OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Groups of saints

  • Saint Faelan and the Daughters of Moinan, June 23

    Canon O’Hanlon has an interesting notice of a Saint Faelan and the Daughters of Moinan at June 23. They are mentioned together in the Martyrology of Tallaght, yet mention of the holy ladies disappears from the later calendars. Nothing much seems to be known of any of the parties, although reference is made to a Saint Brigid, daughter of Monan in the Martyrology of Oengus and in Keating’s History of Ireland, published in the seventeenth century:

    St. Foelaine, or Faelan, and the Daughters of Moinan.

    Such is an entry found in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 23rd of June. Nothing more is known, regarding this St. Foelaine and Moinan’s daughters. There is a St. Brigid, said to have been daughter to Monan or Moenan, according to Aengus the Culdee, and Dr. Jeoffry Keating. Whether she was one of the daughters to the Moinan here mentioned must be altogether conjectural and uncertain. In the latest of our great Calendars—that compiled by the O’Clerys—we have no entry regarding these religious ladies, who are noted on the 23rd of June. But, at this same date, in the Martyrologies of Marianus O’Gorman, and of Donegal, merely the name Faelan or Foilan occurs.

     

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  • The Sons of Gerán, April 1

    We can begin the month of April with the commemoration of an obscure grouping of saints, known as The Sons of Gerán. How many individuals comprised the group is not recorded, indeed the only information Canon O’Hanlon is able to bring us is the recording of their names on the various Irish calendars:

    The Sons of Geran, or Goran.

    Who these holy persons were has not been known, nor can it be ascertained, at what particular time they flourished. In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, the entry, Mic or “sons of” Gerain, at the 1st of April, will be found, although incorrectly placed by the scribe. The Bollandists notice them, as “Filii Gorani,” at this date, and on the same authority. On this day was celebrated a festival, in honour of The Sons of Gerán, as we find recorded, in the Martyrology of Donegal.

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  • The Sons of Caelan, November 16

    Another of the groups of saints commemorated on the Irish calendars occurs on November 16. The Martyrology of Donegal records:

    THE SONS OF CAELAN, of Mucurt-mór

    The earlier Martyrology of Gorman speaks rather more lyrically of this grouping in its entry:

    16. E.
     
    No slender slanting fence are Coelán’s sons…
    whilst a note adds ‘From Muccart mór’.
    The index of place names appended to the Stokes edition of the Martyrology of Gorman records that a place called Mucart is mentioned in the Annals of Loch Cé. I have been unable to find out any further details about either the Sons of Caelan or about the locality associated with them. They can thus be added to the long list of Irish holy men whose names are preserved at the date of their commemoration on our calendars, but about whom there is no other surviving information.
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