OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Lassar, May 14

    May 14 is the feast day of Saint Carthage of Lismore, a saint with a wealth of hagiographical traditions associated with him. By contrast it is also the commemoration of an obscure female saint, Lassar, one of fourteen saints who share this name, based on the Old Irish word for flame. It occurs too as a name for men, with Saint Molaisse or Laserian being the most famous example. Only one of the female saints Lassar has a surviving Life, a late 17th-century composition which may have been modernised from a Late Middle Irish original. The subject of that Life has a feast day on November 13 at which time I hope to bring some selections from the work. Whether there is any relationship between the various female saints Lassar is hard to fathom, it may be that there are a number of distinct individuals who happen to share the name or it may be that some were commemorated on more than one day. Canon O’Hanlon can only write a few lines on the Saint Lassar commemorated on May 14:

    St. Lassar, or Laisre.

    A record of Laisre is found in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 14th of May, and it is also in the Franciscan copy. From the same source, the Bollandists  enter at this day the festival of St. Lasra, or Lassara, with a reference to what had been said regarding Cassara Virgo—evidently a mistake for Lassara Virgo—placed among the pretermitted feasts, at the 11th of May. On this day, veneration was given to Lassar, as we read, also, in the Martyrology of Donegal.

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  • Saint Moeldod of Mucnaimh, May 13

    May 13 is the commemoration of an abbot of Mucnaimh, which Canon O’Hanlon argues is modern Mucknoe, County Monaghan. He is able to describe something of Saint Moeldod’s genealogy, but otherwise there are few details. Pádraig Ó Riain, in his 2011 Dictionary of Irish Saints, has been able to trace how this otherwise obscure Irish saint was noted in the German martyrologies linked to the Irish foundation at Cologne. He also identifies him as one of the reputed victims of the Buidhe Chonaill (‘the Yellow Pestilence’) plague which claimed the lives of so many Irish saints in the 6th/7th centuries:

    St. Moeldod, or Moeldodius, Abbot of Mucnaimh, or Mucknoe, County of Monaghan.

    At this date, in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, we meet with the name of Moeilidoid; while, a nearly similar entry is in the Franciscan copy. The Bollandists have given some brief Acts of this saint, at the 13th of May. Father Godefrid Hennschenn was the compiler. We are informed, that St. Moeldod was a member of the great house of the Orgiel dynasts, representing the three Collas. It will be difficult, however, to determine the exact time, when he flourished; but, we may partially approximate to it, by following the genealogical tree of his family. St. Moeldod, or Maldod, was son to Eingin, son of Aldus, son to Fiach, son of Fiech, son to Eugene, son to Brian, son of Muredach Meth, son to Imchad, one of Colla Dacrioch’s sons. We have few particulars to state regarding this saint. We are told, however, that he was Abbot of Mucmaimh, in Orgiellia, or Uriel; and that place has been converted by Archdall into Monaghan, said to have been anciently called Muinechan. The Rev. Dr. Lanigan asserts, that it was well known an old monastery stood at Monaghan—which he identifies with Mucnaimh—and, of this, Moeldod was Abbot, if not the founder. Such identification, however, is quite incorrect… Mucnamh sometimes written Mucshnamh— is now identified with Muckno, a parish in the barony of Cremorne, and county of Monaghan. Chiefly within its bounds is the beautiful lake of Mucno, with its soft and swelling shores richly wooded, and having pretty isles and islets to diversify its fine landscapes… It is situated, near to Castleblaney. The time, when this saint lived, has not been specified. The feast of a St. Maldod, Confessor, in Ireland, occurs, likewise, on the following day, May 14th. At this date, in his Scottish Menology, Dempster speaks of Maldod, Bishop, in Ireland, a Scot by birth, and a man distinguished for his great holiness, remarkable patience, and the influence of his virtuous example. As a proof of these assertions, he adds the letters M.C.; by which he asserts, the Carthusian Martyrology to be indicated as authority, Canisius, and Adam Walasser. The Bollandist writer, in the “Acta Sanctorum,” had not seen this latter work; but, in the former authors, he found nothing regarding Moeldod’s episcopacy, or about his Scottish origin. It is supposed, however, that this saint was identical, with an Abbot, who ruled over Muc-naimh monastery. His feast was assigned to this date, by Richard Whitford, in his English Martyrology. Also, on this day, the Martyrology of Donegal, registers the name Maeldoid, of Mucnamh, as having been venerated.

    Note: The introduction to this post, first published in 2014, has been revised in 2022.

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  • Saint Ailitir of Mucinis, May 12

    On May 12 we remember a 6th-century saint associated with the site of Lough Derg, not the pilgrimage site in County Donegal whose ‘Saint Patrick’s Purgatory’ achieved such fame in later medieval Europe, but with Lough Derg on the Shannon. The saint himself bears the name of ‘Pilgrim’ and may also have been associated with another monastic site on the Shannon, the famous monastery of Clonmacnoise, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    AILITIR, OR ELITIR, OF MUIC-INIS, LOUGH DERG, AND OF CLONMACNOISE, KING’S COUNTY.

    [SIXTH CENTURY.]

    The Festival of Ailithir, with a eulogy, is entered, at the 12th of May, in the Feilire of St. Aengus. His name is elsewhere found Latinized as Alitherius, seu Peregrinus de Mucinis. Yet, we cannot be assured, that this was his proper name. However from the sequel, it seems likely, that he has been identified with a holy man so named, and belonging to one of the Muskerrys, in the south of Ireland. An entry, Ailitir Muccinsi, is found in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, and in the Franciscan copy, at the 12th of May. The Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman notes, at this date, likewise, Elithir of Muicinis, on Loch Deirg (Derc), now Lough Derg, in the Shannon. It would seem, that both here, and at Clonmacnoise, his memory was held in veneration. The word, Ailitir, or Elithir, signifies “a pilgrim;” and, hence, it may not necessarily be a proper name. At the year 595, however, the Annals of the Four Masters state, that Ailithir, Abbot of Cluain-mic-nois, died. He was the fourth Abbot, having succeeded Mac Nissi, who departed this life, on June the 12th, A.D. 585. The Ailithir, there mentioned, has been identified with the present saint. The Annals of Ulster record his death, at A.D. 598; while, those of Tighernach and the “Chronicum Scotorum” place it, at A.D. 599. The latter authority states, that his family was of the Muscraidhe. This day, the Martyrology of Donegal records a veneration paid to Elitir, of Muic-inis, in Loch Derg-derc. Under that name, it is difficult to find it there, as it does not appear, on the Irish Ordnance Survey Maps.

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