OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Aodhán of Clontarf, August 3

     

    On August 3 the Irish calendars record the name of Saint Aodhán of Clontarf. Although there are no other details of the saint as an individual, the location associated with him remains rather more problematic. For most people the name Clontarf will automatically suggest Cluain Tarbh, the County Dublin location of Brian Boru’s famous battle in the year 1014. Clearly this is the case for Canon O’Hanlon, whose entry below is illustrated by a picture of the Dublin suburb which he identifies as the place associated with our saint.  He admits, however, that a degree of confusion has been introduced by the fact that some of the later Irish calendars have associated Saint Aodhán with a locality called Cluain Cairbre (Carberry): 

    Article VIII. — St. Aodhan, of Cluain Tarbh, or Clontarf. 

    In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, this saint is called Aedhan Cluana Tarbh. This latter place is the celebrated village of Clontarf, lying on the north shore, at the entrance to the River Liffey, and near the City of Dublin. To this historic place— on the ancient plain called Magh n-Elta — allusion has been already made, in the Life of the Blessed Bryan Boroimha, King of Munster, Monarch of Ireland, and Martyr. It should now be a matter of great difficulty to decide, where exactly the former church of Clontarf had been located. The houses in that village range in a low situation along the coast, but they have a picturesque appearance from the Bay of Dublin, especially as woods recede in the background. According to the Martyrology of the O’Clerys of Donegal, a festival was celebrated at the 3rd of August, to honour St. Aodhan, of Cluain Cairpre. On what authority this denomination has been substituted for Cluain Tarbh, we cannot discover. There are various districts in Ireland called Carberry, and a still greater number of places known as Cluain or Cloon, either simply or in composition. But among over nine hundred places, so designated on the Ordnance Survey Maps of Ireland, we can find none corresponding with Cluain Cairpre which seems to indicate, that the O’Clerys have set it down through a mistake.

     Finally, Pádraig Ó Riain in his Dictionary of Irish Saints suggests another possibility, one of the two County Mayo townlands called Cloontarriff which is also an anglicization of Cluain Tarbh.

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  • Saint Lonan, son of Laisre, August 2

    On August 2, the Irish calendars record the name of ‘Lonan, son of Laisre’ but without any further details as to when or where he flourished. The task of identifying this saint is not made any easier by the fact that there are eleven holy men who share this name in the List of Homonymous Saints. Canon O’Hanlon can thus only bring a very brief mention of Saint Lonan in Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints and notes that errors can be inadvertently introduced into the records, just to add to the confusion:

    Article IV. — St. Lonan, Son of Laisre. 

    The Martyrologies of Tallagh  and of Donegal record a festival at the 2nd of August, to honour Lonan, son of Laisre. In the table appended to this latter record, the compiler sets down a Lonan, son of Laisre, at the 20th of August; but, the commentator remarks under it, that he is not mentioned in the Martyrology at such a date. Yet, as he is mentioned at August 2nd, the 20th of this same month is probably an error of some transcriber.

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

  • 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.

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