OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Conall of Clonallan, April 2

    April 2 is the feast day of a sixth-century County Down bishop, Conall of Clonallan. Not a great deal is known of him, but he was said to have succeeded the founder bishop of Coleraine around the year 570. Adamnan’s Life of Saint Columba in Chapter 50 of the first book records a Bishop Conall of Coleraine having prepared a welcome for Saint Columba on one of his Irish visits, but it is not known if this was our saint. Canon O’Hanlon has this short account of Saint Conall:

    St. Conall, Bishop of Clonallan, County or Down.
    [Sixth Century.]

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, the name of Conall, son of Aedha, is found, entered at the 2nd of April. The Bollandists’, while deferring an opinion on the subject, until the Acts of the Irish Saints should receive further illustration, remark, that the saint, venerated on this day at Cluain-dallain, is thought, by Colgan, to have been Connall, Abbot of Killchonail, in the territory, known as Maine, or Hy-Maine. The O’Clerys state, that the saint, venerated on the 2nd of April, belonged to the race of Irial, son to Conall Cearnach. At first, St Conall was president over Clonallan church, county of Down, at an early period. He afterwards succeeded St. Carbreus, as Bishop of Coleraine, about the year 570. His parish was evidently near Carlingford Lough, which becomes contracted at Caol, “narrow,” in the same sense, as that used by the Scotch, in the word Kyles, now the Narrow Water. The name of this church is said, however, to have been derived from St Dalian, who flourished in the sixth century. The O’Clerys’ Calendar states, that his place was near Snamh Each, i.e. the harbour near unto the Cael, in Ui Eathach, of Uladh. We read, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that veneration was paid, on this day, to Conall, son of Aedh, of Cluain, i.e. of Cluain Dallain, now Clonallan parish.

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  • Saint Tuan of Tamlacht, April 1

    A County Down saint, Tuan of Tamlacht, is commemorated on April 1. In his account below, Canon O’Hanlon expresses his irritation at the medieval commentator Giraldus Cambrensis, who confounded this saint with a legendary figure called Ruanus and concluded that he was 1500 years old when he died! As Professor Padráig Ó Riain, in his new Dictionary of Irish Saints, wryly remarks ‘ Not inappropriately, Tuán’s feast fell on 1 April’….

    St. Tuan, of Tamlacht, County of Down.

    The Bollandists record,”Tuanus filius Carilli,” in their collection, at this date, and they quote as authority, the Irish Calendar next mentioned. The Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 1st of April, inserts the name of Tuan, son of Cairill. This saint is said to have been called Ruanus, by Giraldus Cambrensis; yet, we do not find any warrant for such an assertion, although, indeed, that writer has an account of a Ruanus, who is reported to have survived a great pestilence, which devastated Ireland, A.M. 2820. The incredible statement is made, that he survived to the time of St. Patrick, who baptized him, and that he lived to be 1,500 years old, when he died. This is one of the many fables, with which Giraldus Cambrensis was pleased to overload his writings. According to the Martyrology of Donegal, Tuan, son of Coirell, of Tamlachta, in Boirche, had veneration paid him, at this date. The previous identification serves, for this particular locality.

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

  • Saint Colman of Camachadh, March 31

    March 31 is the commemoration of yet another Irish saint Colman, this one linked to two other saints by the great 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, but Canon O’Hanlon prefers to deal with him separately, as he explains in the third article at this date in Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

    St. Colman, of Camachadh.

    The brightest and fairest flowers bloom in solitude and soon wither, while they still perfume nooks, in which they grow, with delicious odours. So have bloomed and have beenforgotten the localities and memory of many holy persons. Thus, when introducing his commemoration of the three saints, Colman, Foilan, and Fethadius, at, the 31st of March, Colgan remarks, that he united their names, because he found little of a distinctive character, in their Acts; indeed, he observes, that although the Irish saints, venerated on this day, were not few in number, as many of our domestic Martyrologies proved, yet, very few records of their lives were to be discovered. We prefer, however, to distinguish those saints; and, hence, we begin with St. Colman’s name, whichoccurs, in the Irish Martyrologies, at this day. However, Colgan confesses himself unable to discover the exact location of Camachadh, with which place, St. Colman appears to have had connection. There was a church, in the diocese of Ossory, which was called Camchluain; as, also, another in that of Derry, named Cambos, and Camus, in our Martyrologies, At this latter church, a St. Colman was venerated, on the 30th of October; but, whether he was a distinct person from our saint, Colgan had not been able to determine. Another church stood, in the region of Clannuadach, in Connaught, and it was named Cammagh, while its ruins are yet to be seen, Colgan conjectures this name to have more nearly resembled Camachadh, in sound and signification, than any of the former denominations. He interprets Camachadh, or Cammagh, by the Latin words, “campum procurvum,” and it is Anglicized, “the very crooked plain.” The year of our saint’s death has not been recorded, nor even the age, in which he flourished. However, it must have been at a rather early period, since in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 31st of March, we find, Colman am (cam) Achaid. Also,Marianus O’Gorman and Cathal Maguire commemorate him. Colman, of Camachadh, occurs, in the Martyrology of Donegal, on this day. The Bollandists briefly notice this saint, at the 31st of March. It is likely, this pious man sought an asylum in a solitude, which the proud and ambitious so much disdain, but which furnish tranquillity and enjoyment to the truly religious.

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