OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Female Saints

  • Saint Daire, August 8

    The Irish calendars commemorate Saint Daire (Daria) on August 8. In his account of this holy woman Canon O’Hanlon helpfully lists the three saints who bear this name and attempts to identify which of them might have been our saint of August 8. One clue is that two are classified as widows whereas today’s Daire is a virgin saint. This leads Canon O’Hanlon to wonder if she might be the blind nun Daire mentioned in the hagiography of Saint Brigid, even though he had been somewhat more lukewarm about the possibility when discussing the miracle of Saint Daire in his February entry for Saint Brigid. We can look at the account of this miracle now from Volume 2 of the Lives of the Irish Saints, before proceeding to the entry for the day from Volume 8:

    No matter how far we may dissent from the details of various legendary narratives, we must admit the spell of a charming treatment and a sublime moral lesson in the following story, related almost in the words of an accomplished writer [Baring-Gould], alluding to St. Brigid. One evening, she sat with Sister Dara, or Daria, a holy nun, who was blind, as the sun went down; and they talked of the love of Jesus Christ, and the joys of Paradise. Now, their hearts were so full, the night fled away whilst they spoke together, and neither knew that so many hours had sped. Then the sun came up from the Wicklow mountains, and the pure white light made the face of earth bright and gay. Bridget sighed, when she saw how lovely were earth and sky, and while she knew that Dara’s eyes were closed to all this beauty. So she bowed her head and prayed. She extended her hand and signed the dark orbs of the gentle sister. Then the darkness passed away from them, and Dara saw the golden ball in the east, while all the trees and flowers glittered with dew in the morning light. She looked a little while, and then, turning to the abbess, said: “Close my eyes again, dear mother, for when the world is so visible to the eyes, God is seen less clearly to the soul.” So Bridget prayed once more, and Dara’s eyes grew dark again.

    St. Daria, or Daire, Virgin.

    At the 8th day of August, a festival for Daria, a holy Virgin, is entered in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, as also in the Book of Leinster copy. Marianus O’Gorman and Cathal Maguire have inserted the name of this holy Virgin in their respective Calendars. The Bollandists notice her, likewise, at the 8th of August.

    There are three saints having this name to be found in the Irish Martyrologies. The first is St. Daria, Virgin, who died in the eighteenth year of her age, and on the 8th of August, as mentioned at this day. The second is St. Daria, Widow, named Bochana, who is venerated on the 2nd of November. The third St. Daria was a widow, likewise, and she was venerated on the 26th of October. It has been thought most probable, that the present holy virgin is more likely than any other bearing the same name and venerated in our Calendars, to have been that St. Daria mentioned in the Acts of St. Brigid, and who was one of her nuns. If so, she is said to have been blind from the time of her birth, and she must have flourished towards the close of the fifth or beginning of the sixth century. The Martyrology of Donegal registers a festival at the 8th of August, in honour of Daire, Virgin. It likewise adds, that from earlier records, her age was eighty years; and, in the Table thereto appended her name is Latinized, Daria, Virgo.

    Note: The poem Saint Brigid and the Blind Nun by the 19th-century writer, Aubrey de Vere, can be found at my other blog here.

     

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

  • Saint Trea of Ardtrea, August 3

    August 3 is the feast of a female saint, Trea, who has given her name to the district of Ardtrea in County Derry. She is one of those named as having received the veil from the hands of Saint Patrick himself, and in her case, the veil was delivered by an angel. Most of the accounts of Saint Trea which circulate online describe her as an anchoress or recluse, Canon O’Hanlon, however, speculates that she was most likely the head of a religious community. He also mentions that she had a second feast day on July 8:

    ST. TREA, VIRGIN, OF ARDTREA, COUNTY OF LONDONDERRY [FIFTH CENTURY.]

    This pious maiden flourished after the time, when St. Patrick commenced his great mission in the north of Ireland. We have seen already, that a St. Trega or Trea, Virgin, was venerated at Ardtrea, on a different day from the present. A question may arise, as to whether there had been a double festival instituted to honour the same saint. However, on the 8th of July, there is record of a feast for St. Trega, virgin and patroness of Ardtrea Parish, near Lough Neagh. We find, however, that St. Trea inghen Chairthind, or “the daughter of Carthenn,” is recorded in the published Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 3rd of August without stating the locality to which she belonged.

    When blessed Patrick had entered the northern parts of the Ulster province, he met with opposition from a dynast in the region of Hy Tuirtre. He had journeyed by Fersait Tuama, until he rested at a very beautiful locality called Finnabhuir. The place formerly called Fersait Tuama, is now known as Toome, near where the River Bann escapes from Lough Neagh and enters Lough Beg, at the division line between the present Counties of Londonderry and of Antrim. The beautiful district alluded to as Finnabhuir had the wide-spreading Lough Neagh on the east and Slieve Gullin a high ridge of mountain, on the west side. It so happened, that two brothers, one named Carthenn the Elder or “major,” and the other known as Carthenn, the younger or “minor,” had lived in this district. The former a wicked man and addicted to the errors of Paganism had banished his younger brother from that place, in which he exercised complete control. From this district he wished, likewise, that St. Patrick should be ejected. The holy man, like the Apostles, when persecuted in one city left for another, and shaking the dust from of his feet against the tyrannical dynast, predicted that he should fall from power, and serve, with his posterity, under the future rule of the younger Carthenn. He, on the contrary, was virtuous, kindly, and disposed to receive the doctrine of Christ, so that St. Patrick baptized himself, his wife and family. After this time, Carthenn’s wife, Mugania, appears to have given birth to a daughter, destined to a life of grace from St. Patrick’s prophecy regarding her. She was named Trea or Treha at the baptismal font; but, it is not stated, that she had been baptized by St. Patrick.

    Through her father, she descended from the race of Colla Uais, monarch of Erinn. From what has been already stated, it should seem, that she was born about the middle of the fifth century. That she grew up in grace and in the practice of all virtues, is generally conceded. She is classed, among the many holy virgins St. Patrick veiled, during the progress of his great missionary career. In accordance with his prediction, when St. Trea began to grow up into girlhood, she felt a strong desire to chose the Son of God for her future spouse. The Apostle had already declared, that she should be a woman of great innocence of life, and that her vesture and dowry should come to her with the veil received at his hands. Therefore, when she sought the illustrious saint for this purpose, and stood before him, an angel was seen descending from Heaven, and placing a veil on her head. It completely covered her eyes. St. Patrick then attempted to lift it, so that she might the better see, but the holy virgin exclaimed, “O pious father, why cannot the veil remain as it has been placed, in its right position?” Wherefore, the holy man replied, “It can very properly thus remain, and its mode of being worn shall be pleasing to your spouse.” As if the cenobite’s veil were glued to the noble lady’s face, the writer of the Tripartite Life and Jocelyn remark most poetically and approvingly, that it covered her dovelike eyes and her soft cheeks, through the whole remaining term of her life. Thus were her eyes and ears remarkably guarded, lest, through such entrances, any dangerous occasion of sin might bring death to her immortal soul.

    We have no further account of the place where she dwelt in the religious state; but, it is most likely within her ancestral territory, and on the height, which now takes its name from her. This Ardtrea was situated near Lough Neagh and Lough Beg. …In what particular condition St. Trea lived here has not been specified ; but, it is probable enough, she was head of a religious community. Nor does the date of her departure from life appear in our annals. In the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same day, we find her name entered as Trea, Virgin, daughter to Cairthenn, of Ard Trea. Whether the 3rd of August, or the 8th of July, be the commemoration for her death, has not been recorded.

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

  • Saint Scoth of Cluain Mór Moescna, July 16

    On July 16 the Irish calendars record the name of a holy woman, Scoth, and associate her with a place called Cluain-mór-Moescna. Canon O’Hanlon suggests that this could be the modern Clonmaskill, County Westmeath and raises the possibility that our saint might be the nun of this name mentioned as a relative of Saint Senan of Scattery Island, whose hagiography records that he visited her religious house near Mullingar:

    St. Scoth, Virgin, of Cluain-mor-Moescna, probably Clonmaskill, County of Westmeath. 

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 16th of July, appears the name Scoth, Cluana moescna. This appears to be identical with Clonmaskill, in the barony of Fertullagh, county of Westmeath . Or it may be Clonmaskill in the parish of Castletowndelvin, and barony of Delvin, in the same county. At an early period after the Anglo-Norman Invasion, Hugh de Lacy built here a castle for his brother-in-law, Sir Gilbert de Nugent, who resided in it for a time, while its ruins now occupy the sides of a quadrangular fort, having had a round tower at each corner. This was anciently the seat of the Barons of Delvin. There is a St. Scota, referred to in the Life of St. Senan, Abbot of Iniscattery. She is called the daughter of Cobhtach, and she is also regarded as his paternal aunt. Her festival is supposed to have fallen on this day. If the identification be correct, she must have been born about or after the middle of the fifth century. Towards the close of his life, St. Senan wished to visit her cell. This must have happened, it seems probable, after the middle of the sixth century. The nunnery of this St. Scoth, or Scota, seems to have been not far from the monastery, which was in the district, known as Irros, in the county of Clare. For an account of the present St. Scota, we are referred by Colgan, to the Martyrologies of Tallagh, of Marianus and of Aengus, at the 18th—probably a mistake for the 16th—of July. Her religious house was situated a few miles northwards from Mullingar. This monastery is supposed to have perished during the Danish wars. The name of this holy woman is entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same date, as Scoth, Virgin, of Cluain Mór Moescna.

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