OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Maelaithghen of Tech Maeilaithghin, June 6

    Canon O’Hanlon brings details of another early, obscure saint at June 6 and notes that Saint Maelaithghen is recorded not only in the earliest of the Irish calendars, but also in the Scottish Kalendar of Drummond. A later note in the Martyrology of Oengus provides a location for our saint and so I have transferred a translation of this from O’Hanlon’s footnotes into the main text:

    St. Maelaithghen of Tech Maeilaithghin, Probably in Cairpre Ua-Ciardha, now Barony of Carbury, and County of Kildare, or in Meath.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh merely registers the name Maelathgean, at the 6th of June. That Moelaithgen lived at an early period is proved, from the fact of his feast having been inserted in the Feilire of St. Aengus, at this date. The commentator has a note, to identify his locality. [The Irish note is thus translated, by Whitley Stokes, LL.D: “i.e. of Tech Moelaithgin in Cairpre Hua-Ciardai. Or in Mag Locha in the west of Bregia”.] According to the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day was venerated Maelaithghen, said to have been of Tigh Maelaithghen, in Cairbre-Ua-Ciardha, or in Maghlacha, in the west of Bregia. This territory extended from the River Liffey to the River Boyne, and it took in a great part of the present county of Meath. The place of this saint must be sought for, within the ancient territory of Cairbre-Ui-Chiardha. This now forms the barony of Carbury, in the north-western part of the present county of Kildare. In Scotland, this Natalis of the Holy Confessor Maelaithchen was commemorated, on the 6th of June, as noticed in the Kalendar of Drummond.

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  • Saints Niadh and Berchan, June 5

    Canon O’Hanlon brings a brief account of two early but obscure saints commemorated on June 5:  Niadh and Berchan of Cluain Aodh Aithmeth. His authority is a manuscript calendar belonging to the 19th-century scholar, Professor Eugene O’Curry. He further draws on the 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan’s Trias Thaumaturga, in locating our saints’ territory in County Meath according to a reference in the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick (book 2, chapter 10):

    Saints Niadh and Berchan of Cluain Aodh Aithmeth, in Luighne.

    The 5th of June is dedicated to the memory of St. Niadh and of St. Berchan. Both were connected with Cluain Aodh Aithmeth, in Luighne. The Luaighni of Teamhair were a people in Meath, and the position of their district seems determined, by a passage in one of St. Patrick’s Lives. The Church of Domhnach-mor-Muighe Echenach is placed within the territory. It lay upon the banks of the Boyne. The identification of a modern designation for the ancient Cluain Aedha Aithmet proves a more difficult matter, for the topographer and historian.

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

  • Saint Finchan, June 4

    Another saint to add to the ever-growing list of obscure Irish holy men known only from the recording of his name on the calendars: Saint Finchan. As Canon O’Hanlon explains, this saint is first recorded on the late eighth/early ninth-century Martyrology of Tallaght and then again on the seventeenth-century Martyrology of Donegal:

    St. Finchan, or Fionnchan.

    An entry is found, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 4th of June, regarding Finchan, whose name is entered simply, and without account of any other particulars, which might serve to identify him. This day, likewise, the Martyrology of Donegal only mentions the veneration paid to Fionnchan.Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.