OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • The Seven Bishops of Tigh na Comairce, May 28

    May 28 brings the commemoration on the calendars of a group of saints, The Seven Bishops of Tigh na Comairce. This group is one of a number of such commemorations recorded on the Irish calendars.  It is possible in some of these cases to find names for the individuals who comprise the grouping recorded in the sources, but more usually, as in this case, further specific details are lacking. The 17th-century Donegal scholars who compiled the Martyrology of Donegal identified the locality of our episcopal saints as lying in their own county, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    The Seven Bishops, of Tigh-na-Comairce.

    At the 28th of May, the Martyrology of Tallagh registers Secht n. Esp. o Thigh na Comairce. The Bollandists have a notice – on the same authority – for the Seven Bishops of Teg-na-Comairre, at this date. As will be seen, there is probably a typographical error, in spelling the name of this locality. The place is said to have been within the present parish of Clonleigh, in the barony of Raphoe, and county of Donegal.  There is a Tigh-na-Comairce, in Tir Conaill, near to Loch Feabhail – now Lough Foyle – as we are told by the O’Clerys. The Martyrology of Donegal, on this day, records a festival, in honour of the Seven Bishops, of Tigh-na-Comairce. Under the head of Teach-na-Comairce, Duald Mac Firbis enters, the Seven Bishops from Teach-na-Comairce, at May 28th. We are informed, likewise, that Teach-na-Comairce is in the parish of Clonleigh, and in the county of Donegal.

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  • Saint Ethern of Donoughmore, May 27

    On May 27 the Irish calendars remember a a County Meath bishop, Saint Ethern of Donoughmore. Following the work of the nineteenth-century scholar John O’Donovan, Canon O’Hanlon places the saint’s locality of Domhnach-mór-mic-Laithbhe ‘the great church of the son of Laithbe’ near Slane, a position which is still accepted by the recent authoritative work, A Dictionary of Irish Saints. Professor Ó Riain, however, adds that Saint Ethern was himself the son of Laithbe, alluded to in the place name and that May 27 probably represents an octave day of the May 20 festival of Saint Mac Laithbhe. He also quotes from the Patrician texts in the Book of Armagh that among the churches founded by Saint Patrick in Meath was a great Domhnach ‘for the son of Laithbe’ which may have been Donoughmore. Thus this would place our Bishop Ethern among the earliest of the Irish saints. Canon O’Hanlon brings us the details from the calendars:

    St. Ethian or Ethern, Bishop of Donoughmore Mic-Laithbhe, in Mughdorna.

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, this saint’s name appears, at the 27th of May, as Ethirn, Bishop of Domhnach mor. On the same authority, the Bollandists enter Ethernus, Episcopus de Domnach-Mor. There was a Mughdhorna-Breagh in Ireland, but its position is not well known. From the church of this saint having been here placed within the territory of Mughdorna, Dr. O’Donovan thinks it highly probable, he must have been connected with Donoughmore, near Slane, and in the county of Meath. The Martyrology of Donegal enters a festival on this day, in honour of Ethern, Bishop, of Domhnach-mór-mic-Laithbhe, in Mughdorna. Under the head of Domhnach-mic-Laithbhe, likewise, Duald Mac Firbis enters Bishop Ethern, for May 27th.

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

  • Saint Criumther Cael of Kilmore, May 25

    Among the saints commemorated on the Irish calendars at May 25 is a Saint Criumther Cael, whose memory is preserved in the earliest of the surviving calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght. There he is associated with a locality called Kilmore, literally ‘large or great church’ which Canon O’Hanlon seeks to place in County Cavan, although as he admits below, he has no firm evidence for doing so, given that Kilmore is too generic a place name:

    St. Criumther Cael, of Kilmore, Probably in the County of Cavan.

    An entry appears, at the 25th of May, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, regarding this saint. There too, he is said to have been connected with Cill moir, which corresponds with the modern Kilmore. The Bollandists, on the same authority, record his name as Crumtherus Coel, sive Presbyter, at this same date. It is probable, that what follows is only a double entry of this feast, viz., Coelius de Killmor. This place was probably Kilmore, the seat of the bishop’s See, in the present county of Cavan; although, this is by no means certain, for many other places in Ireland have received a like name, owing we suppose to the fact of a great church having been erected, in each place so denominated. On this day, likewise, the Martyrology of Donegal mentions the veneration of Cruimther Cael, of Cill-mor.