OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Maelodhrain of Slane, May 31

    We close the month of May with the commemoration of a saint associated with the important County Meath foundation of Slane. Saint Maelodhrain was presumably a successor to the monastery’s founder, Saint Erc, but Canon O’Hanlon is unable to establish when his tenure as abbot was. Indeed, there is so little information, apart from the recording of Saint Maelodhrain’s commemoration at this date in the Martyrology of Tallaght, that the account from Volume VI of the Lives of the Irish Saints is mostly taken up with a history of the site. Of particular interest is the tradition that the seventh-century Merovingian prince Dagobert was educated at Slane. Professor Jean-Michel Picard has written about the Irish exile of this royal figure so perhaps I shall explore this episode at a later date:

    St. Maelodhrain, of Slane, County of Meath.

    At the 31st of May, the Martyrology of Tallagh  records an entry, regarding Moelodran of Slaan. The Bollandists  have as a festival, at this date, Moeldranus Slanensis, and following the same authority. This place —deriving its name from Slanius a former monarch of Ireland —was situated near the River Boyne, and in the County of Meath. It is now known as Slane, where it is said St. Herc, or St. Erc, became its first bishop, in the time of St. Patrick, by whom he had been consecrated. To St. Erc is attributed the foundation of a hermitage near the beautiful Hill of Slane, over the winding and picturesque course of the Boyne River. It is situated to the south of the town, and it is said, but incorrectly, that Regular Canons of St. Austin were here established. It was celebrated during the early ages of Christianity, and according to tradition, Dagobert, King of Austrasia, was here educated. Slane was frequently pillaged, by the Northmen. The Franciscans seem to have occupied the hermitage of St. Erc during the middle ages. The hermitage  lies within the Marquis of Conyngham’s Demesne, on the northern bank of the river, and immediately below the castle, embosomed within the dark shadows, in a grove of ancient yews. Considerable portions of this picturesque building still exist. Near the site of his original church are the ruins of a fine old Franciscan monastery, founded A.D. 1512, erected by Christopher Fleming, Lord of Slane, and by his wife, on behalf of two Franciscan Friars, who then dwelt in St. Erc’s hermitage, and for the order to which they belonged. This Priory was suppressed, in the 38th year of King Henry VIII., and it was re-granted to the Flemings, whose possessions were forfeited to the crown, after the Insurrection of 1641. On this day, a festival to honour Maelodhrain, of Slane, was celebrated, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal. With his parentage and period, we are not acquainted.

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  • Saint Saorghas of Druim, May 30

    The study of the lives of the early Irish saints is often complicated by the fact that there are so many who share the same name. One saint, however, who will not be filed under the ‘homonymous saints’ tag is Saorghas of Druim, commemorated on May 30, as he is the only saint of this name to be found in the Irish calendars. The name, however, is known from other sources, with the Annals of the Four Masters, for example, recording the death of a ninth-century abbot of Durrow of this name. Professor Pádraig Ó Riain, whose spelling of the name Saorghas I am using here, suggests in his new Dictionary of Irish Saints that he may also be the Saorghas Doithneannach recorded in hagiography as giving a blessing to Bearach son of Meisceall. The locality with which our saint is associated is hard to pin down, although Canon O’Hanlon does his best below, he also brings us a variety of other renderings of the name:

    St. Fergussius, of Druim-Bile, otherwise, St. Saergusa Bile, or Saerghos, of Druim.

    Saergusa bile is the description we find entered for this saint, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 30th of May. However, the Bollandists, who cite the same authority place Faergussius de Druim-bile, at this date, and probably, it is the more correct rendering. There is a townland, called Drumbilla, in the parish of Roche, and barony of Upper Dundalk, in the county of Louth; while it seems to be the only nearly corresponding denomination, among the other townland names in Ireland. Yet, it is hardly probable, notwithstanding, that it was the place of Fergussius, Saergusa, or Saerghos. This holy man appears to have been identified, with Soergussius, or Saerghus, an abbot of Dearmhach or Durrow, and who died A.D. 835. The identification, however, cannot be relied upon, as being quite conclusive. The same day, veneration was given to Saerghos, of Druim, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal. In the table appended, this name is written Saorghuss, and Latinized, Sergius…..

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  • Saint Cummain of Dal Buinne, May 29

    May 29 is the feast of a female saint Commain, daughter of Aillen, who seems to have flourished in the County Down parish of Ballyphilip, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Commain, Virgin, of Dal-Buinne, and of Derry, Parish of Ballyphillip, County of Down.

    In the “Felire” of St. Aengus, at the 29th of May, a festival is entered for Cummain, who is characterized as “the pure and good.” In the “Leabhar Breac” copy, the following stanza appears, with its translation, by Dr Whitley Stokes:

    —” May Pollio’s great host convey us to the star-heaven,
    with Cummain the pure and good,
    daughter of lovable Aillen.”—

    From the way, in which this holy virgin’s name has been noticed in a stanza of that metrical Calendar, we infer, she was a daughter of Aillen, or Allen. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at this date, the entry is, Cumne, Virgin, i. Ingen Alleain, in Aird Ulladh. The Bollandists notice her, at the 29th of May, as Cumania, filia Alleani in Ardvladh, while quoting the same authority. She descended from the race of Fiatach Finn —head of the Dal-Fiatach and monarch of Erin—in this wise. Her father Aillen was son of Baedan, son to Echaid, son of Brian, son to Enna, son of Cathbu, son of Echaid Gunnat, son of Fiacc of Dal Fiatach. In another place, she seems to have been connected with a church, in the territory of Dal-m-Buinne—in Latin Dalmunia—but the exact site is now unknown. To it, allusion appears to be made, in the “Felire” of Aengus, at the 29th of May. An alternative conjecture of a commentator seems to be, that a Cill Ingen Aillen, in Idrone territory, county of Carlow, may have been her place. The church of Cumain, as we are told, lay in the Ards of Ulster. Her place has been identified with Derry, “an oak wood,” and a townland in the parish of Ballyphillip, County of Down. The surface of that parish forms a chief part of what is called Little Ardes, and it lies between the neck or sound of Lough Strangford and the Irish Sea…Here, the virgin’s feast was formerly kept, as a gloss on the Martyrology of Aengus states…Also, on this day, veneration was given, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal, to Commain, Virgin, of Daire-inghen-Allen, in Uladh.

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