OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish Saints

  • Saints Slebhene and Suibhne of Iona, March 2

    There are no less than three abbots of Iona commemorated on March 2. Last year’s post looked at Saint Feargna Britt, now Canon O’Hanlon records the remaining pair, beginning with Saint Slebhene:

    St. Slebhene, or Slebhine, Abbot of Iona [Eighth Century]

    At this date, likewise, the Irish Church seems to have venerated another abbot of Iona. When or where he was born does not appear to have transpired; yet, we have sufficient proof, that he was of a well-known Irish race. The Martyrology of Donegal this day registers, Slebhene, son of Conghal. His father was Dubhduin, son to Slebhine, son of Seghine, son to Ronan or Cronan, son of Loam, who was the son of Fergus Cennfada or Duach, and of his wife, Erca, the daughter of Loam Mor. Thus was he in a right line descended from the race of Conall Gulban, son to Niall the Great. The holy man Slebhine seems to have lived under the discipline of Cilline Droicteach, who died abbot of Iona, on the 3rd of July, A.D. 752.

    The virtues and merits of Slebhine, no doubt, singled him out, among his brother monks, as worthy of succession. He was the fifteenth abbot of Ia, and soon after his accession, the death of Cillen, son of Congaile—probably his own brother—took place in Hy. During the period of Slebhine’s incumbency, the Columbian influence in Ireland seems to have been at its height, as may be concluded from the mention of the Lex Columcille having been enforced by Domhnall, King of Ireland, in A.D. 753, and also by Sleibene himself, A.D. 757. In the year 754, the Abbot of Iona visited Ireland; and, in the year 758, he returned thither. After the death of Fedhlimidh or Failbe, who discharged the duties of assistant abbot of Hy, Sleibne passed to the rewards of the just, A.D. 754, according to the Annals of Inisfallen. Those of the Four Masters, however, place his demise, at A.D. 762; while the Annals of Ulster have the year 766, and again, the Rev. William Reeves states, that he died, on the 2nd of March, A.D. 767, after an incumbency of fifteen years, over the celebrated monastery of Iona.

    St. Suibhne, Abbot of Iona. [Eighth Century]

    The pedigree of this holy man is not recorded; but, probably, he was born in Ireland, and of the Tirconnellian race. He seems to have discharged the duties of assistant abbot at Iona, during the lifetime of Slebhine, and in that capacity he visited Ireland, A.D. 765, or 766. On his death, the succeeding year, Suibhne succeeded to the full rule of the monastery, which only engaged his care for four years exactly, for he died, on the 2nd day of March, A.D. 772.

     

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  • Saint Baitan, Abbot of Clonmacnoise, March 1

     

    On March 1 the Irish calendars commemorate Saint Baitan, a seventh-century abbot of the monastery of Clonmacnoise. The entry in the Martyrology of Donegal reads

    1. D. KALENDIS MARTII. 1.

    BAOTAN, Mac Ua Corbmaic, abbot of Cluain-mic-Nois, A.D. 663.

    Saint Baitan (Boetan, Baotan, Buadan, Boedan, Baithan, Da-Buadoc) succeeded Aedlugh, whose death is recorded in the Annals at 26th of February, 651, as abbot of Clonmacnoise. Here is how one nineteenth-century writer described him:

    BAEDAN MAC UA CORMAIC,

    whose tribe was of the illustrious Conmaicne Mara family, succeeded in the Abbacy. Ware, Lanigan, and Lynch, in his MSS. history, style this holy man Baitan O’Cormac, ” first a Monk, then Abbot, and lastly Bishop of Clonmacnoise; a man of much piety and learning.” He is named in our Martyrologies, on the 1st of March; but there, as well as in our ancient Annals, receives only the title of Abbot. This is a strong confirmatory proof of the assertion with which we set out, namely, that Abbot and Bishop may here be taken as synonymous. This holy Bishop’s obit, is put down by some as having taken place in 663, and by others, in 660. About that year the plague, called Buidhe Connaill, began to rage in Ireland, and of it some of the most remarkable men of that time in Ireland died.

    Rev John Monahan, Records Relating to the Dioceses of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise (Dublin, 1886), 82.

    Canon O’Hanlon summarizes the evidence for Saint Baitan’s feast on the calendars:

    Baitan, Bishop of Cluan, is mentioned in the Martyrology of Tallagh, as having a festival on the 1st of March, which it appears was the date for his death. Marianus O’Gorman, and his Scholiast, as also Maguire, concur in their statements. We read, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Baotan, Mac Ua Corbmaic, Abbot of Cluain-mic-Nois, was venerated on this day. The year 660 is assigned for the death of this holy abbot, by the Chronicon Scotorum, and by the Annals of Clonmacnoise; but, A.D. 663, according to the Annals of Ulster, and of the Four Masters.

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  • Saint Dichuill of Airiudh-muilt, February 28

    To close the month of February, Canon O’Hanlon brings a notice of a saint linked to the locality of Lough Erne. Although he does not say so in his brief entry for Saint Dichuill of Airiudh-muilt, I am assuming that O’Hanlon is referring to Lough Erne in County Fermanagh:

    St. Dichuill, of Airiudh-muilt, Lough Erne.

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, and at the 28th of February, we find recorded, “Dichuill Mac Maelduibh in Airudh Muilt oc Locuibh Eirne.” Marianus O’Gorman has an entry, which is somewhat similar. The Martyrology of Donegal registers on this day, Diochuill, son of Maoldubh, of Airiudh-muilt, on Loch Eirne. It seems impossible, at present, to identify this saint’s locality, or to determine whether it was on an island, or along the shores.

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