as having been venerated, at this same date. Kilbeg or Kilmainham-beg,a parish in the barony of Lower Kells, and in the County of Meath, seems to be the most probable identification for the site of this saint’s former church. It appears also to have given name to that place.

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