OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Female Saints

  • The Three Daughters of Ailill, August 9

    The Martyrology of Tallaght, one of the earliest of the Irish calendars, lists at August 9 the feast of Tri ingena Ailella – the three daughters of Ailill. Such groupings of saintly siblings are a feature of the Irish calendars, indeed these holy ladies share their day with Cethri meic Ercain – the four sons of Ercan and Ceithre meic Dimmain – the four sons of Dioman. We are unable to learn any more about the identities of the individuals who comprise the group of Ailill’s daughters, nor when or where they flourished. In Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints Canon O’Hanlon gives this brief account, noting that the Tallaght calendar is the sole source for the feast of Ailell’s daughters as they are not listed on the Martyrology of Donegal, compiled by Michael O’Clery and his associates in the seventeenth century: 

    Article III. Tri h. Inghena Ailalla. 

    Written in this manner, we have a festival entered in the Martyrology of Tallagh, as edited by the Rev. Dr. Kelly; although we find no corresponding entry, at this day, in the Martyrology of Donegal, edited by Drs. Todd and Reeves.

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  • Saint Mettán of Túaim Átha, March 7

    On March 7 the Irish calendars record the name of Saint Mettán, yet another of Ireland’s enigmatic female saints. As Canon O’Hanlon explains in Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints it is not known when or where this holy virgin flourished. All of the calendars record her name at this date and associate the locality of Tuaim-Atha with her. The index of places appended to the Martyrology of Gorman suggests that Túaim Átha might be Tooma, a townland in the barony of Mohill, County Leitrim and that the name Mettán is a diminutive possibly derived from meta ‘timid’:
     

    Article V. St. Metan or Meattan,Virgin, of Tuaim-atha. 
     
    The entry, Metan o Thuaim athi, appears in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 7th of March. Marianus O’Gorman has a like notice, while the Bollandists allude to the circumstance, that her place and history are unknown. The Martyrology of Donegal mentions, likewise, Meattan, Virgin of Tuaim-atha, as having a festival on this day. The word, Tuaim, usually Anglicised, Toom, enters into the composition of many local denominations, in Ireland. 
     
    Note: This post was first published in 2014 and revised in 2022.

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  • Saint Amphitina, January 2

    In the first volume of his Lives of the Irish Saints Canon O’Hanlon closes his list of those commemorated on January 2 with this notice of yet another enigmatic female saint: 

    Article VI. St. Ainbhithen, Virgin. 
     
    The feast of Ainbhithen, a Virgin, is mentioned in the “Martyrology of Donegal,” as occurring this day. We have not been able to find any further account regarding her.
    At first reading I assumed this holy lady was one of the many Irish saints whose names alone have survived without any further details, but it was not until consulting the entries in the other calendars that I began to wonder. For in the earlier Martyrology of Tallaght we find

    Amphitinae uirginis as the final name among the non-Irish saints listed for this day. Marianus O’Gorman, the twelfth-century calendarist has Anpthín among those he commemorates. Whitley Stokes, who edited and translated The Martyrology of Gorman says in the Index of Persons attached to his work:

    Anpthín, virg. Jan. 2. Ainbhthen, Mart. Don. An Ainpthini ingen Maelduin occurs in Mart. Taml. at Sep. 10. Probably cognate with Anfadán

    I could not find Ainphthin the daughter of Maelduin at September 10 in either of the versions of the Martyrology of Tallaght I can access but did find Anfadán at September 16. This name occurs more than once on the calendars but is it indeed cognate with that of Anpthín? For I found myself wondering if the virgin Amphitina, listed among the non-Irish saints in the Best and Lawlor edition of the Martyrology of Tallaght, has perhaps found her way from the Roman or some other continental martyrology upon which Tallaght drew onto the later Irish calendars where there has been an attempt to Gaelicize her name? It is all reminiscent of another female saint, the Roman martyr Balbina, who is remembered as Baluíne on the Irish calendars at October 4 and who was taken out of the catacombs by later commentators and relocated to Meath. It would be interesting to know what the truth is behind the holy virgin Amphitina/Anpthín/Ainbhithen, commemorated on the Irish calendars on the second day of January, but I join Canon O’Hanlon in being unable to find any further account regarding her.

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