OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Female Saints

  • Saint Cummain of Dal Buinne, May 29

    May 29 is the feast of a female saint Commain, daughter of Aillen, who seems to have flourished in the County Down parish of Ballyphilip, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Commain, Virgin, of Dal-Buinne, and of Derry, Parish of Ballyphillip, County of Down.

    In the “Felire” of St. Aengus, at the 29th of May, a festival is entered for Cummain, who is characterized as “the pure and good.” In the “Leabhar Breac” copy, the following stanza appears, with its translation, by Dr Whitley Stokes:

    —” May Pollio’s great host convey us to the star-heaven,
    with Cummain the pure and good,
    daughter of lovable Aillen.”—

    From the way, in which this holy virgin’s name has been noticed in a stanza of that metrical Calendar, we infer, she was a daughter of Aillen, or Allen. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at this date, the entry is, Cumne, Virgin, i. Ingen Alleain, in Aird Ulladh. The Bollandists notice her, at the 29th of May, as Cumania, filia Alleani in Ardvladh, while quoting the same authority. She descended from the race of Fiatach Finn —head of the Dal-Fiatach and monarch of Erin—in this wise. Her father Aillen was son of Baedan, son to Echaid, son of Brian, son to Enna, son of Cathbu, son of Echaid Gunnat, son of Fiacc of Dal Fiatach. In another place, she seems to have been connected with a church, in the territory of Dal-m-Buinne—in Latin Dalmunia—but the exact site is now unknown. To it, allusion appears to be made, in the “Felire” of Aengus, at the 29th of May. An alternative conjecture of a commentator seems to be, that a Cill Ingen Aillen, in Idrone territory, county of Carlow, may have been her place. The church of Cumain, as we are told, lay in the Ards of Ulster. Her place has been identified with Derry, “an oak wood,” and a townland in the parish of Ballyphillip, County of Down. The surface of that parish forms a chief part of what is called Little Ardes, and it lies between the neck or sound of Lough Strangford and the Irish Sea…Here, the virgin’s feast was formerly kept, as a gloss on the Martyrology of Aengus states…Also, on this day, veneration was given, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal, to Commain, Virgin, of Daire-inghen-Allen, in Uladh.

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  • The Seven Daughters of Fergus, May 24

    Canon O’Hanlon has as his fifth article for May 24 an account of a group of Irish holy women denominated by their patronymic, The Seven Daughters of Fergus. In the Martyrology of Tallaght the daughters are associated with the locality of Inis Cealtra, an island monastery in the west of Ireland which produced a couple of better-known saints, its founder Saint Caimin and the scholarly Saint Coelan, a reputed biographer of Saint Brigid. It is interesting to note that the Daughters of Fergus may have enjoyed a cultus in Scotland as the Seven Maidens of Inverey. Canon O’Hanlon’s source, the work on the Scottish calendars by Bishop Forbes, doesn’t seem conclusive and left me wondering if the Chapel of Inverey itself had an independent commemoration of the Seven Maidens at May 24, or if Forbes had simply tried to read across the feast from the Martyrology of Tallaght in an attempt to find an identification for these Scottish saints. His account says:

    SEVEN MAIDENS.  May 24. – In Braemar is the chapel of the Seven Maidens, at Inverey, where the family of Farquharson bury their dead. – (V.D.A. p. 641.)
    In the Martyrology of Tallaght, at this day, we have “Secht ningena Fergusa in Inis Cealtra.” In that of Donegal, “The seven daughters of Fergus of Tigh-ingen-Ferghusa”.

    Alexander Penrose Forbes, D.C.L. Bishop of Brechin, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, (1872), 447. 

    His source, V.D.A., View of the Diocese of Aberdeen , confirms only the dedication of the Braemar chapel to the Seven Maidens and its use as a family burying site by the Farquharson family.  The writer of a paper on the Traces of the Cultus of the Nine Maidens in Scotland, is not entirely convinced of the identification of the Inverey chapel with the Irish maidens commemorated on May 24, and states on page 260 that there is ‘some doubt’ surrounding this claim by Bishop Forbes.

    Bishop Forbes was not the only commentator who attempted to identify these holy women, the 17th-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, sought to equate them with a group of seven nuns who assisted at the sixth-century Synod of Drum Ceatt. I’m not sure though that his evidence is any more substantial, but at least it is interesting to note that a group of female monastics were recorded as participants at this Synod.

    So, we seem to be faced with a number of conflicting theories about the identity of the Seven Daughters of Fergus:

    1. They are, as the Martyrology of Tallaght claims, associated with the locality of Inis Cealtra, the holy island of County Clare.  I was under the impression though that this was a male foundation.

    2. They are, as Colgan claims, associated with a location called Teach na ninghean, literally ‘the house of the daughters’ and are perhaps to be identified with the seven nuns of Tir-na-Fiachra Aine who took part in the Synod of Drum Ceatt.

    3. They are, as Bishop Forbes claims, the Seven Maidens to whom a chapel in Inverey, Scotland, is dedicated.  This theory would stand up better if the Scottish calendars recorded a feast day for these Seven Maidens on May 24th independently from the Irish. This does not, however, seem to be the case.

    Canon O’Hanlon records:

    The Seven Daughters of Ferghus, of Tigninghin Ferghusa, or of Inis-Cealtra, County of Galway.

    The Martyrology of Tallagh records Secht ningena Fergusa in Inis Cealtra, at the 24th of May. This is now known as Inis-crealtra, an island and parish in the counties of Clare and Galway. The Bollandists also record their festival, for this day. But Colgan seems to connect them with Teach na ninghean, in Connaught. He says, they were perhaps those seven nuns of Tir-na-Fiachra Aine, who assisted at the great Synod in Dromcheat, in the year 580. The extent of Ui Fiachrach Aidhne is shown on the Irish Maps, prefixed to the “Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many, commonly called O’Kelly’s Country “. A festival in honour of the Seven Daughters of Fergus, of Tigh-inghen-Ferghusa, was celebrated on this day, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal. Under the title of the Seven Maidens, they seem to have been venerated, likewise, in Scotland.

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  • Saint Brigid, Daughter of Diomman, May 21

    May 21 sees the commemoration of a Saint Brigid, described as the daughter of Diomman. Alas, it is not possible to discover any further details of her life or of when and where she flourished, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    St. Brigid, daughter of Dima, or Diomman.

    At the 21st of May, the Martyrology of Tallagh has a Brighit inghen Dimmain. The Martyrologies of Marianus O’Gorman and of Charles Maguire place her festival at this date. The Bollandists also notice Brigid, daughter of Dimanus, at the 21st of May. We have not been able to discover any documentary evidence, which might tend to throw light on that locality, with which she had been formerly connected, or where, after death, she had been specially commemorated. On this day, Brighit, daughter of Diomman, had veneration given her, as we read, likewise, in the Martyrology of Donegal.

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