OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Molibba of Glendalough, January 8

    January 8 is the feast of a seventh-century Bishop of Glendalough, Saint Molibba. As Canon O’Hanlon explains, Molibba was said to have been the nephew of and successor to Glendalough’s founder Saint Kevin. We may have known more details of his life if some of the work of the 17th-century hagiologist Father John Colgan had not been lost:
    ST. MOLIBBA, BISHOP OF GLENDALOUGH, COUNTY OF WICKLOW. [Seventh Century]
    St. Libba, better known, however, with the Irish prefix Mo which signifies My —as applied by our ancestors to a person for whom great love or reverence had been entertained—was born of respectable parentage. His father’s name was Colmad or Colman, as he is differently named; his extraction had been derived from the family of Messin-corb, that ruled over a district of country within bounds of the Leinster province. His mother was named Coeltigerna, the daughter of Coemlog, and she was descended also from the Messin-corb family, according to one account. Yet this statement regarding the saint’s parents is contradicted by another: his father being called Arad of Dalaradia, and his mother Coemoca, the sister of St. Kevin. Here there would seem to have been some ambiguity in naming the present saint’s mother. However, besides a sister named Arbhinnia or Coemola, Coeltigerna had three distinguished saints, who classed as brothers; namely, Saints Kevin, Abbot of Glendalough, Mochemius, otherwise called Natchchaoimhe, Abbot of Tirdaglass, and Coeman, Abbot of Annatrim, Queen’s County. In addition to our saint, his parents had three other sons. All of these were distinguished for their sanctity: and they were named respectively, St. Dagan, Bishop of Achad-Dagan, or Inverdaoile, St. Menocus, or Enanus of Glennfaidhle, and St. Mobaius, whom it appears difficult to identify with any known saint of this name, to be found in our calendars. St. Molibba is said to have flourished during the early part of the seventh century, and most probably he spent some time under the direction of his holy uncle St, Kevin, at Glendalough.
    After the death of his uncle, St. Kevin, which took place in the year 618, or 622, according to Usher, our saint is believed to have succeeded him in the see of Glendalough. Such is the statement of Colgan; but Dr. Lanigan seems inclined to think, that Molibba was the first bishop over this see, St. Kevin having only been an abbot. Molibba ruled over his charge with great prudence and virtue, and he departed this life — or at least he is honoured — on the 8th day of January. We are not told the exact year of his death, by Colgan. He intended, perhaps, to state this in notes, which he designed appending to his short notice regarding this saint.
    These comments, numbering fourteen or fifteen, were lost through accident; yet, it would appear, Colgan had hopes of recovering them, since he directs the reader’s attention to addenda, at the close of his work. The omitted notes are not to be found there, however; and most certainly they must be regarded as important, in elucidating some particulars, relating to our saint’s meagre biography.
    Elsewhere, we shall have occasion to record the acts of his sainted relations. We read in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Molibha, of Glenn-da-locha, bishop, had a festival on this day. This saint is entered likewise in the Martyrology of Tallagh, on the 8th of January, under the designation of Molibha Mac Colmadha. Frequently hereafter, we shall have an opportunity to introduce notices of saints connected with the ruined city of Glendalough.

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  • Saint Kentigerna of Inch Cailleach, January 7

     

    An Irish saint who became celebrated as a hermitess in eight-century Scotland is commemorated on, January 7. Saint Kentigerna is also known as the mother of another famous Scottish saint, Fillan, whose feast we will celebrate in two days time. The following account has been taken from the work of the Scottish Episcopalian Bishop Alexander Forbes (1817–1875) on the Scottish Calendars:

    KENTIGERNA. January 7, A.D. 733.—Kentigerna, styled also Quentigerna and Caentigerna, is known to us as the recluse of Inch Cailleach on Loch Lomond, as the sister of S. Congan, and as the mother of S. Fillan. She was the daughter of Ceallach Cualann (ob. 715), a regulus of Leinster, whose pedigree from Fedhlimidh Fiorurglas is known to us through Macfirbis.—(Genealog. MS. p. 461a.)

    Ceallach was the forefather of the O’Kellys (Ui Ceallaigh Cualann), who possessed Rathdown in the County Dublin till the fourteenth century.

    The legend of this saint in the Aberdeen Breviary, which is evidently drawn from some Irish life of her distinguished son, states that she was of the royal family of the Scoti, being daughter of Tyrennus, chief of the Laynenses (Kellenus- Colgan), and married to Feriacus, Prince of Monchestree (Feradach—Colgan). She had for brother-german the devout Congan, and a son approved for gravity of manners, Faelanus. Then follows the legend of S. Ibar rescuing him from the waters when he was seen at the bottom playing with angels. Leaving Ireland, the three betook themselves to Straphilane, where they remained some time. In the end, when deprived of the society of her son and brother, Kentigema went for the sake of contemplation to Inch Cailzeoch (Inchelroche — Camerarius) in Louchloumont in Levenax, where, after living as an anchorite, her soul ascended to Christ. The parochial church of the island is dedicated to her.—(Brev. Ab. pars hyem. foL xxv. ; Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. p. 21.) The Annals of Ulster record her death in 734 (733).—(Skene, Chron. of Picts and Scots, p. 356.) For an account of Inch Cailleach, see O.S. A, vol. ix. p. 12 ; N. S. A, Stirling, p. 90.

    Alexander Penrose Forbes, D.C.L. Bishop of Brechin, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, (1872), 373.

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  • Saint Tuililatha of Kildare, January 6

    January 6 is the feast day of a group of three female saints, collectively known as the ‘Daughters of Nadfrac’. Often with such groups of saints we do not have the names of the individuals who comprise it, but in this case the sources preserve the identities of  three distinct holy women- Muadhnat, Tuililatha and Osnat- albeit that that they are all commemorated on the same day. The three sisters are associated with monastic foundations in different parts of Ireland. Canon O’Hanlon starts with Saint Muadhnat, but as I have come across some further research on this saint at the last minute, I will start instead with the middle sister, Saint Tuililatha (also known as Tallula, Tuilach and more recently, Tuilclath), a successor to Saint Brigid as abbess of Kildare. At the end of his short piece Canon O’Hanlon follows the authority of the seventeenth-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, in telling us that she flourished about the year 590, having been somewhat less impressed by the eighteenth-century Anglican antiquary, Mervyn Archdall, author of the famous survey of Irish religious houses, Monasticon Hibernicum (1786):

    St. Tallulla or Tulilach, Virgin, and Abbess of Kildare, County of Kildare. [Sixth Century.]

    The spouse of Christ leaves her home with its comforts, its joys, and its happy associations, as the bird leaves earth beneath it, soaring upward towards the skies, where it feels exposed to less danger and enjoys truer liberty. A sister to the aforementioned holy Virgin [i.e. St. Muadhnat] was St. Tallulla or Tulilach. By Archdall she is incorrectly called Falulla, and apparently without authority he assigns her rule over a community to A.D. 580. Tallulla, Abbess of Cill-Dara, or Kildare, occurs in the Martyrologies of Marianus O’Gorman and of Donegal, on this day. The epithet, Virgin, is affixed to a nearly similar entry in the Martyrology of Tallagh at the 6th of January. Here she is called Tuililatha. It cannot be ascertained, whether she preceded or succeeded St. Comnat in the government of nuns at Kildare for we only learn that the present holy abbess flourished about the year 590.

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