OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • The Seven Virgins of Armagh, October 8

    On October 8 the Irish calendars commemorate a group of holy women within the diocese of Armagh. The entry in the Martyrology of Oengus does not specify the number of these saints but the (rather unfortunate) translation by Whitley Stokes describes them as ‘a bevy of virginal girls’:
    A. viii. idus Octobris.
    Lécsit lúth co nani
    ar bithaittrib rígi
    trét ingen co nógi
    la paiss find Faustíni.
    8. They left power with splendour
    for eternal possession of the Kingdom,
    a bevy of virginal girls
    at the white passion of Faustinus.
    The scholiasts’ notes, however, introduce the idea of ‘septem filiae’, seven girls:
    8. a bevy of girls, i.e. in Cell na nóebingen ‘ the Church of the holy girls’ in the precinct of Armagh, i.e. septem filiae. Or maybe they are the holy virgins who are in Cell na n-ingen to the east of Armagh.
    The later Martyrology of Donegal refers on this day to:
    THE SEVEN HOLY VIRGINS, of the Termon of Ard-Macha.
    This is but one instance of saints occurring in sevens within the Martyrology, there are, for example, commemorations of the Seven Bishops of Cluaincua on October 3 and of the Seven Sons of Stiallan, on October 27.
    I assumed that the present seven virgins of Armagh are connected to the hagiography of Saint Patrick and wondered if they may be connected to this episode from the Tripartite Life:
    “Once on a time there came nine daughters of the King of the Lombards, and a daughter of the King of Britain on their pilgrimage to Patrick. They stayed at the east of Armagh in the place where Coll na n-Ingen (the Maidens’ Hazel) stands to-day. They sent to Patrick to ask if they might go to see him (to Armagh). Patrick said to the messengers, ‘Three of the virgins will go to heaven, and do ye bury them in the place where they are — namely, at Coll na n-Ingen. Let the rest of the virgins go to Druim Fendeda (or the Champion’s Ridge), and let one of them go as far as the hillock in the east.’ – and this thing was done.”
    The reference in the Martyrology of Oengus that they ‘left power with splendour for eternal possession of the Kingdom’ would certainly seem to tie in with the idea of princesses becoming nuns. Although the Tripartite Life talks of nine daughters of the King of the Lombards plus a daughter of the King of Britain, Saint Patrick prophecies that three will go to heaven which would reduce their number to seven. I will have to do some further research and see if recent scholarship can cast any more light on this enigmatic group.

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  • Saint Cellach of Glendalough, October 7

    On October 7 the Martyrology of Oengus notices 

    ‘the feast of Cellach the keen with a fair, melodious following’. 

    The scholiasts’ notes add:

    7. of Cellach, i.e. in Hui Máil is deacon Cellach, in Disert Cellaig to the south-east of Glendalough he is. Cellach the Saxon from Glendalough.

    He was not English, but he came from the English to the Irish, because he was Irish.

    Thomas O’Loughlin has contributed an entry on the various saints who bear the name of Cellach to the Encyclopaedia of Celtic Culture and says of our saint:

    Cellach is also the name of a little-known saint mentioned in various martyrologies, whose feast-day is 7 October. The Litany of the Irish Saints I calls him a ‘Saxon and archdeacon’, while the annotations to the Martyrology of Tallaght says that he was a priest who although ‘not an Englishman came to Ireland from England’. The annotator to the Félire Oengusso says that he was a deacon, ‘the Saxon of Glendalough’, who lived in Dísert Cellaig (southeast of Glendalough/Gleann Dá Loch).

    J.T. Koch (ed.), Celtic Culture – A Historical Encyclopaedia, Volume I (ABC-CLIO, 2006), 362.

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  • Saint Lughaidh of Rattoo, October 6

    Among the Irish saints commemorated in the Martyrology of Oengus on October 6, is epscop Lugdach ligach, the gentle bishop Lugdach. The scholiasts’ notes suggest a number of possible localities with which our gentle bishop may have been associated. They range from Counties Leix and Offally through to the northern shores of Lough Erne, County Fermanagh and all the way back to County Kerry:
    6. of Lugaid, i.e. from Cell Aitgin in Leix, or from Cell Chuair in Hui Failge. Lugach, i.e. bishop Lugaid in Cill Aithgen in Leix, or in Cill Bennchoir in Offaly. Or bishop Lugach in Cuil Bennchoir in Lurc on the shore of Lough Erne. Or in Daire Mochua in Ciarraige Luachra.
    The later Martyrology of Donegal supplies a genealogy for the Bishop:
    6. F. PRIDIE NONAS OCTOBRIS. 6.
    LUGHAIDH, son of Lucht, son of Anrodhan, son of Maeltuile, son of Aithcleach, son of Ferb ; and Medhbh, daughter of Garbhan, son of Brocan, son of Garbhan, son of Dubhchertan, of the Ui- Saithghil of Ciarraighe Luachra, was his mother. He was bishop of Cuil-Beannchair, on the brink of Loch Erne, and of Rath Muighe-tuaiscirt in Ciarraighe Luachra; or of Cuil-Beannchair in Ui-Failghe, and of Tuaim-fobhair in Luighne.
    He is also commemorated in the twelfth-century Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman as ‘bishop Lugach (Lugaid ?) the bright-coloured.’
    In his annotated edition of the classic 18th-century work on Irish monasteries by Mervyn Archdall, P.F. Moran, Bishop of Ossory, was able to supply some further detail on the County Kerry locality of Rath Muighe-tuaiscirt, anglicized as Rattoo or Rathtoy:
    O’Donovan, in the Ordnance Survey Papers, informs us that the Rattoo was sometimes called by the Irish writers Rath-muighe-tuaiscirt, “the fort of the northern plain.” This enables us to identify St Lughaidh, as one of the early bishops of this see. His feast is on the 6th of October. The Martyrology of Donegal speaks in a somewhat doubtful manner, and calls him “Bishop of Cuil-Beannchair, on the brink of Loch Erne, and of Rath-muighe-tuaiscirt, in Ciarraighe Luachra; or of Cuil-Beaunchair, in Hy-Failghe, and of Tuaim-fobhair, in Luighne.” However, the Felire of St. Oengus removes all doubt on this head. In the text of the Felire the saint is commemorated as “the gentle Bishop Lughdhach;” and then the note is added, “This is Bishop Lughdhach from Daire-na-FIann, in the Eoghanact of Caisel, viz., Lughdhach, bishop in Cuil Bendchair, in Uibh-Failghe. The same Bishop Lughdhach is in Cuil-Bendchair in Lurg, on the brink of Loch Erne; and he is in Rath-muighe-tuaiscirt, in Ciarraighe Luachra, viz., at Daire Mochua on the banks of the Feile.”
    Rt. Rev. P.F. Moran, ed.,M.Archdall, Monasticon Hibernicum, Volume II, (Dublin, 1876), 245.

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