OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish Saints

  • Saint Maolan of Enagh, January 4

    January 4 is the feast of a saint of the Derry area who may have been related to the family of Saint Colum Cille, Maolan of Enagh. Canon O’Hanlon tells us what is known of him:

    ST. MAOLAN, OF ENAGH, PROBABLY IN THE PARISH OF CLONDERMOT, COUNTY OF LONDONDERRY.

    From the extreme north to the extreme south, and from points the most distant in the east or west, spots of former ecclesiastical interest and importance are to be found in Ireland. There is entered in the “Martyrology of Tallagh” on the 4th of January the name Maolan, Eanaigh, more generally written Enagh. Maolan, of Enach, occurs likewise in the “Martyrology of Donegal” on this day. It is quite probable this saint had his dwelling within the present parish of Glendermot, or Clondermot, in the barony of Tirkeeran, county of Londonderry.

    There, it would appear, considerable remains of old ecclesiastical foundations are yet visible; and at an early period, it is said Saints Patrick and Columkille founded religious houses in this place. The ruins of Annagh, or Enagh, near one lough of this name, are very extensive. Many other places having a similar etymon are to be found in various parts of Ireland. If the conjecture of Colgan be admitted, it is possible the present saint may be identified with St. Moelchuo, son to Degill and Cumenia, sister to the great St. Columkille. The words Moelchuo and Moelan have nearly the same signification in Irish. Except St. Melchuo, the nephew and disciple of St. Patrick, and who was bishop over Ardagh about the year 460, Colgan was not able to find the natalis of any saint similarly named in our calendars. Hence he seems inclined to conclude, that the St. Melchuo, nephew to St. Columkille, may perchance be St. Maolan, of Enach; or, if not, St. Maelan, of Snamhluthair, now Slanore, in the county of Cavan. If the nephew of St. Columkille can be identified with the present saint, then his period should be assigned to the close of the sixth or to the beginning of the seventh century. But it must be confessed the conjecture appears rather apocryphal. He may have lived at an earlier or a later date than the epoch noted.

    Enagh lies about two miles north-east of Derry; and here formerly the O’Cahans or O’Kanes had their chief residence in the castle of Enagh, situated on an island in Eastern Lough Enagh. From this family the whole tract from the Foyle to the Bann was called the O’Cahan country. The church ruins at this place are very extensive. They measure ninety-one by twenty-one feet, with a transept on the south twenty-three feet square. In the year 1197, Rotsel Piton violated the religious establishment here, and he was afterwards defeated on the strand of Faughanvale. In former times, Enagh was a chapel of Clondermot, in the corps of the deanery. It seems to have been well endowed by the O’Kanes, and to have been managed by a Herenach about the beginning of the seventeenth century. The exact period of St. Maolan’s career upon earth yet remains in doubt.

     

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  • Saint Finlugh of Tamlachtfinlagan, January 3

    January 3 is the feast of two saintly brothers, Fintan and Finlugh. Last year I looked at the life of Saint Fintan of Doone in a post which can be found here, now we can turn to the life of his brother Finlugh as recorded by Canon O’Hanlon in Volume 1 of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

     

    ST. FINLUGH, LUGAD OR FINN-LUGAIN, PATRON OF TAMLACHTFINLAGAN, COUNTY OF LONDONDERRY. [Sixth Century.]

    This holy man was brother to the preceding saint [i.e. Fintan of Doone], but whether senior or junior to him does not appear. He is variously named. Sometimes he is called Finlog or Finlugh, Lugad, Lagan, or Logha. The latter forms appear to represent his original name, to which the prefix Finn or Fionn, which signifies ” white” or “fair,” was afterwards added. This appellation was probably bestowed on account of some quality of complexion, or from the colour of his hair. He had the same father and mother as Fintan; and to the former biography the reader is referred for notices regarding them. At the 3rd day of January, St. Finlog, as well as his brother Fintan, was venerated at Dunbleisque, or Doone; and again do we learn from St. Aengus and his commentator, from the “Martyrology of Tallagh,” from the ” Calendar of Cashel,” and from Marianus O’Gorman, as also from the “Martyrology of Donegal” that St.Finlog had been venerated at Tamlacht Finnlogha, or Finlagan, in the territory of Cianachta Glinne Geimhin, on this same day. Finlog seems to have been originally the disciple of his brother, at Dunbleisque, where, as has been- already related, it was predicted that he should pass over the sea, and die an exile from the country of his birth. In the former life we have already related the manner of his departure. It is thought probable, that he went to Iona, and that he was the identical Findluganus, who interposed to save the life of his great master, St. Columkille, in the island of Hinba. We are informed, that while living here St. Columkille had resolved on excommunicating certain oppressors of religious houses. Among these, Joan, the son of Conall, was especially conspicuous. One of his wicked associates was called Lamh Dess. Instigated by the devil, he rushed on the saint with a spear intending to kill Columba. To prevent this dreaded result, one of the brethren, named Findlugan, put on the saint’s garment and interposed his person, being ready to die for sake of the holy man. But St. Columba’s garment served as a kind of strong and impenetrable shield, which could not be pierced by the thrust of a very sharp spear, although made by a powerful man. The brother who wore it remained safe and uninjured under divine protection. The ruffian who attempted this outrage, and whose name is found Latinized Manus Dextra, retired, thinking he had transfixed the saint with his spear. Exactly one year afterwards, when the saint was in the island of Hy, he said: ” A year has just now elapsed since that day when Lamh-dess did his best to put Findlugan to death in my place, but that man is now slain, as I believe, and on this very hour.” So it happened; for at that moment, according to the saint’s revelation, in an island which is Latinized “Longa,” in English, “Long Island,” a battle was fought between a number of opposing warriors. Lamh-dess alone was slain by Conan, son of Baithen, and transfixed with a dart. It is said, this stroke was given in the name of St. Columba.

    After the fall of Lamh-dess the battle ceased. Whether these events occurred before or after what remains to be noted regarding St. Finlog cannot very clearly be ascertained. Again, St. Columkille is said to have founded a religious establishment at a place near Lough Foyle, in the barony of Kenaught, county of Londonderry. The townland is called Tamlacht. Over the house thus established the great father of Irish monasticism placed his disciple, Finlog, as first abbot. Hence the place seems to have derived its appellation of Tamlachtfinlaghan. It is now a parish in the diocese of Derry. The place of the old monastic site is marked by a much frequented cemetery, within the enclosure of which are the ruins of an old church. Whether any portion of this building dates back to the time of St. Finlog may very fairly be questioned…

    Besides his cultus at Tamlacht Finnlaghan, and Dunbleisque, St. Finlog appears to have been venerated, likewise, on the island of St. Finlagan, where are the ruins of a small chapel dedicated to him. That island lies within Loch Finlagan, in the parish of Killarrow, at Islay, or Ila. From this fresh water lake flows the Killarrow river, and between the chapel of St. Finlagan and the east coast at Kilcholmkill stood a chapel dedicated to St. Columba. Before the year 1380, John, lord of the Isles, is said to have roofed the chapel of Finlagan and other churches. He gave them, moreover, proper furniture for the service of God, and for the maintenance of officiating clergy. The lords of the Isles exercised the right of patronage in connexion with the chapels of St. Finlagan and of St. Columba. On the island cemetery of Finlagan the wives and children of the island lords were buried, while these latter were buried at Iona—regarded as still more sacred ground. It may have been the case that a part of St. Columba’s missionary enterprise embraced Islay, and that St. Finlog either founded a church at Loch Finlagan, or lived and, perhaps, died there ; but great uncertainty prevails in reference to these matters.

    The Christian courage and charity of this saint deserve well the encomium of Prince O’Donnell, for he desired to sacrifice his own life in preserving that of his great spiritual father, whose loss to the Church Findlugan deemed irreparable on earth. Greater charity than this no man possesses, when he is ready to give up his own life for the safety of his friends. Utterly unselfish and nobly generous was his spirit of self-devotedness. His humility and obedience were equally conspicuous, for he felt ready to accept any injunction which might best promote God’s honour. In either Scotia his religious acts were conspicuous; and the people both of Ireland and of Scotland have just reasons for celebrating his virtues.

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  • Saint Baluíne, October 4

    On October 4 our early Irish calendars present us with something of a mystery surrounding a female saint with the name of Baluíne. The Martyrology of Oengus begins:

    D. iv. nonas Octobris.
    Áil Marcellum nepscop
    co nhaidbli a bríge,
    la céssad na hóige
    in ballgel Baluíne    .
    4. Beseech Marcellus the bishop,
    with the vastness of his vigour,
    at the suffering of the virgin,
    the bright-limbed Balbina.
    The phrase ‘suffering of the virgin’ would imply a female martyr, yet as we know, the vast majority of the early Irish saints who suffered martyrdom did so contending for the faith in other countries. It is clear from the scholiast notes on this entry that later commentators were perplexed and sought to find a local identity for the ‘bright-limbed Balbina’:
    4. Baluina .i. tair ata, nó isi Bicsech ó Chill Bicsige i nHuaib macc Cuais Midhe. R1 . in marg. Baluina uirgo et martir. Nó commad hí Baluina .i. Bicsech o Chill Bicsechi i nHuib Maccuais Mide, sed non est uerum. R1
    4. Balbine .i. in the east she is. Or it is Bicsech of Cell Bicsige in Hui mace Uais in Meath. in marg. Baluina virgin and martyr. Or maybe Baluina is Bicsech of Cell Bicseche in Hui Macc-uais of Meath; sed non est uerum.
    Bigsech of Kilbixy is an Irish female saint whose feastday is commemorated on June 28. In Canon O’Hanlon’s account of her, which I posted here, he remarked that ‘this saint appears to have had another festival, at the 4th of October.’ But did she? For Balbina was not an Irish woman at all, despite the attempted Gaelicization of her name, but one of the early Roman martyrs. There seem to be two saints of this name, the first, commemorated on March 31, is said to have been the daughter of a Roman official called Quirinus and is linked to the discovery of Saint Peter’s chains. There is a second Balbina, however, whose name is attached to one of the Roman catacombs, and inevitably the identities of both have been the subject of some confusion over the centuries. In Volume 5 of his work The Sacramentary: Historical and Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal, Ildefonso, Cardinal Schuster, records at October 4 ‘Saint Balbina, Martyr’ and it would seem that this is the second Balbina, who gave her name to the Roman cemetery and who was commemorated on this day, even in Ireland!

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