OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Cumméin the Death-Pale, December 24

    There is an interesting saint recorded in the Irish calendars at December 24. The Martyrology of Gorman records:

    24. A.

    The vigil of the Nativity…Cumméin the death-pale..

    to which the gloss is added:
    he was pale in the hut of devotion.
    This epithet of ‘death-pale’ suggests that Saint Cumméin was perhaps one of the many Irish saints distinguished for his ascetic piety, but I have been unable to find out any further information about when or where he flourished. He is not listed in the Martyrology of Oengus and is simply listed as Cumméin in the Martyrology of Donegal.

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  • The Twelve Pilgrims of Inis Uachtair, December 23

    Among the saints commemorated on December 23 is a group of twelve pilgrims from an island in Lough Sheelin, County Westmeath. The Martyrology of Gorman describes them as:
    Pilgrims whom thou shouldst know, two hexads, with a vigorous career.
    whilst the Martyrology of Donegal records them quite simply as:
    THE TWELVE PILGRIMS, of Inis Uachtair.
    The Irish name Inis Uachtair translates as ‘Upper Island’ and as Father Anthony Cogan’s diocesan history of Meath explains, a monastery had existed on the Lough Sheelin site since the sixth century:
    Inisvachtuir.
    This is an island in Lough Sheelin (upper island), bordering on the half barony of Fore. St. Carthagh the elder, grandson of Aengus, King of Cashel, erected an abbey here in the sixth century. In the Martyrology of Donegal the festival of St. Carthach, bishop, is marked at the 5th of March, and it is stated there that “Inis-Uachtair, in Loch-Sileann, belongs to him.” The festival of the “Seven Sons of Dreitell, of Inis-Uachtair”, is set down in the Martyrology of Tallaght at December the 21st, and in the Martyrology of Donegal at December the 22nd. The festival of “The Twelve Pilgrims of Inis-Uachtair” is commemorated in the Martyrology of Donegal at December the 23rd.
    Unfortunately, I have not been able to find out any more about our saintly pilgrims. It would have been interesting to know of the purpose of their pilgrimage and especially of their destination. Although we hear of Irish saints going on pilgrimage to places like Rome or Tours, many Irish pilgrimages were undertaken to less exotic destinations here at home. Peter Harbinson’s book ‘Pilgrimage in Ireland – The Monuments and the People’ is packed with fascinating details about this subject, one which I hope to post about in the future.

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  • Saint Siollan of Lismore, December 21

     
    Among the saints commemorated at December 21 on the Irish calendars is Siollan, Bishop of Lismore. The Martyrology of Donegal records:
    21. E. DUODECIMO KAL. JANUARII. 21.
    SIOLLAN, Bishop of Lis-mór.
    A diocesan historian gives this summary of the famous monastery of Lismore:
    The church and monastery of Lismore, which grew to be one of the renowned centres of ancient Irish learning and piety, owed its foundation to St. Mochuda of the 7th century. Mochuda, otherwise Carthage, was a native of Kerry, and he had been abbot of Rahan in Offaly. It is probable that there had been a Christian church at Lismore previous to the time of Mochuda, for in the Saint’s Life there is an implied reference to such a foundation. Be this as it may, Mochuda, driven out of Rahan, with his muintir, or religious household, migrated southward, and, having crossed the Blackwater at Affane, established himself at Lismore in 630. In deference to Mochuda’s place of birth the saint’s successor in Lismore was, for centuries, a Kerryman. Lismore grew in time to be a great religious city, and a school of sacred sciences, to which pilgrims from all over Ireland and scholars from beyond the seas resorted. The rulers of the great establishment were all, or most of them, bishops, though they are more generally styled abbots by the Annalists. Among the number are several who are listed as Saints by the Irish Martyrologies, scil:
    Sillan, bishop of Lismore . .. . .. Nov. 21.
    Rev. Patrick Power, Waterford & Lismore – A Compendious History of the United Dioceses (Cork, 1937), 5-6.
    I note that Canon Power has listed our bishop’s feast at November 21, but as we have seen he is listed at December 21 in the Martyrology of Donegal and also at this date in the Martyrology of Gorman. I assume, therefore, that this is a typo, as I can find no saint of this name listed at November 21, only at December 21.

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