OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • 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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  • 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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