OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Groups of saints

  • Saint Ossin and Fifty Monks of Tengaidh, July 19

     

    At July 19 the Irish calendars commemorate a saint Ossin and fifty monks, but as Canon O’Hanlon explains, we can uncover nothing else about them. The number fifty in this context commonly occurs in relation to monks, it is one of the Christian sacred numbers and also one of the traditional Irish divisions of the psalter, known as ‘the three fifties’.

    ST. OSSIN OR OISSEINE, AND FIFTY MONKS, OF TENGAIDH.

    At the 19th of July, the Martyrology of Tallagh registers a festival to honour Ossin o Thergaidh ocus Coeca Manach imbi. From such an entry, we should be inclined to suppose, that Ossin must have been an Abbot, and that he presided over a community of fifty monks, at a place set down as Thergaidh, but more correctly Tengaidh, as given in the O’Clerys’ Calendar. It is difficult to know where this place had been situated. Nor can we find, among the townland names of Ireland, any near approach to it in spelling or in pronunciation…

    At the 19th of July, in the Martyrology of Donegal, we find recorded Oisseine, and fifty monks, of Tengaidh. In the Irish Calendar, which belonged to the Irish Ordnance Survey, there is an entry of this Oseine, at the xiv. of the August Kalends, which corresponds with the present date. We cannot find any other records, to afford satisfactory information regarding St. Oissene and his fifty monks of Tengaidh.

     

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  • The Daughters of Feradhach, March 23

    The early Irish calendars record one of their interesting but frustratingly obscure groups of saints at March 23, with notices of The Daughters of Feradhach. Canon O’Hanlon tells us that on the calendar of Saint Oengus only one daughter is noted, I wonder if this is reflected in all of the manuscript sources? He also tells us that one of the group may be Saint Kentigerna, this holy lady ended her days in Scotland as a hermitess, her son Saint Fillan is one of Scotland’s well-known saints.

    The Daughter or Daughters of Feradhach.
    In the “Feilire” of St. Aengus, the daughter of Feradhach is commemorated on the 23rd of March; while the Martyrology of Tallagh registers Inghena Feradaigh, or “the daughters of Feradach.” One of these most probably was St. Kentigerna, whose Acts have already appeared, at the 7th of January. A festival, in honour of the Daughter of Feradhach, was celebrated on this day, as we read from the Martyrology of Donegal. The Filiae Feradachi are noticed, merely, at this date, by the Bollandists.


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  • The Three Daughters of Eltin, March 15

    One interesting category of Irish saints are those grouped as ‘sons of’ or ‘daughters of’ a named individual. Sometimes the calendars record the names of the individuals who make up the group, but often they do not. We have one such group commemorated at March 15, the three daughters of Eltin, who are noted on the earliest of the surviving Irish calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght, as Canon O’Hanlon explains:

    THE THREE DAUGHTERS OF ELTIN.

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 15th of March, we find the entry Tui [Tres?] inghen Eltine. The Bollandists note their feast, but remark, that elsewhere, except in the Irish Calendars, of Eltin and his daughters, they do not meet any account. On this day, a festival was celebrated to honour the three daughters of Eltin, as we read in the Martyrology of Donegal.

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