OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • The Seven Daughters of Fergus, May 24

    Canon O’Hanlon has as his fifth article for May 24 an account of a group of Irish holy women denominated by their patronymic, The Seven Daughters of Fergus. In the Martyrology of Tallaght the daughters are associated with the locality of Inis Cealtra, an island monastery in the west of Ireland which produced a couple of better-known saints, its founder Saint Caimin and the scholarly Saint Coelan, a reputed biographer of Saint Brigid. It is interesting to note that the Daughters of Fergus may have enjoyed a cultus in Scotland as the Seven Maidens of Inverey. Canon O’Hanlon’s source, the work on the Scottish calendars by Bishop Forbes, doesn’t seem conclusive and left me wondering if the Chapel of Inverey itself had an independent commemoration of the Seven Maidens at May 24, or if Forbes had simply tried to read across the feast from the Martyrology of Tallaght in an attempt to find an identification for these Scottish saints. His account says:

    SEVEN MAIDENS.  May 24. – In Braemar is the chapel of the Seven Maidens, at Inverey, where the family of Farquharson bury their dead. – (V.D.A. p. 641.)
    In the Martyrology of Tallaght, at this day, we have “Secht ningena Fergusa in Inis Cealtra.” In that of Donegal, “The seven daughters of Fergus of Tigh-ingen-Ferghusa”.

    Alexander Penrose Forbes, D.C.L. Bishop of Brechin, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, (1872), 447. 

    His source, V.D.A., View of the Diocese of Aberdeen , confirms only the dedication of the Braemar chapel to the Seven Maidens and its use as a family burying site by the Farquharson family.  The writer of a paper on the Traces of the Cultus of the Nine Maidens in Scotland, is not entirely convinced of the identification of the Inverey chapel with the Irish maidens commemorated on May 24, and states on page 260 that there is ‘some doubt’ surrounding this claim by Bishop Forbes.

    Bishop Forbes was not the only commentator who attempted to identify these holy women, the 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, sought to equate them with a group of seven nuns who assisted at the sixth-century Synod of Drum Ceatt. I’m not sure though that his evidence is any more substantial, but at least it is interesting to note that a group of female monastics were recorded as participants at this Synod.

    So, we seem to be faced with a number of conflicting theories about the identity of the Seven Daughters of Fergus:

    1. They are, as the Martyrology of Tallaght claims, associated with the locality of Inis Cealtra, the holy island of County Clare.  I was under the impression though that this was a male foundation.

    2. They are, as Colgan claims, associated with a location called Teach na ninghean, literally ‘the house of the daughters’ and are perhaps to be identified with the seven nuns of Tir-na-Fiachra Aine who took part in the Synod of Drum Ceatt.

    3. They are, as Bishop Forbes claims, the Seven Maidens to whom a chapel in Inverey, Scotland, is dedicated.  This theory would stand up better if the Scottish calendars recorded a feast day for these Seven Maidens on May 24th independently from the Irish. This does not, however, seem to be the case.

    Canon O’Hanlon records:

    The Seven Daughters of Ferghus, of Tigninghin Ferghusa, or of Inis-Cealtra, County of Galway.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh records Secht ningena Fergusa in Inis Cealtra, at the 24th of May. This is now known as Inis-crealtra, an island and parish in the counties of Clare and Galway. The Bollandists also record their festival, for this day. But Colgan seems to connect them with Teach na ninghean, in Connaught. He says, they were perhaps those seven nuns of Tir-na-Fiachra Aine, who assisted at the great Synod in Dromcheat, in the year 580. The extent of Ui Fiachrach Aidhne is shown on the Irish Maps, prefixed to the “Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many, commonly called O’Kelly’s Country “. A festival in honour of the Seven Daughters of Fergus, of Tigh-inghen-Ferghusa, was celebrated on this day, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal. Under the title of the Seven Maidens, they seem to have been venerated, likewise, in Scotland.

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  • Saint Comman, May 23

    At May 23 we can add another name to the long list of obscure Irish saints, whose only memorial is their entry in the Irish calendars. A Saint Comman appears in the earliest of these, the Martyrology of Tallaght, and Canon O’Hanlon directs us to a County Wicklow location called Kilcommon, before conceding that it may not be connected to this saint or indeed to any of the other eleven saints Comman commemorated on the Irish calendars:

    ST. COMMAN

    An entry of St. Comman is registered, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 23rd of May. The Bollandists quote the same authority, for this insertion of his name,at this date. No place, genealogy or title is afforded to distinguish him, from others bearing a similar name. Quite convenient to the Dublin and Wicklow Railway, and about one mile from the town of Rathdrum, the old graveyard of Kilcommon rises on the side of a commanding hill. This place has been much used for interments. Several old trees and bushed grow around it. On the north side, there are only a few interments. On the south side, the graveyard is separated by a deep trench from the fields adjoining. An old ruined church remains within the enclosure. The east end is partly standing and veiled over with thick ivy plants. There is a small ruinous window in it, with a chiselled jam remaining, in which square punched holes are to be seen, as if intended for crossing iron bars. A small square recess is in this same wall, and near the window. The window was about 3 feet, 4 inches in length and 1 foot, 6 inches in breadth. A mere fragment of the south walls continues to show the outline, and in it are the apparent traces of a window, not far from the earth. The remains of the walls, levelled with the ground, only reveal the former extent of this old church. Interiorly, it measures 40 feet in length by 21 feet in breadth, and its walls were over two feet in thickness. The walls were built of granite.  Of course, it cannot be asserted with any degree of certainty, this place had been connected with the present, or even with any of the other eleven Comans or Commans, noted in our calendars, at different days of the year. We find the name Comman, also, simply entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having been venerated on this day.

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  • Saint Baoithin of Ennisboyne, May 22

    May 22 is the feastday of a County Wicklow saint, Baoithin of Ennisboyne. The account below has been edited from that of Canon O’Hanlon in Volume V of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

    St. Baoithin, of Ennisboyne, County of Wicklow.
    [Seventh Century.]

    In the “Feilire” of St. Aengus, on the 22nd of May, the festival and name of Baethine Mac Findach are specially commemorated. The following is Dr. Whitley Stokes’ English translation:—”Ronan (the) Fair’s soul went to starry heaven, with the man bright, prolific, Baethine mac Findach.”— This holy man lived, it is said, in the seventh century. The name Baithin mic Finnach occurs, also, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 22nd of May. On the same authority, and on that of Colgan, the Bollandists notice Baithinus, son of Finnachus. According to the Martyrology of Donegal, Baoithin, son to Finnach, of Inis Baithin, in the east of Leinster, had veneration given him, on this day. By race, he was a Leinsterman; but, his father Findach is stated to have been a robber, in a commentary on that copy of St. Aengus’ “Feilire,” which is to be found in the “Leabhar Breac”. However, as the account given is quite improbable and legendary, we may dismiss it, and the other circumstances referring to our saint’s birth, which are beneath notice. We are told, elsewhere, that he descended from the race of Laoighsech Ceannmor, son to Conall Cearnach. Trea, daughter of Ronan, son to Colman, son of Cairpre, and a daughter to the King of Leinster, was his mother; while, the Scholiast on the “Feilire,” in the “Leabhar Breac,” calls her Cred, daughter of Ronan, King of Leinster, and in Dal Messincorb, moreover, he afterwards lived. This latter narrative seems to intimate, that Boethine had been born in or near Inis Boethine, and there, too, he probably spent his religious days, in retirement from all worldly concerns. This place, now known as Ennisboyne, sometimes called Ennisboheen, or Dunganstown, seems to have derived its denomination from him. This is now a parish, situated in the barony of Arklow, and county of Wicklow…

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