OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Sárán of Bangor, August 1

     

     The holy valiant deeds
    Of sacred fathers.
    Based on the matchless
    Church of Bangor;
    The noble deeds of abbots,
    Their number, times, and names,
    Of never-ending lustre—
    Hear, brothers, great their desert,
    Whom the Lord hath gathered
    To the mansions of His heavenly kingdom.

    Thus does the hymn ‘Commemoration of our Abbots’, preserved in the Bangor Antiphonary begin. August 1 is the feast day of one of those abbots, Sárán, who exercised his authority over the monastery at Bangor, County Down in the eighth century. Bangor, famous for its tradition of laus perennis (unceasing praise), was founded in the mid-sixth century by Saint Comgall. This spiritual and intellectual powerhouse produced a number of important saints including Saint Columbanus and the famous reckoner of the computus, Mo-Sinnu (Sillán), hailed as the ‘renowned teacher of the world’ in the hymn in praise of the abbots. In his entry for today’s saint below, taken from Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints, Canon O’Hanlon brings us the evidence from the calendars and annals which date Abbot Sárán’s career. He also mentions an 1871 paper in an antiquarian journal whose author tries to link our Bangor abbot to the County Louth townland of Kilsaran. I looked at this reference for myself and the author does indeed simply assert that ‘The parochial name Kilsaran, Cill-Saran, recalls S. Saran, Abbot of Beannchair, Co Down, whose death is recorded by the “Four Masters”, A.D. 742’. However, the Bangor abbot is but one of a number of Irish saints who bear this name and there is no reason to  automatically assume that he must be the one who lent his name to the Louth parish:

    Article III. St. Saran, Abbot of Bangor, County of Down.

    [Eighth Century.]

    In former times, it is probable, that the acts of many native saints were preserved; although, for want of some fostering care, those records have long since sunk into oblivion. A festival to honour Saran, Abbot of Bennchor, was celebrated at this date, as we find recorded in the Martyrology of Tallagh. Several Sarans are mentioned in our Calendars, and at different dates. Of the early history of the present Saran, no record seems to be extant; but, we may fairly infer, that he belonged to the religious community of the Bangor monks, whose abbot St. Flann of Antrim departed this life, A.D., 722. It is probable, that Saran was appointed his immediate successor. Referring to the present saint, Major-General J. H. Lefroy appears to derive the parochial name of Kilsaran, in the Barony of Ferrard, and County of Louth, from this holy Abbot of Bangor; but, on what grounds, we do not find stated.  The death of Saran, abbot of Bangor, occurred, in the year of our Lord 742. His feast occurs at this date, likewise, in the Martyrology of Donegal.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2022. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Papán of Santry, July 31

     

    July 31 is the feast of a County Dublin saint, Papán of Santry. As Canon O’Hanlon’s entry for this saint in Volume VII of his Lives of the Irish Saints explains, a seventeenth-century hagiologist, Meredith Hanmer, whilst he  preserved the memory of the saint’s annual patron at Santry, confused  him with a Belgian  saint, Poppon of Stavelot. Actual details of our Irish saint’s life are hard to come by but his memory lives on in Saint Pappin’s holy well and also in the name of the townland of Poppintree or Pappan’s tree. His name also occurs in connection with the feast of the Sons of Nadfraech, although it is not certain that he is one of this group. Canon O’Hanlon contents himself by giving us an historical sketch of the later medieval foundation which stood at Santry and ends by citing the evidence for the saint’s feast day from the Irish calendars:

    Article IV. — St. Papan, of Santry, County of Dublin. 

    [Supposed to be of the Fifth and Sixth Centuries.] 

    The Martyrology of Tallagh  mentions, that veneration was given, at the 31st of July, to Papan, of Sentribh, now Santry, near the Irish metropolis. Here was one of the ancient sanctuaries of Ireland, with an old church or a monastery, long since gone, yet tradition preserves the memorial of this saint. Already, at the 25th of January, we have alluded to a St. Poppo, Pappan, or Poppon, supposed to have been Abbot of Stabuletum, who had a festival at that date; but, it is probable, the present St. Papan, of Santry, was a distinct person. Much obscurity, however, surrounds his history. According to what we find recorded, the father of this saint must have been Nathfriach— or more correctly Aengus. From this parentage, it must be inferred, that Papan was born in the fifth, and he probably lived on to the sixth, century. If we are to believe Dr. Meredith Hanmer, he was a native of Santry. In the townland of Poppintree, or Papan’s Tree, so late as the beginning of the present century, the Patron of St. Papan, used to be held annually, on the 31st day of July. It may be supposed, that the former parish church of this pretty village stands on the site of the present Protestant church, which is surrounded by an ancient burying-ground. Whether, at this spot, an older ecclesiastical structure, than that erected in the latter part of the twelfth century, existed, we have now no means left for ascertaining; but, it seems very probable, since in the year 827, we find recorded in our ancient annals the death of Cormac, son of Muirgheas, Abbot of Seantrabh, interpreted Santry. After the Anglo Norman Invasion, however, King Henry II. of England, in granting the kingdom of Meath to Hugh De Lacy, included this neighbourhood within that charter. The latter feudal lord regranted the manors of Skryne and Santry to Adam de Feipo or Phepoe. Afterwards, this proprietor erected a church, consisting of a chancel and nave, separated or connected by a choir-arch. This he conveyed by deed to the Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary, in Dublin. It seems to us, that the Anglo-Norman Baron intended to dedicate the church of his foundation to St. Poppo or Poppon, Abbot of Stavelot, in the Low Countries, rather than to the more ancient Irish Saint bearing a nearly similar name. Wherefore, it is very probable, that both have been confounded in local popular tradition. In the family of De Feipo or Phepoe the manor of Santry continued until about 1375, when Johanna, daughter and heiress to Francis de Feipo or Phepoe, married Thomas Mareward, who was afterwards created Baron of Skryne. The village here seems to have grown up about the church, and it is mentioned in a Chancery Roll, which is dated 1379. In the year 1435, it is recorded as belonging to the Phepoe family; the manor at that time extending over the lands of Ballymun, Shillok, Little Ballycurry, Ballystrawan, &c. In many documents of the period, it gives its own name to the surrounding barony. In 1539, on the 28th of October, William Landey, the last Abbot of St. Mary’s, Dublin, surrendered to King Henry VIII. all the estates of his Abbey, including those belonging to this parish, at that time when the dissolution of religious establishments took place. Then, the rectory, with a manse and a glebe, was of the annual value of £14 12s.; and in the sixteenth century, the manor of Santry passed from the Marewards, who had previously acquired the fee, to William Nugent, eighth Baron of Delvin, who had married Janet, the daughter and heiress of Walter Mareward, Baron of Serine. Afterwards, it was transmitted to the family of the Barrys, and later still to that of the Domviles. In 1609, the church of Santry was rebuilt, and it became the burial place for the latter  families; while, in 1615, we learn, that the church was in good repair, but that the chancel was ruined. The present edifice was erected in 1709, on the ruins of the former one. At this same date, July 31st, the Martyrology of Donegal, has the simple entry, Papan. Marianus O’Gorman and the Martyrology of Tamlacht appear to be cited for confirmation of this insertion.

     Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2022. All rights reserved.

  • St.Cobthach of Iona, July 30

     

    On July 30 Canon O’Hanlon has a short account of Saint Cobthach, kinsman of Saint Colum Cille of Iona, whom he claims has a feast on this day, at least according to the two nineteenth-century scholars John O’Donovan and George Petrie. Unfortunately I have not been able to access the work referenced to see on what basis this claim was made. Bishop William Reeves, who published a scholarly edition of The Life of Saint Columba in 1857, noted that the seventeenth-century Scottish martyrologist, David Camerarius, had ascribed August 7 to the feast of Cobthach, but without any supporting authority. In the hagiography of Iona’s founder, Cobthach features as the son of Colum Cille’s father’s brother which would make them first cousins. Cobthach, along with his brother Baithene, were among the original twelve disciples of Saint Colum Cille who accompanied him on the voyage from Ireland to Iona, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:  

    Article IV.—St. Cobthach, Disciple of Columkille. 
     
    This devoted follower of the great Abbot of Iona, was the son of Brendan, and brother of St. Baithene, who immediately succeeded St. Columkille in the monastery at Iona. He was one of the twelve first disciples, who sailed from Ireland to that island with the founder. We find a commemoration for him at the 30th of July, on the authority of George Petrie, LL.D., and John O’Donovan, LL.D. The Rev. Dr. Reeves,when alluding to the early companions of St. Columkille, remarks, that Camerarius gives him a day, at the 7th of August, in the Calendar, but without any authority.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2022. All rights reserved.