OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish saints in Scotland

  • The Children of Senchán, June 23

    I have always been interested in the collective commemorations of groups of saints found in the Irish calendars. There are two such groups remembered at June 23, the Daughters of Moinan, a post on whom can be read here, and The Children of Senchán. Often these groups incorporate the sacred number seven and today’s actually comprises fourteen individuals.  I wish it were possible to find out more about them and of their Scottish connection. Canon O’Hanlon brings only the the barest details:

    Article III.—The Children of Senchan.
    In the Martyrology of Donegal, a festival intended to honour the children of Senchan is set down, at the 23rd of June. Among the saints of Scotland, we find enumerated the fourteen sons of Senchan or Clann Senchan, for this same date.

    Article IV.—The Children of Senan.
    We read in the Martyrology of Donegal,  that the children of Senan were venerated, at the 23rd of June. We think, however, that this is only another form for a previous entry.

    The same double entry for ‘Senchán’s children and Senán’s’ is found in the Martyrology of Gorman, but their names are not found at all in the earlier martyrologies of Oengus and Tallaght.

    The Calendars edited by the Scottish Bishop Alexander Forbes also list Senchán’s clan:

    SENCHANIUS, the Fourteen Sons of June 23.—These are probably the Clann Senchain who are commemorated in the Mart. Donegal at 23d June. A curious ” Description of the Island of Sanda,” by Father Edmund MacCana, makes mention of the sepulchre of the fourteen sons of Senchanius in that island. It is printed with observations by Dr. Reeves in the Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. viii. p. 132.

    Father McCana was an Irish Franciscan who visited the island of Sanda, which lies a few miles off the Mull of Kintyre, in the early seventeenth century.  The text published by Bishop William Reeves is written in Latin and includes these details of the twice seven sons of Senchán:

    Corpora bis septem, tota veneranda per orbem, 

    Senchanii natum Sanda beata tenet.
     Doctorum divumque parens, Hibernia quondam . 
    Quos genuit sanctos, Scotia terra tegit …..
    The paper is available through the Internet Archive here. If your Latin is as rusty as mine you may find it more useful to consult the reprint in the appendix to a 2010 paper on the island, as it includes a translation, here:
    ‘Fourteen bodies, throughout the world revered,
    Of Senchanius born blessed Sanda holds.
    Ireland, the mother of divine teachers, once
    Begat the saints whom Scotland’s soil covers….
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  • Saint Regulus and the Relics of Saint Andrew

    November 30 is the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle and last week I attended a lecture by Scottish historian Michael Turnbull on Saint Andrew and the Emperor Constantine. It was a fascinating account of the links between Constantine’s vision of a cross in the sky and the adoption of the saltire as the symbol of Scotland due to the celestial visions of a ninth-century King of the Picts. There is also an Irish connection in the legends surrounding the coming of the relics of Saint Andrew to Scotland, which involve the Irish saint Riaghail of Mucinis (feast day October 16). He was caught up in the later medieval legend of a Saint Regulus or Rule, said to have brought the the relics of Saint Andrew the Apostle to Scotland.  Nineteenth-century Bishop of Brechin, Alexander Forbes, recorded the legend in his 1872 work on the Scottish Kalendars:

    The Regulus legend, as believed in Scotland, first occurs in the Colbertine MS. in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. There is also a legend, apparently of the early part of the fourteenth century, in the Harleian Collection in the British Museum, and the last form is that given in the Breviary of Aberdeen. With reference to these various forms of the legend, Mr. W. F. Skene has the following remarks :

    “In comparing these three editions, it will be convenient to divide the narrative into three distinct statements.

    “The first is the removal of the relics of S. Andrew from Patras to Constantinople. The Colbertine account states that St. Andrew, after preaching to the northern nations, the Scythians and Pictones, received in charge the district of Achaia, with the city of Patras, and was there crucified; that his bones remained there till the time of Constantine the Great, and his sons Constantius and Constans, for 270 years, when they were removed to Constantinople, where they remained till the reign of the Emperor Theodosius.

    “The account in the MS. of the Priory of S. Andrews states, that in the year 345, Constantius collected a great army to invade Patras, in order to avenge the martyrdom of S. Andrew, and remove his relics; that an angel appeared to the custodiers of the relics, and ordered Regulus, the bishop, with his clergy, to proceed to the sarcophagus which contained his bones, and to take a part of them, consisting of three fingers of the right hand, a part of one of the arms, the part of one of the knees, and one of his teeth, and conceal them, and that the following day Constantius entered the city, and carried off to Rome the shrine containing the rest of his bones; that he then laid waste the Insula Tyberis and Colossia, and took thence the bones of S. Luke and S. Timothy, and carried them along with the relics of S. Andrew to Constantinople.

    “The Aberdeen Breviary says that, in the year 360, Regulus flourished at Patras in Achaia, and was custodier of the bones and relics of S. Andrew; that Constantius invaded Patras in order to avenge the martyrdom of S. Andrew; that an angel appeared to him, and desired him to conceal a part of the relics, and that after Constantius had removed the rest of the relics to Constantinople, this angel again appeared to him, and desired him to take the part of the relics he had concealed, and to transport them to the western region of the world, where he should lay the foundation of a church in honour of the apostle. Here the growth of the legend is very apparent. In the oldest edition, we are told of the removal of the relics to Constantinople, without a word of Regulus. In the second, we have the addition of Regulus concealing a part of the relics in obedience to a vision; and in the third, we have a second vision directing him to found a church in the west. This part of the legend, as we find it in the oldest edition, belongs, in fact, to the legend of S. Andrew, where it is stated that, after preaching to the Scythians, he went to Argos, where he also preached, and finally suffered martyrdom at Patras; and that, in the year 337, his body was transferred from Patras to Constantinople with those of S. Luke and S. Timothy, and deposited in the church of the apostles, which had been built some time before by Constantine the Great.

    “When I visited Greece in the year 1844, I was desirous of ascertaining whether any traces of this legend still remained at Patras. In the town of Patras I could find no church dedicated to S. Andrew, but I observed a small and very old-looking Greek monastery, about a mile to the west of it, on the shore of the Gulf of Patras, and proceeding there, I found one of the caloyeres or Greek monks, who spoke Italian, and who informed me that the monastery was attached to the adjacent church of S. Andrew built over the place where he had suffered martyrdom. He took me into the church, which was one of the small Byzantine buildings so common in Greece, and showed me the sarcophagus from which, he said, the relics had been removed, and also, at the door of the church, the spot where his cross had been raised, and a well called S. Andrew’s Well. I could find, however, no trace of S. Regulus.

    “The second part of the legend in the oldest edition represents a Pictish king termed Ungus, son of Urguist, waging war in the Merse, and being surrounded by his enemies. As the king was walking with his seven comites, a bright light shines upon them ; they fall to the earth, and a voice from heaven says, ‘Ungus, Ungus, hear me, an apostle of Christ called Andrew, who am sent to defend and guard thee.’ He directs him to attack his enemies, and desires him to offer the tenth part of his inheritance in honour of S. Andrew. Ungus obeys, and is victorious.

    “In the S. Andrews edition, Ungus’s enemy is said to have been Athelstane, king of the Saxons, and his camp at the mouth of the river Tyne. S. Andrew appears to Ungus in a dream, and promises him victory, and tells him that the relics will be brought to his kingdom, and the place to which they are brought is to become honoured and celebrated. The people of the Picts swear to venerate S. Andrew ever after, if they prove victorious. Athelstane is defeated, his head taken off, and carried to a place called Ardchinnichan, or Portus Reginae.

    ” The Breviary of Aberdeen does not contain this part of the legend.

    ” The third part of the legend in the oldest narrative represents one of the custodiers of the body of S. Andrew at Constantinople, directed by an angel in a vision to leave his house, and to go to a place whither the angel will direct him. He proceeds prosperously to ‘verticem montis regis id est rigmond.’ Then the king of the Picts comes with his army, and Regulus, a monk, a stranger from the city of Constantinople, meets him with the relics of S. Andrew at a harbour which is called ‘Matha,id est mordurus,’ and King Ungus dedicates that place and city to God and S. Andrew ‘ut sit caput et mater omnium ecclesiaram quae sunt in regno Pictorum.’ It must be remembered here that this is the first appearance of the name of Regulus in the old legend, and that it is evidently the same King Ungus who is referred to in both parts of the story. The S. Andrews edition of the legend relates this part of the story much more circumstantially. According to it, Regulus was warned by the angel to sail with the relics towards the north, and wherever his vessel was wrecked, there to erect a church in honour of S. Andrew. He voyages among the islands of the Greek sea for a year and a half, and wherever he lands he erects an oratory in honour of S. Andrew. At length he lands in ‘terra Pictorum ad locum qui Muckros fuerat nuncupatus, nunc autem Kilrymont dictus; and his vessel having been wrecked he erects a cross he had brought from Patras. After remaining there seventeen days or nights, Regulus goes with the relics to Forteviot, and finds there the three sons of King Hungus, viz. Owen, Nectan, and Finguine, who, being anxious as to the life of their father, then on an expedition ‘ in partibus Argatheliae,’ give the tenth part of Forteviot to God and S. Andrew. They then go to a place called ‘Moneclatu, qui nunc dicitur Monichi,’ and there Finchem, the queen of King Hungus, is delivered of a daughter called Mowren, who was afterwards buried at Kilrymont; and the queen gives the place to God and S. Andrew. They then cross the mountain called Moneth, and reach a place called ‘Doldancha, nunc autem dictus Chondrochedalvan,’ where they meet King Hungus returning from his expedition, who prostrates himself before the relics, and this place is also given to God and S. Andrew. They return across the Moneth to Monichi, where a church was built in honour of God and the apostle, and thence to Forteviot, where a church is also built. King Hungus then goes with the clergy to Kilrymont, when a great part of that place is given to build churches and oratories, and a large territory is given as parochia. The boundaries of this parochia can still be traced, and consisted of that part of Fife lying to the east of a line drawn from Largs to Nauchton. Within this line was the district called the Boar’s Chase, containing the modern parishes of S. Andrews, Cameron, Dairsie, Kemback, Ceres, Denino, and Kingsmuir; and besides this district, the following parishes were included in the parochia,—viz. Crail, Kiagsbams, Anstruther, Abercromby, S. Monance, Kelly, Elie, Newburgh, Largo, Leuchars, Forgan, and Logie-Murdoch.

    ” It is impossible to doubt that there is a historic basis of some kind for this part of the legend. The circumstantial character of the narrative is of a kind not likely to be invented. The place beyond the Moneth or Grampians, called Chondrochedalvan, is plainly the church of Kindrochet in Braemar, which was dedicated to St. Andrew. Monichi is probably not Monikie in Forfarshire, as that church was in the diocese of Brechin, but a church called Eglis Monichti, now in the parish of Monifieth, which was in the diocese of S. Andrews, and Forteviot was also in the diocese of S. Andrews.

    “According to the account in the Breviary, Regulus, after the relics had been removed to Constantinople, takes the portion he had concealed, and sails with them for two years till he arrives ‘ad terram Scottorum,’ where he lands and enters the ‘nemus porcorum,’ and there builds a church, and preaches to the neighbouring people far and wide. Hungus, king of the Picts, sees a company of angels hover over the relics of the apostle, and comes with his army to Regulus, who baptizes him with all his servants, and receives a grant of the land, which is set apart to be the chief seat and mother church of Scotland.”—(Skene’s Notice of the Early Ecclesiastical Settlements at S. Andrews, in Proceedings Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. iv. pp. 301-307.)

    Alexander Penrose Forbes, D.C.L. Bishop of Brechin, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, (1872), 437-440.

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  • Saint Finnian of Moville – Two Studies

    September 10 is the feast of Saint Finnian of Moville. As I mentioned in the previous post on his life here, this holy man is the subject of much debate among the modern generation of scholars. A hundred years ago Archbishop John Healy was able to present a coherent account of Saint Finnian as patron of Moville, County Down, who had simply spent some time outside Ireland, both in Scotland and in Rome. The Archbishop was at pains to distinguish Saint Finnian from his namesake at Clonard, only to muddy the waters by repeating Colgan’s suggestion that he may have been confused with Saint Fridian of Lucca. This can be discounted. Modern scholars, however, are still a whole lot less confident in identifying Saint Finnian of Moville as a distinct individual, and in a volume of essays on the history of County Down, I read two studies of Saint Finnian, whose conclusions I will summarize below.

    In the first paper, St Finnian of Movilla: Briton, Gael, Ghost?, David Dumville reassesses the evidence for this sixth-century monastic founder. He finds that the only potentially early source comes from the now lost but partially reconstructable Chronicle of Ireland. In the version preserved in the Annals of Ulster it reads as the first entry for the year 579:

    The peaceful death of Bishop Uinnianus of Dal Fiatach.

    He then goes on to examine the form of the name used, the original being the Latin genitive form Uinniani saying:

    This is a form clearly related to late Old Irish Finnian but in fact an unnatural spelling. In the history of the Irish language initial U- (the sound /w/- that is) gave way to F- about 600 or early in the seventh century. On the face of it, here is a spelling which could be contemporary with a figure who lived in the mid- and later sixth century.

    But in the sources, the name of the saint can also appear as Finnio, which Dumville finds more problematic. For in the Irish hagiographical record only two names are found with the suffix -io: Finnio and Ninnio. Dumville argues that the linguistic evidence points to a British Celtic origin for these names. He then goes on to discuss all the other versions of the name Finnian found in the sources, saying:

    For a variety of reasons, the tendency of modern scholarship has been to view all these manifestations of Uinnian Finnian Finnio Findbarr [etc.] as referring to a single sixth-century historical figure. There has been less agreement about who he was, where he worked, and how he came to be culted as a patron-saint at different churches. The principal difficulties have resided in the question of his nationality and in making a convincing connexion between the sixth-century evidence and that of later hagiographical sources.

    The problem is that by the year 800 there is evidence for two saints known as Uinnian/Finnio, the founders of Cork and Movilla. There were also two called Findbarr, the patrons of Cork and Movilla. Thus:

    There has been general agreement.. that it is difficult to credit the historical existence of more than one person who would have left these unusual linguistic results. If that conclusion is correct it is a task of scholarship to explain how the multiple cults, and the distortions of sixth-century history which they would therefore represent, came into existence. Pádraig ó Riain, who first saw a possible solution, has argued that we have a number of localisations of a single cult, what in German has been called a Wanderkult. It is a well attested hagiological phenomenon. The problem resides, however, in determining which local manifestation represents the site of the church of the historical Uinniau.

    Dumville goes on to further examine linguistic and other evidence, admitting that he is still not in any position to make a definitive judgement. But for him, linguistics clearly point to a British origin for Saint Finnian, as the primary evidence gives him the Brittonic pet-name Uinniau. His conclusion I am sure would have come as something of a shock to Archbishop Healy:

    It is perverse to suppose that he [Finnian] was other than a Briton. We do not know whether he ever worked in Ireland.

    In the second paper, Lives of St Finnian of Movilla: British Evidence, Ingrid Sperber finds it ironic that for such an important saint, no Irish Life of Saint Finnian has survived. But she says that evidence for the existence of such hagiography can be found in non-Irish texts, of which there are three relevant items. She does not discuss one of these, the texts relating to Saint Frigdianus of Lucca, whom Archbishop Healy mentioned, as this notion can be put aside, but says:

    It has long been known that some of the Lives of this sixth-century saint claim an Irish origin for him: on closer inspection they have proved to be partly derivative of hagiography of St Finnian of Moville. The other two items have a Scottish dimension.

    The first of these two items is the Noua Legenda Anglie, the New English Legendary, a huge compilation of abbreviated lives of saints first assembled by fourteenth-century chronicler, John of Tynemouth, at Saint Alban’s Abbey. The author has translated the Life of Saint Finnian from this work and helpfully appended it to her paper. This Life, however, attests to the cult of Saint Finnian in Scotland and it begins by telling us that the saint was also known by the Welsh name Winninus, and ends by locating his Scottish cult at Kilwinning in Ayrshire. The  Life also mentions that the saint received training in both Britain and Rome and gives his feast-day as September 10, the same as that of Finnian of Moville.

    By contrast, the second source is a liturgical one, the early sixteenth-century Breviary of Aberdeen. It lists a Saint Uynninus, but at 21 January, and the focus for the lessons for the saint’s feast is exclusively on Scotland. The saint is said to have been of royal Irish origin, but there is no mention of Moville. Sperber suggests therefore that:

    At some point, perhaps in the absence of hagiography of the original saint of Kilwinning, but perhaps in order to suppress it, that of St Finnian of Movilla was substituted, along with his feast-day. The local patron’s original feast-day eventually proved too entrenched to be rejected and reasserted itself. Meanwhile, the hagiography of St Finnian was adapted in order to root it thoroughly in its local south-west Scottish context. The precise chronology of the process remains to be determined.

    I found both these papers a challenging read but also a valuable insight into the sort of evidence and deductive processes used by modern scholars. I was especially pleased to find that translations of both the Life of St Finnian from the Nova Legenda Anglie and the Liturgy of St Finnian from the Breviary of Aberdeen were appended to the second paper, as this is the first time these texts have been translated. The papers can be found in the book ‘Down: History and Society – Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County‘, edited by Lindsay Proudfoot and William Nolan and published by Geography Publications, Dublin in 1997. There is also this scholarly paper:

    Six degrees of whiteness: Finbarr, Finnian, Finnian, Ninian, Candida Casa and Hwiterne
    Pamela O’Neill

    Abstract
    In the Spring 2001 issue of The Innes Review, Thomas Owen Clancy presented a compelling argument for the identification of Saint Ninian of Whithorn, Saint Finnian of Moville, Saint Finnian of Clonard and Saint Finbarr of Cork as a single historical figure. This followed on from lengthy argument amongst scholars of early medieval Ireland concerning the identity, ethnicity, and probable conflation of the three Irish saints. One view, advanced by Pádraig Ó Riain, was that the ‘original’ form of the name was the Gaelic form Findbarr, from which Finnian was derived by hypocorism. Clancy posits a British origin for the name, and advances scribal error as the final step in the evolution of the name through Uinniau to Ninian. The common element in the Gaelic names, fin, and its British equivalent, uin, mean ‘white’. Ninian’s foundation in south-western Scotland is called in Latin Ad Candidam Casam, in Old English Hwiterne, both also denoting whiteness. This is generally held to reflect either the physical nature of Ninian’s church (limewashed or of pale stone) or the moral nature of its inhabitants (pure and shining). This paper argues for a further alternative: that the name of the place is derived from the name of its founder.

    It used to be possible to read this paper in full online but, alas, the original link I had no longer works.

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