OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Author: Michele Ainley

  • Saint Ite of Kileedy, January 15

    January 15 is the commemoration of Saint Ite of Kileedy, ‘the shining light of the women of Mumhan’, as Saint Oengus the Martyrologist calls her. She is one of a handful of Irish female saints who have surviving Lives and in his account of Saint Ite below, Father Albert Barry has drawn on this rich hagiographical tradition to present a picture of her sanctity and her miracles:

    Saint Ite was born in the year 480, and was of the Deise family. St. Patrick had preached the Gospel to the Deise a few years before her birth. ”Patrick then went into the southern Deise (Co. Limerick), and began to build a Church at Ard-Patrick”, Tripartite. The Deise afterwards went southwards towards the sea (Co. Waterford).

    Ite was fond of fasting and prayer whilst she was still a child. The room where she slept seemed one night to be on fire, but when the inmates of the house rushed into it, they beheld a wonderful light shining from the face of the sleeping girl: and she looked like an Angel. 

    An Angel gave her three precious gems, telling her that the three Persons     of the blessed Trinity would in future watch over her.

    Her father wished her to marry, but she would not, because she had consecrated her virginity to God. He was very angry with her, but she said to her mother, “Although my father now forbids me to give myself to Jesus Christ, he will one day tell me to go where I wish in order to give myself to God”. She fasted and prayed for three days that the holy will of God might be done in her. On the third day the devil came and said to her, “Alas, you will withdraw yourself and many others from me”. And an Angel at the same time said to her father, ”Why do you hinder your daughter taking the veil of virginity? Ite will be a great and holy virgin before God and His saints. You ought to let her go wherever she wishes. She will serve God in another part of this land.” Her father, therefore, at once allowed her to go away.

    Ite left her father’s house, and on her way heard the devils saying: “Woe to us, the Angels of God help her: she will snatch many souls from us.” She went to a neighbouring church and there got the veil of virginity from a Priest, and, led by an Angel, went to the west of Hy-Connail and built a house for herself and some companions at Cluain Creadhail, at the foot of Sliabh-Luachra (Killeedy, Co. Limerick.)

    Ite and her Nuns prayed daily for the people of the place, and many blessings thereby flowed upon them. They, in turn, gave many gifts to her Convent. She had the gifts of prophecy and of working miracles, and she healed many sick persons by her prayers. She once told a holy friend that she had got these gifts from God, because from her youth she had always thought on holy things, and because she had so often prayed to the Blessed Trinity.

    Ite spent many days at a time without food, prayed much, and earnestly strove to bring up young maidens in the fear and love of God. Cuinnen of Conneire says of her:

    Ite loved much the bringing up of youth
    Humility without sadness:
    Her cheek to the floor she laid not:
    Ever, ever for the love of the Lord.

    Since she bound the girdle on her body.
    And I know it since I’ve heard it,
    She ate not a full or sufficing meal,
    Such was Mide.

    Aenghus, in his lives of the Irish Saints, also thus writes of her: 

    ”Ite ever bore great sufferings,
    and was much given to fasting,
    and was the shining     light
    of the women of Mumhan.”

    She was not only a teacher of youth, but even gave wise counsel to holy and learned men. S. Breanan and S. Mochoemoc owed much to her teaching. S. Breanan one day asked her to tell him what were the three works most pleasing to God. She said: ”Trustful resignation to God of a sinless heart: a guileless religious life: generosity with charity. These three works are most pleasing to God.” He then asked her to say what were the three things most hateful to Him. She answered: “Hatred of men: wickedness in the heart: too great love of money. These three things are very hateful to God.”

    A Nun one day saw three bright balls of light over Ite’s head as she was praying to the Blessed Trinity.

    Ite prayed to God that she might, on a coming feast-day, get Holy Communion at the hands of a very holy Priest. Her prayer was heard, and she was led by an Angel to Clonmacnois, and there ate the heavenly Bread. The holy Priest who gave her Communion afterwards set out for Ite’s Convent, and when he had come to it, asked her to give sight to a blind Monk then with him. She did so, and asked the holy Priest to sing Mass for her. After Mass she gave him a present of the vestments, but he would not take them, saying that he had been forbidden by his Abbot to take any gift from her. Ite then said, “Your holy Abbot will not be angry if you take this towel as a gift from me; I will tell you why. One day he came to the Convent of the holy virgin Caireche and she asked to be allowed to wash his feet. Then this holy virgin washed the feet of your Abbot and wiped them with a towel. I give it now to you, and he will be glad to get it when reminded of this fact”. The holy Priest then took the gift, and having got her blessing, went back to Clonmacnois.

    A man, broken-hearted, through the death of his son, came to the Convent, and weeping very much, begged her to bring him back to life. He said: “I will not give over weeping, nor will I leave this house until you bring him back to life.” She answered gently: “What you ask is above my merits, and is a work fit only for the Apostles and holy men like them”. But he said: ”I am, above all, sorry because my son lost the use of his speech, so that he was not able to confess his sins; I, therefore, beseech you to get from the Holy Trinity that he may come back to life even for one day.” Ite then said: ” How long do you want him to live if the good God should have pity on you and bring back your son to life?”  The father answered: “I will be glad if he lives even for one day.” Ite said: ” He will live for more than seven years from this time.” She prayed earnestly to God, and her prayer was heard, and the child came to life again.

    Her uncle died, and his sons by her wish came to the Convent. She said to them: “My uncle, your father, is dead. Alas, he is now suffering for his sins. We ought to do something to lessen his sufferings. Let each one of you give bread and meat and butter to the poor every day for the next year for the good of his soul. Then come back to me.” They did as she bade them and then came back to see her. Ite said to them: ”Your father has been freed from much suffering through your alms and my prayers. Now go and do the same thing during the coming year and then come back again.” When they had come back at the end of the year Ite said: ”Your father is now freed from his sufferings, but give clothing to the poor and come back once more. They did so, and having come to her again, she told them that their father had at last gone to heaven: ” Your father now enjoys everlasting happiness through your alms, my prayers, but above all through the mercy of God; keep always from the sinful pleasures of this world, that you may not suffer for your sins as he did.” They thanked God and their holy cousin and went home.

    In the year 546 the clan of the Corcoiche of Hy-Figeinte (Co. Limerick), made war on the people of Hy-Connaill. Ite told the soldiers to do penance for their sins before going to battle. They did so, and she prayed whilst they fought, and the small and weak army of Hy-Connaill, through her prayers, won the battle.

    One of her nuns fell into sin and God made it known to Ite. She said: “Today one of our family has fallen into sin; I wish to know who among you has become the prey of the ravening wolf?”  Each denied it, but Ite drove the guilty one from the house. However, she took her back afterwards, and, helped by Ite, this nun, led henceforth a blameless life, and did great penance until her death.

    Ite suffered great agony from a cancer that ate away her side, but she bore it gladly from her love for Jesus Christ.

    In the year 569, Ite became very sick, and crowds flocked from all sides to the Convent on hearing of her illness, and, kneeling outside, prayed for a happy death for her whom they loved so much.

    When she was dying she prayed earnestly to the holy Trinity to bless the Priests and people of Hy-Connaill, and with a prayer to the blessed Trinity on her lips she slept in the Lord.

    Holy Mass was solemnly sung for her, and she was buried in presence of a great crowd of weeping people. Many miracles were worked by her both then and afterwards, and she was taken by the people of Hy-Connaill as their patron and protector. She has ever since been called “The Brigid of Munster.”

    Her feast-day is kept January 15th.

    Rev. Albert Barry, Lives of Irish Saints (Dublin, n.d.)


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

  • Saint Báetán of Inisbofin, January 14


     

    January 14 sees the commemoration on the Irish calendars of a
    seventh/eighth-century monastic saint, Báetán, abbot of Inis-mór. There a
    number of locations in different parts of Ireland which share this
    place name, but Canon O’Hanlon associates our abbot with the the seventh-century monastic foundation of St Colman at Inisbofin island, off the coast of County Mayo and suggests that Saint Baetan may have been one of the founder’s early successors:

    ARTICLE I.—ST. BAETAN OR BAODAN MOR, SON OF LUGHAIDH, ABBOT OF INISMORE, OR INIS-BO-FINNE, NOW BOFFIN OR BOPHIN ISLAND, COUNTY OF MAYO.

    [SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES.]

    AMONG the commemorations this day, we read in the Martyrology of Donegal, concerning Baodan Mor, son to Lughaidh, and Abbot of Inis-mor. He is entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh, as Baetan, son of Lugeus, on the 14th of January. In the latter record, he is likewise said to have been a bishop. At the year 711, the death of Baetan, Bishop of Inis-Bo-Finne, is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters. Those of Ulster place it at A.D. 712. Under the head of Inis Mor, Duald Mac Firbis enters Baeden, bishop, for January 14th. Colgan —offers a conjecture but without much confidence — that this St. Baedan may be identical with a St. Buadmael, a disciple of St. Benignus and of St. Patrick, who died at Kill Buadmael, near the River Shannon. Yet, it is plainly seen, the place of this saint and the date assigned for his death exclude such a supposition. The island of Inishbofin gives name to a parish in the barony of Murrisk, and county of Mayo. Some ancient monastic remains are to be seen here, adjoining St. Colman’s Well and Church Lough. The monastic institution is said to have been founded there by St. Colman, A.D. 667, and he died A.D. 674. St. Coenchomra is said to have succeeded him in the government of this monastery; and, in such case, it would be probable, the present saint Baetan was his immediate successor. St. Coenchomra was connected with another Inis-bo-finn. How long St. Baetan’s term of incumbency lasted, we have no dates preserved to aid in determining. There are two other islands, named Inis-bo-finne in Ireland; one of these is in the county of Donegal, near Tory Island, while the other is situated in Lough Ree, on the River Shannon. Neither of these islands, however, is of such celebrity as this Western Inis-bo-finne, which Dempster has sought even to connect with Scotland. Remote as its situation was, for centuries the voice of prayer and the song of praise to God rose above the murmurings of the wild Atlantic waves that surged around its shores.  

    The old oratory of St. Colman, on the Island of Innisbofifin, yet remains. The ruined quadrangle measures externally 61 feet in length by 23 feet in width. The walls are about three feet in thickness. The oriel window measures, on the outside, 2 feet, and on the inside, it is splayed to a breadth of 5 feet; while it is 6 feet 6 inches in height. On the eastern gable are two buttresses ; the buttress towards the south is 6 feet thick, and that towards the north is only 5 feet 6 inches. Small side-windows are broken away. In the south side wall and west gable are two doors of similar dimensions, viz., 5 feet in height by 4 feet in width. No mullions are to be found in the windows; while the arches of oriels and doors are very flat. The stones are placed edgewise, and the mortar in the walls is very adhesive. St. Flannan’s

    well is enclosed, about 100 paces from the ruin, with a stream running between both. The ruin is in a deep valley. The water of the more immediate north hill is carried clear of the church-site through a drain sunk by the monks, and it is effective to this day. No stones of the building are dressed; while the church stands on a natural rock-terrace 8 or 10 feet high. Around the ruins grow some few briars, the only shrub. It is a hoary, grey stone church, still in good preservation, so that one doubts if it be the original foundation of St. Colman. On one side of the ruin is an eminence called Knock. On the right, as represented in the engraving, is a sheet of water, called Lough Teampul, on the left is the Atlantic Ocean.

     
    There is a website for the island of Inisbofin with some illustrated pages on its Christian heritage here. 
    May the intercession of all the saints associated with this western isle be with us!
     
    Note: This post was first published in 2013 and revised in 2023 to include Canon O’Hanlon’s entry for the saint from Volume I of his Lives of the Irish Saints in full.

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

  • Saint Ailill of Armagh, January 13

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    On January 13 we commemorate the memory of Saint Ailill, an early Archbishop of Armagh. Canon O’Hanlon’s account of the saint is rather heavy-going and indeed, he sounds somewhat weary by the final paragraph. The problem is that the sources appear to suggest that our saint may have had a previous association with the monastery of Moville, County Down. Other writers, particularly Father John Lanigan who wrote about the Irish saints in the 1820s, were convinced that Ailill of Armagh and Ailill of Moville were two distinct individuals. Furthermore, it appeared that if the Archbishop of Armagh was the same person as the monastic of Moville, then there was also the tradition that Ailill had been married to deal with. A final source of confusion was that Saint Ailill’s successor bore the same name and this is why our saint is referred to as Saint Ailill I in the Lives of the Irish Saints. Actually, his name is rendered in various forms in Canon O’Hanlon’s account, including Ailild, Alild as well as Ailill:

    St Ailild
    I., Archbishop of Armagh. [Fifth
    and Sixth Centuries.]

    At the
    13th     day of January, Colgan has
    drawn up some accounts
    regarding this
    holy prelate, from the Acts
    of St. Patrick, and from
    other sources, while he
    has added some comments of his own
    to solve difficulties which
    are presented.     Before St.
    Patrick’s arrival in
    Ireland, about
    A.D. 432, a chieftain named Trichem lived in an eastern
    part of     Ulster. This
    assertion is
    capable of proof, from the
    circumstance of
    Dichuo, son to
    this Trichem, having bestowed
    on St. Patrick the site for
    Saul Monastery. Besides this, it
    is     known that Magbile, Killchlethe, Down, and Neddrum,
    where the     sons of
    this Trichem had their possessions,
    are     all situated in the eastern and maritime parts
    of Ulster.

    Trichem, or as the name is
    Latinized, Trichemius,
    was the descendant of a respectable ancestral pagan line;
    but he was likewise the parent of children no less
    distinguished in
    the early history of
    our     Irish Church. This chieftain
    is stated to have been a
    scion of the noble
    Dalfiatacian family, from which race
    were derived many kings, not
    only of     the Ultonian
    province, but even some
    who had been monarchs over Ireland. St. Ailild
    was the son of Trichem,
    son     to Fieg, son of Imchad,
    son     to Breassal, son of Sinchad, son to Fiatach, surnamed Finn. We find
    the holy archbishop, in after
    time, classed among
    the disciples of St. Patrick
     and if he deserve
    such a distinction, it must
    have been at
    rather a late period of
    the Apostle’s     life,
    and while Ailild himself was very young.

    It has
    been very positively asserted, that our saint
    was not Trichem’s son, and Dr.
    Lanigan considers him to have
    been a different person from Ailill of
    Magbile, with whom,
    it is said, he was confounded. The only
    grounds on which the former
    opinion     seems formed are,
    that Dichuo, the elder brother of Ailill, must have had
    a settled family, and have been at least forty years of age in
    the year 433, when he
    had been converted by
    St. Patrick. Hence, as argued,
    it could not have been probable he had a     brother capable of assuming
    episcopal functions in
    the year 513.

    Although Trichem had not the
    happiness of
    embracing the
    Christian     faith, yet,
    through God’s holy providence, he was the father of
    a numerous and saintly offspring. He
    became the parent of six sons,
    who were not only distinguished
    for being among the first
    fruits of St. Patrick’s apostolic labours
    and preaching, owing to their reception of the baptismal and regenerating sacrament, but,
    moreover, they acquired a reputation for being enrolled among
    the early saints of Ireland’s Church. They are thus named, according
    to the order of their respective
    births, viz., Rius, or Rossius, Dichuo, Durthact, Eugenius, Niell, and Alill. In
    the Life of St.
    Patrick we are told, that
    Dichuo was not alone the first
    of his family, but of his
    whole nation, who embraced the Christian faith, when
    our great Apostle’s mission commenced.
    This example was
    afterwards followed
    by members of his
    household. The
    elder brother, Rossius, at
    first resisted the grace of conversion; and
    he even sought to interpose every obstacle
    to the success     of
    St. Patrick’s mission. But his
    obstinacy and
    infidelity were
    finally overcome.

    Soon afterwards,
    having received the sacraments of the Church,
    he happily departed this life. The four
    younger brothers to these converts, already
    named, moved by the example
    of their seniors, and by miracles, manifested at the
    time of their conversion, were not left
    without those graces which enabled them to receive
    the     light of Faith. They choose
    also that better part,
    by aspiring to the attainment
    of     practices which
    render faith perfect. They
    were favoured from above with those
    Divine inspirations, which induced them to
    exercise virtues
    becoming the
    saints of Christ. Our martyrologists
    state that,
    whilst Dichuo had been venerated at Saul, St. Durthact
    was honoured
    at Nendrum, St Eugenius and
    St. Niell at Kil-cleith, and St.
    Ailild, at Maghile. This latter place
    is now known as Moville, situated in the barony
    of Ards, county
    of Down.

    St. Ailild,
    it has been remarked, is thought to
    have obtained the graces of all the
    sacraments. For,     not only did he receive those
    graces which are common to
    all Christians, but, moreover, Holy Orders
    and Matrimony, which are
    distinctive ones,
    usually constituting     a line
    of demarcation existing between clergy and laity.
    It has even been stated, that after St. Ailild had been married,
    he became the father of
    Carbre.     This latter
    in time was parent to the celebrated St.
    Finnian, Abbot
    of Magbile.

    After his
    wife’s     death, most
    probably, Ailild
    abandoned all
    secular cares by
    devoting himself entirely
    to     God’s holy service.  When speaking
    about this
    saint, Harris remarks, that he was
    a married man
    at the time of his conversion. In
    order     to account for a married man taking Holy
    Orders, this writer states,
    that Colgan tells us, he
    put away his wife first.
    Now Harris has shamefully
    perverted     the meaning
    of Colgan, in
    reference to
    this subject. The Irish
    hagiologist is
    misrepresented and
    made to say, that Ailill put
    away his wife before taking Holy Orders. Now Colgan’s
    statement     is, that the wife was dead,
    before he became a clergyman.  Harris then goes on to show,
    that the Irish clergy were
    not bound to celibacy in
    those times; but
    Dr.     Lanigan takes him to task
    and roundly asserts, that in the whole history
    of the ancient     Irish Church,
    there is no instance of
    any bishop having been exempt
    from the law of celibacy.

    In addition
    to what has been urged with so much force,
    it may be stated, in reply
    to what Harris has advanced, when trying to
    support his false position, that, as
    in the present instance, it is extremely
    probable     some priests
    of the
    early Irish Church
    had     been married previous to their ordination. Yet, in this case,
    either their     wives died before they assumed
    orders, or they had
    consented to
    a voluntary separation
    from their husbands, so that
    these might enter upon
    a religious state. To persons
    thus circumstanced, the canon in
    question had
    reference;
    and, as at the present
    time, we are able to furnish many instances
    for illustration, especially as regard married converts to the
    Catholic religion,
    so at a period when St.
    Patrick commenced his mission in Ireland, it might have been deemed
    expedient to
    recruit     the clerical
    ranks from persons who had
    been previously married, and who felt
    disposed to comply with
    established ecclesiastical
    discipline,     before their
    reception of
    the higher orders.

    From the
    circumstance of this
    saint,     as named
    in our Irish Menologies, having been venerated at Magbile, it
    has been assumed, by Colgan, that
    he might
    have been abbot     over that
    place.     This grave author,
    however, would not undertake to assert,
    whether from having
    been abbot there,
    St. Ailild had been assumed to Armagh’s
    archiepiscopal see,
    or whether having ruled over
    this latter church, he laid
    down the honours and responsibilities
    of     pontifical
    dignity, to seek
    repose     in Magbile
    Monastery.

    From all
    evidence adduced
    by Colgan, we might feel
    unable to arrive at any other
    conclusion,     than that
    Ailild     resided tor
    some time in Maghbile
    Monastery, as
    a simple monk.
    It is likely enough, that he received
    Holy Orders,
    and was afterwards promoted to Armagh see,
    without having previously or subsequently
    exercised the function of an abbot. But
    so far as the chronology
    of his     episcopacy is
    concerned, no
    abbey of Maghbile was in existence, until after his death. Perhaps he
    was     venerated there
    after having been called away
    from life. On the death
    of Duach or Dubtach I.,
    which took     place in
    the year 512
    St. Alild I. was appointed
    to succeed, as Archbishop of Armagh
    and Primate of Ireland. Our
    saint sustained the honours of this exalted station
    for a continuance of thirteen
    years. During this period, his merits and virtues were found fully equal
    to that great trust reposed
    in his keeping.
    Full of years     and of
    virtues, he
    passed     out of this
    life, on the 13th day of January, in the
    year of     salvation, 525.

    He was
    succeeded     in the
    Archiepiscopal See of
    Armagh, by St. Ailild  II.
    – and from the concurrent
    circumstances of both distinguished
    persons bearing
    the same name, claiming the same family
    origin, and
    coming in an immediate order as regards succession in the
    same see, they have been incorrectly confounded. But the distinction
    of days, months and years, having reference to
    their     departure from
    this life, will tend to correct
    such an error. Our
    annalists and
    hagiologists assign the second
    Ailild’s death
    to the 1st day of July,
    A.D.     535.

    As already
    observed, those     dates referring
    to     the decease of St. Alild I.,
    are altogether different.
    The Natalis of Alild I.
    is held on the Ides
    or 13th of January,
    and that of Ailild II., on
    the 1st of July. For
    these statements,
    we may cite as authorities,
    the Martyrology of Tallagh, Marianus O’Gorman, the
    Commentator on St.
    Aengus, and the Irish Martyrology
    of Donegal.

    Despite a positive assertion of the learned and researchful Colgan, who appears
    to have had ample materials before him on which he might ground an opinion,
    a learned Irish
    historian presumes
    to question the statement, that
    Ailild I, Archbishop of Armagh,
    was the identical person, named Alild of Magbile. The
    latter writer asserts, that
    in     Colgan’s acts
    of our saint, which he
    designates a
    strange and an incoherent medley,
    the Irish hagiologist has
    confounded into
    one person two saints, who ought to
    have been regarded
    as distinct
    in identity,     and as
    living at different periods.
    While allowing Alild of
    Magbile to have been one of Prince
    Trichem’s     sons, and
    a grandfather to St. Finnian
    of Magbile,     Dr. Lanigan
    considers this
    St. Alild to have been
    always a layman. From
    confounding the
    latter with St. Alild, Archbishop
    of Armagh, this historian asserts an impression
    was thence derived that the metropolitan prelate had been
    married before his ordination. Again Dr.
    Lanigan maintains, that Alild, Archbishop of Armagh, was not
    nearly connected with Dichuo, St.
    Patrick’s early
    convert,     while the
    prelate     in question was a
    native of Clanbrassil, this being
    a     district, far distant
    from Lecale, in which Dichuo’s family resided. This writer will
    not allow there
    is any foundation for
    a statement, that Alild, Archbishop of Armagh, or
    even Dichuo,
    came from a princely extraction.
    But the argument he principally urges, to sustain his opinion, is the assumption
    of Dichuo having had a
    settled family in the year
    432, when in all probability
    he could not have been less than forty years
    of age,     and consequently
    the improbability of
    his having had a brother
    capable     of discharging
    episcopal duties in
    513.     The objections of Dr. Lanigan are sufficiently
    plausible and
    pertinent, but
    not     entirely convincing nor unanswerable,
    especially when
    weighed with received accounts regarding
    our saint. According to his usual
    theory of computation, this
    historian says, Ailill
    I. died about, or in the
    year 526,  after having
    governed Armagh
    See nearly thirteen years. The same writer supposes, that Ailill I., dying so
    early in the
    year as the 13th of January, it is very
    probable, his
    incumbency did not last
    fully     thirteen years, although
    having     its commencement in 513.
    In the body of his
    text, to which the above observation
    is appended, the learned
    Doctor tells us, that the first Alild died
    on the 13th of January,
    A.D. 526, after an incumbency
    of thirteen years.

    No doubt
    much remains to be discovered
    regarding     the Life of St.
    Alilid I., under these peculiar circumstances; and probably,
    at some future time, certain
    involutions of facts
    now presented may receive adequate solution. For the
    present, therefore,
    too much unwarranted assertion or mere speculation might be
    risked, were the writer of this notice
    to enter     upon further
    details     concerning him, and
    the contemporary events of his
    period.


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