OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • 'Jesu's Pleasant Fosterer'- Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19

    Apart from looking at the actual Irish saints who are commemorated on our native calendars, it is also interesting to look at the commemorations of the saints of the universal church. March 19 is the feast of Saint Joseph and he is noted in a quatrain in the Martyrology of Oengus along with the native Saint Lactean of Freshford and Saint Gregory. The latter may mark the feast of the ordination of Pope Gregory the Great, for whom the Irish had enormous regard and whose main feast occurs on March 12. Although he comes last in the line up of saints, Saint Joseph is certainly not least as the entry from the calendar shows:

    19. My Lachtóc with Gregory,
    the loveable champion who is higher:
    Joseph, name that is nobler,
    Jesu’s pleasant fosterer.

    to which the scholiast notes add:  

    Joseph, i.e. Mary’s spouse: it is nobler to call him ‘Jesu’s foster-father’ than “Joseph.”

    This made me wonder if the practice of fosterage in ancient Ireland meant that our people would have been quite accepting of the notion of Our Lord having a foster father.

    Canon O’Hanlon adds this brief entry in Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

    The Feast of St. Joseph, Confessor, the Fosterer of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Such is the title given to the chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the “Feilire” of St. Aengus, at this date, which it seems was his festival day in the early Irish Church, as it is yet throughout Christendom. The Bollandists, various other hagiologists, and the ancient Fathers, treat largely and learnedly, regarding his race, vocation, and religious culture.

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  • Saint Caemhán, the Holy, March 18

    Yet another obscure Irish saint is recorded on the Irish calendars at March 18, Caemhán, the Holy. The seventeenth-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, attempted to make a Patrician link, but Canon O’Hanlon remains unconvinced:

    St. Caemhan, the Holy.

    Caemhan, denominated the Holy, is set down in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having a festival, at this date. The Bollandists notice a St. Caimanus, a Bishop, occurring at the 18th of March, in two distinct Irish Martyrologies. Colgan thinks a disciple of St. Patrick, known as Coeman of Kill-rath, may be identified with the present saint. The same writer identifies the latter with a Coeman, Deacon, mentioned in St. Patrick’s Acts.  There appears to be much confusion, in the short notes of writers, as relating to the present saint’s identity.

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

  • Saint Failtigern, March 17

    March 17 is the feast day of the most widely-recognized Irish saint today, our national apostle, Saint Patrick. He also shares his commemoration with one of the most obscure, a holy woman, Saint Failtigern, know only from the recording of her name on this day in the Irish calendars, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Failtigern or Faoiltigern, Virgin.

    An entry is found, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 17th of March, regarding St. Failtigern, a holy woman, whose personal history is involved in great obscurity. The Bollandists have a mere notice. Faoiltighem, Virgin, is registered, also, in the Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, and in that of Donegal, as having had veneration paid her, on this day.

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