OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish Saints

  • Saint Bláán of Bute, August 10

    August 10 is the feast of Saint Bláán of Bute, also known as Blane of Dunblane. The earliest written record of this saint is found in our own early ninth-century Martyrology of Oengus, where on August 10 he is recorded as “fair Blane of Kingarth”. In the late twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman he is hailed as Bláán buadach Bretan – victorious Bláán of the Britons. Modern scholars wonder when and why the cultus of Saint Blane moved from Kingarth to Dunblane and why Kingarth’s church leaders stopped being described as bishops and were instead designated as abbots. Unfortunately, there are few surviving historical sources to answer these and other questions and the hagiographical record is also sparse. The seventeenth-century hagiologist Father John Colgan had access to a Life of the saint written a century earlier at Dunblane but this has now been lost, and Colgan’s summary of it in the Acta Sanctorum is all that remains. The only surviving account of the saint’s Life is to be found in the Lessons for the Feast of Saint Blane in the Aberdeen Breviary, one of the few saints to have a complete office preserved within it. There he is portrayed as a member of a noble Irish family who, after seven years of study with Saints Comgall and Cainnech, ends up in Bute where his mother’s brother Saint Cattán completes Blane’s monastic education. After his ordination, first to the priesthood and then to the episcopate, Bláán makes a pilgrimage to Rome where he undertakes further study and with the Pope’s blessing sets out for home once again. Returning via the north of England he restores the dead son of a local petty-king to life and the grateful father grants the saint some lands in his territory. The Annals do not record a date of death for Saint Bláán and since all the surviving sources regarding him were written centuries later, it is difficult to establish a reliable chronology for the saint’s life and career. Modern scholarly consensus seems to be that he is a sixth-century saint, a view shared by Canon O’Hanlon in his account of Saint Blane in Volume VIII of his Lives of the Irish Saints: 

    ARTICLE I.-ST. BLANE, OR BLAAN, BISHOP OF CEANN-GARADH, NOW KINGARTH, IN BUTE, SCOTLAND.

    [SUPPOSED TO HAVE LIVED IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.]

    CHAPTER I.

    INTRODUCTION- SOURCES FOR BIOGRAPHY-THE PARENTAGE AND BIRTH OF BLAAN HIS EARLY EDUCATION—HIS CONNECTION WITH THE ISLAND OF BUTE- FOUNDATION OF DUNBLAINE.

    FROM the accounts which have come down to our time, Blan, or Blaan, was illustrious among the Scottish saints. As we have already stated, while some of the Scottish Calendarists-notably Camerarius and Dempster have placed his festival at the 19th of July, most authorities assign the 10th day of August as that for his principal feast. As in so many other cases, we have greatly to regret, that various contradictory and fabulous accounts have been transmitted to us, regarding this holy bishop, and which contribute so much to obscure his personal history.

    From the Aberdeen Breviary, the Acts of this saint are chiefly drawn. The life of St. Blane was written by G. Newton, Archdeacon of Dunblaine, in 1505. Some accounts of him may be found, in the works of Thomas Dempster, of John Leland, and of Bishop Tanner. Some particulars regarding him are to be found, likewise, in the Bollandists. These remarks are contained in eleven paragraphs. Interesting notices of St. Blane are given by Bishop Forbes, in les Petits Bollandistes, and in the “Dictionary of Christian Biography.” He is noticed, also, in the Works of Bishop Challoner, of Rev. Alban Butler, and of Rev. S. Baring-Gould.

    While some writers place the time of St. Blane so early as the fifth, it is more generally thought, that he lived in the sixth century. However, his period of life has given rise to great differences of opinion. That he lived earlier than the beginning of the ninth century is certain, since we find him commemorated in the “Felire” of St. Aengus, on this day. His mother was Ercha, or Erca, of Irish birth; but, her name is written Ertha, in the Breviary of Aberdeen. She was a sister of St. Catan, and thus he was allied to a distinguished Irish family. Far different is the account of Dempster, who calls her Bertha. King Aidan, the son of Gauran, is stated to have been his father or grandfather, and he died in A.D. 604. Wherefore, our saint was probably born at the end of the sixth or beginning of the seventh century. St. Blaan is said to have been uncle to St. Laserian, Bishop and Patron of Leighlin.

    St. Blaan was born in the Island of Bute, which lies off the south-western shore of Scotland. In his youth, Blaan was instructed by his uncle, the Blessed Cathan, who lived there, and who is thought to have built the original church of Kingarth, the parish of which seems to have originally included the whole of that Island. The ruins of its ancient church are still to be seen, near the centre of the parish, about two miles north from the head of Kilchatan Bay. The highest elevation in that parish is known as Suidhe Chatain, or St. Chathan’s seat, about 520 feet above the sea level.

    Afterwards, St. Blane went over to Ireland, for his education in piety and learning. From the Acts of St. Catan, or Caddan, we learn some particulars regarding St. Blaan. He is said to have been a disciple to St. Congall, the celebrated Abbot of Bangor, and also to St. Kenneth -otherwise Cainnech during the seven years he lived in Ireland. From his connexion with these holy men, St. Blane could hardly have been born before the middle of the sixth century. Some notices, concerning the present holy man, may be found in the Life of St. Laserian, at the 18th of April.

    Having remained in Ireland for seven years, under the discipline of most holy masters, St. Blane returned with his mother in a boat without oars to the island of his nativity. On reaching Bute, they were joyfully received by St. Cathan. Under his direction, St. Blann began to cultivate those pious dispositions, which directed his aspirations towards the ecclesiastical state. His master, too, had a Divine inspiration, that he was destined to become a great man in the service of the Church, and this he also predicted. Accordingly, Blaan was promoted to sacred orders, and he was raised to the rank of priesthood. His virtues were so recognised, that certain bishops insisted he should be consecrated like themselves. Although unwilling to assume such an office, yet he was obliged to comply with their wishes. Having been engaged one night to tend the lamps, while the choir had been singing psalms, suddenly the lights went out. He had recourse to prayer for a time. Then, he is said to have struck fire from the ends of his fingers, as when flint is struck with steel. This miracle was wrought on his behalf, so that the brethren could not impute such accident to his idleness or negligence. After his return into Scotland, he entered among the Scottish Religious, called Culdees, or worshippers of God. These were famous in his day for their sanctity. With them, he behaved in so holy a manner, as to be chosen their Abbot or Superior. Like his uncle, St. Cathan, he appears to have been connected with the Island of Bute, and there St. Blane is reputed to have formerly enclosed land, extending from sea to sea, by certain and apparent boundaries. Near the centre of the southern peninsula, the ruins of St. Blane’s church are pointed out on an artificial mound, the level top of which is enclosed by a wall, composed of large stones rudely piled together, and 500 feet in circumference. The whole of this space, which was used as a cemetery, is arched with masonry about two feet beneath the surface.

    A rude built passage, which seems to have been underground, runs from it to a smaller and lower enclosure of 124 feet in circumference, and locally known as the Nunnery. This was used, apparently, as a burial ground for females. On the north, the Church is approached by a flight of steps leading from a neighbouring wood, in which there is a circular building. This stands at the base of a rocky ridge, about 50 feet high.

    Afterwards, St. Blane was judged worthy of being promoted to the episcopal dignity. Being consecrated a bishop, he remitted nothing of his former habits; but, still he continued to live in the midst of his Religious, as one of themselves, practising all the exercises of regular discipline. He is thought to have selected a site for a monastery, on the banks of the River Allan, and nearly equidistant from the German and Atlantic Oceans. It was sheltered on most sides by the Grampian and Ochils hills. The River flows beautifully clear, through a rocky channel, in a rapid and turbulent stream.His convent was afterwards erected into a Bishop’s See; but, when this occurred has not been ascertained. From him, that place was called Dunblane, or, as sometimes written, Dumblaine. Its Cathedral was dedicated to God in his name; and, he was honoured of old, as a patron of that whole diocese. The See comprehended portions of Perthshire and Sterlingshire. The medieval cathedral is said to have been founded by a great benefactor of the Church, David I., King of Scotland, in 1142, and the same monarch is supposed to have nominated its first bishop. It was restored, however, or rather rebuilt, by Clemens, Bishop of Dunblane, about the year 1240.

    The greater part of the cathedral has been unroofed, and it is otherwise in a ruinous state. However, the chancel is tolerably preserved, and it is still used as a parish church. The eastern window and a few of the entrances have been partially renewed. 

Some of the choristers’ seats, with those of the bishop and dean, are yet to be seen. These are of oak and quaintly carved. In the nave, most of the prebendal stalls are entire; the entrance and the fine western window have suffered little injury. The roof has fallen in, however, and the building is otherwise much decayed.


    CHAPTER II.
    THE MISSIONARY CAREER OF ST BLANE -HIS MIRACLES -HIS DEATH- FESTIVALS AND COMMEMORATIONS- CONCLUSION.

    THE Church of St. Blaan in Cenngaradh is described in that commentary, attached to the Leabhar Breac copy of the Feilire Aengus, at the 10th of August, as being in Gallgaedelaib, or Galloway, in Alba or Scotland; while Dumblane is there stated to have been his chief city. It has been stated, that St. Blaan laboured among the Picts in Scotland. Having been raised to the episcopal dignity, he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, to obtain a greater knowledge of Christian discipline, and an accumulation of spiritual graces. When he had been thus instructed and exercised, receiving the Pontifical blessing, he returned homewards, taking his way through England. On this journey, he did not use horses, but he travelled on foot. During his progress, he is said to have entered a city in the northern part of Anglia, where men and women were lamenting the death of a certain ruler’s son. Moved to compassion, St. Blaan offered up prayers, and the youth was miraculously restored to life. For this miraculous benefit, he received the lordships of Appleby, Troclyngham, Congere, and Malemath, in England. These manors remained the property of the See of Dunblane, to the fourteenth century.

    At length, St. Blaan most holily and most happily ended his days among the Scots. Some writers assert, that he died during the time of King Kenneth III., in the tenth century. Other accounts, however, place him at a much earlier period. Thus, it has been stated, that St. Blann died A.D. 446. This, however, is far antecedent to his time.

    His name and festival are entered in most of the Scottish kalendars at this day, viz. : in the Kalendarium Drummondiense, in the Martyrology of Aberdeen, in Adam King’s Kalendar, in the Menologium Scoticum of Thomas Dempster, as also in the Scottish Entries in the Calendar of David Camerarius. The Martyrology of Tallaght registers, at the 10th of August, Blaan, Bishop of Cinngaradh, in Gallghaedelaibh Udnochtan. This latter word is evidently a misplaced addition to the original text. In the anonymous Calendar of Irish Saints, as published by O’Sullivan Beare, the name of Blanius occurs, at the 10th of August. On the authority of Floratius, a Blavius, Bishop -identical with the present saint- is given at this same day. His name is entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, at this date, as Blaan, Bishop, of Ceann-garadh. It is added, likewise, in Gall Ghavidhelu, Dubblann was his chief city. In the Table postfixed to this Martyrology, it is observed, that no notice had been taken of him in the Roman Martyrology. Under the head of Cind-Garad, Duald MacFirbis records Blaan, Bishop, from Cinn Garad in Gall Gaeidhela, Dunblane, its chief city. He is named Blaan, and called the virtuous of Britain, at August 10th.

    Several churches were dedicated to St. Blane, in Bute and Argyleshire. One of these was known as Kilblane, a parish in the diocese of Argyle, and Deanery of Kintyre. The bell of St. Blane-a small hand-bell-is still preserved at Dunblane. It is marked H. + B. It was customary to ring it formerly, at the head of all funeral processions in the parish. This holy bishop lived to perform works, which gave edification to those subjects placed under his rule, while he laboured to render himself deserving of the responsibilities unwillingly assumed as superior.

    To his flock, he broke the bread of life, and preached the words of wisdom, so that when called from earth his virtues were eternally rewarded in the companionship of God’s faithful servants.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2024. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Kevin of Glendalough, June 3

    Míl Críst i crích nÉrenn,
    ard na-ainm tar tuind tretan,
    Cóemgen cáid cáin cathair,
    i nGlinn dá lind lethan.

    A soldier of Christ into the border of Erin,
    a high name over the sea’s wave:
    Coemgen the chaste, fair warrior,
    in the Glen of two broad loughs.
    Thus does the Martyrology of Oengus record the feast of Saint Coemgen (Coemghen, Caoimhghin, Kevin) of Glendalough on June 3rd. Whilst Saint Oengus has devoted his entire quatrain for the day to Saint Kevin, the prose Martyrology of Tallaght simply records Caemgin ab Glinne da Locha, Kevin, abbot of Glendalough. Saint Marianus O’Gorman starts his entries for the day with just the saint’s name Caemgen, but the entry in the seventeenth-century Martyrology of Donegal incorporates many of the traditions which had grown up around Saint Kevin in the intervening centuries. It also references the saint’s genealogy which places Saint Kevin among the people of the Dál Messin Corb, who controlled the Leinster kingship in the fifth century.
    Despite being one of the most well-known and well-loved of Irish saints, remarkably little historical information has survived about Saint Kevin. In his classic study of the sources for early Irish Christianity, J.F. Kenny wrote:
    GLENN-DÁ-LOCHO (GLENDALOUGH) AND ST. COEMGEN

    Glenn-dá-locho,”Valley of two lakes” (Glendalough), a lonely and picturesque valley in the midst of the mountains of Wicklow, contains some of the most noteworthy monuments of pre-Norman ecclesiastical architecture in Ireland. These, and the many references in the annals and elsewhere indicate that Glendalough was an important centre of Irish religious life from the sixth to the twelfth century. The reputed founder of the monastery of Glendalough was Coemgen, or Coemghen (anglice Kevin), who was, we are told, of the royal race of Leinster. He retired to the glen to lead a hermit’s life, and the disciples who gathered around him formed the monastery. The death of Coemgen is entered in the Annals of Ulster under 618 and 622, but the record is doubtful. He is given an age of one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty years, which may be a misunderstood chronological datum.
    There are five versions of the Life of Coemgen. The first, in Latin, is quite extensive. The second is much shorter, being an abbreviated text prepared at a late date for lectionary or homiletic use in some monastery. The Irish texts are late, and are not closely related to the Latin. Plummer’s conclusions regarding these documents may be summarised as follows: Version iii is an incomplete and somewhat careless summary of an earlier Life; Version iv is a composite production, based in part on material similar to that used by iii; Version v is derived mainly, but not entirely, from iv. The date of the first version seems to be the tenth or eleventh century.
    J F Kenny, The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical (1929), 403-4.
    The three Irish Lives of Coemgen translated by the Rev. Charles Plummer in his Bethada Náem Nérenn collection are available to read through the Internet Archive here. His edition of the Latin text of the Vita Sancti Coemgeni can also be found there. All of the surviving Lives portray Saint Kevin as a strict ascetic in the tradition of the Desert Fathers who relishes solitude, subsists on herbs and follows a strict programme of ascetical practices, praying whilst up to his waist in the waters of the lough, praying crois-fhigill, ‘cross-vigil’, where the arms are outspread in imitation of Christ’s position on the cross and sleeping in a cave. Scholar A.P. Smyth also notes:
    The hagiographical lore relating to Kevin living in the tree-tops and praying in the trees owes something to the motif of the wild man in early Irish literature, as well as to the stylite movement among ascetics in Syria  and elsewhere in the Near East.
    A.P. Smyth, ‘Kings, Saints and Sagas’ in K. Hannigan and W. Nolan eds., Wicklow – History and Society – Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County (Dublin, 1994), 52.
    Given these connections to the traditions of the Desert Fathers, it is perhaps no surprise to see that on the twelfth-century List of Parallel Saints, which equates Irish saints with those of the Universal Church, Saint Kevin is given as the equivalent of Saint Paul the Hermit. This third-century Egyptian saint, hailed as the first hermit, actually made his way onto the Irish calendars at January 25 as well as having a cameo role in the Navigatio of Saint Brendan. I have previously written about this here.  Saint Kevin’s ascetical reputation is also reflected in the hymn of Saint Cuimin of Connor on the characteristic virtues of the Irish saints. In telling us what Saint Kevin loved he wrote:
    Caoimhghin loved a narrow cell,
    It was a work of mortification and religion,
    In which perpetually to stand,
    It was a great shelter against demons.
    The temptation of a hermit by a demon in female form is also a topos found in the traditions of the Desert Fathers. The Latin Life depicts Saint Kevin as repelling the unwanted advances of his temptress by arming himself with the sign of the cross and then striking her with bundles of nettles, after which, in true hagiographical fashion, she sees the error of her ways and commits to a life of sanctity.
    In time however, the solitary ascetic of the Upper Lake attracted a community around him and moved to the Lower Valley to found his monastic civitas. As is usual in hagiography, the establishment of any new monastic site requires some supernatural intervention. Canon O’Hanlon, in Volume V of his Lives of the Irish Saints, narrates the story of how Saint Kevin was persuaded to make this move, according to the Latin Life:

    An Angel of the Lord came to St. Kevin and said: “O saint of God, the Lord hath sent me with a message, that you may be induced to go to a place he hath appointed for you, eastwards from the lesser Lake. There you shall be among your brethren, and it shall be the place of your resurrection.”

    Saint Kevin, however, is initially reluctant to move saying:

    “If it would not displease the Lord,  I should wish to remain to the day of my death in this place, where I have toiled for Christ.”

    So the angel adds a further inducement:
    The Angel answered: “If  you, with your  monks, go to that place  indicated,  many sons of light shall  be always in it and after your time, the monks shall have a sufficiency of earthly possessions, and many thousands of happy souls shall arise with you, from that place, to the kingdom of Heaven.”

    After further reassurance about the future fame and prosperity that Glendalough will enjoy and with his objections to the stoniness of the new proposed site dealt with by the angel, Saint Kevin and his heavenly advisor ‘walked upon the waters of the Lake, towards a locality indicated’. Then:

    Not long afterwards, the same Angel appeared to St. Kevin. He said: “In the name of our Lord Jesus  Christ, arise with thy monks, and go to that place, which the Lord  hath ordained for thy resurrection.” After pronouncing these words, the Angel departed.

    The move to the Lower Lough does not signify any lessening of Saint Kevin’s commitment to the ascetical life, as this verse from the Metrical Irish Life, the second in Plummer’s list, confirms:

    Coemgen was among stones
    On the border of the lake on a bare bed,
    With his slender side on a stone,
    In his glen without a booth over him.

    He may no longer have been sleeping in the original ‘Kevin’s Bed’ cave site on the Upper Lough, but the new site still saw the saint committed to a hard and stony resting place and still at the mercy of the elements. None of the Lives date to the lifetime of the saint but instead reflect the realities of succeeding centuries when Glendalough had expanded to become an important site of both pilgrimage and burial. The moving away from the original sites on the Upper Lough associated with Saint Kevin is dealt with in this later hagiography by having the saint persuaded by an angel that this relocation is God’s will. It may well be though that in the discussions between Saint Kevin and the angel we can discern an echo of the actual discussions that would have taken place within the community at Glendalough about the expansion of their monastic ‘city’. When exactly the move from the Upper Lough to the Lower took place is not known, but Smyth suggests that it may have been in the eighth century.

    Saint Kevin died in 622 and his ultimate resting place is still debated. In between the original site at the Upper Lough and that of the monastic city on the Lower lies the church of Reefert, Ríg Ferta, ‘the Cemetery of the Kings’. Saint Oengus the Martyrologist in the Prologue to his calendar of the saints declares ‘the cemetery of the west of the world is multitudinous Glendalough’. Reefert is one possible location for Saint Kevin’s tomb, although his remains may well have been translated from their original burial place and enshrined with great ceremony in the monastic church at a later period. The Annals of Ulster record at the year 790 the comotatio of the relics of Saint Kevin. This term refers to the taking of relics on circuit, most likely to other churches associated with Glendalough and would support the likelihood that the founder’s relics were housed in a richly-decorated shrine for public veneration.

    In the centuries following Saint Kevin’s death Glendalough became an important centre of pilgrimage, his Latin Life claiming that it was one of the four main pilgrimage sites in Ireland. His monastery found a place in a Litany of Irish saints preserved in the twelfth-century Book of Leinster and published in the 1925 collection Irish Litanies also translated by the Rev. Charles Plummer. Litany I invokes ‘Forty saints in Glen da Loch with Coemgen, noble priest’. In our own times Saint Kevin has become something of a poster boy for the ‘Celtic Christianity’ movement which attributes to our native holy men and women a special relationship with nature and the animal creation. Whilst I do not share this movement’s interpretation of our native saints, nevertheless the animal stories associated with Saint Kevin are perhaps specially appropriate, since they too owe their origins to the Desert Fathers. I have looked at a couple of the legends involving birds and the founder of Glendalough here.  Finally, since there is no translation of the Vita Sancti Coemgeni available, I have posted some selections from Canon O’Hanlon’s reading of it here.  This is how he describes the ending of Saint Kevin’s Life:

    When St. Kevin had consoled his monks and imparted his benediction, his thoughts were solely devoted to preparation for his departure from that place, so endeared to him by religious associations; and, he now turned his mind, on the abiding home he sought for in Heaven. He then received Christ’s most Sacred Body and Blood, from the hands of St. Mocherog. His monks stood around, in tears and lamentations, when their venerable superior breathed his last. Having lived, in this world, according to common report, for the extraordinary and lengthened period of one hundred and twenty years, he departed to join choirs of Angels and Archangels, in the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Third of June Nones is the date assigned for his death; and on the 3rd of June, accordingly, his festival is celebrated.
    Rev J. O’Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints, Vol. VI (Dublin, 1875),  p.71.

    Note: This post, first published in 2024, replaces the former blog entry on Saint Kevin from 2014.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2024. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Colman of Oughaval, May 15

    May 15 is the feast of Saint Colmán of Oughaval in County Laois.  I have previously published a short account of this holy man by diocesan historian Bishop Michal Comerford here, but below is the entry from Volume 5 of Canon O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Irish Saints. Canon O’Hanlon was born in Stradbally,  County Laois, the same parish in which Oughaval is situated and of which Saint Colmán is the patron. In his account of the local saintly hero Canon O’Hanlon makes a couple of basic points to bear in mind: First, that our knowledge of this saint is derived from his appearance in the Lives of two other Irish saints – Colum Cille and Fintan of Clonenagh; secondly, that his name Colmán also appears in some sources as Columbanus, which is not surprising since both are derived from the name Colum.  He also discusses the various ways in which the place name Oughaval is rendered and shows his customary irritation at the attempts of the later Scottish martyrologist, David Camerarius, to ignore the reality that in early medieval Europe Scotia was the name applied to Ireland and that ‘Scottish’ saints were actually Irishmen. One of the most interesting sections of Canon O’Hanlon’s account is when he quotes Adomnán’s Vita Columbae concerning the death of Colmán of Oughaval and the addition of a prayer composed on the spot by Saint Colum Cille to the existing commemoration of Saint Martin of Tours in the liturgy.  Canon O’Hanlon concludes by noting that Saint Colmán died on May 15, that would be the date of his own death in the year 1905. I am very grateful to blog reader Seán for sending me the photograph above of the commemorative plaque at Stradbally in honour of Canon O’Hanlon’s many achievements:

    Article IV. — St. Colman, or St. Columban, Mac Ua Laoighse, of Oughaval, Queen’s County. [Sixth Century.]

    His relations with the great Abbot of Iona, St. Columkille, and with St. Fintan, Abbot of Clonenagh, have given special celebrity to the present holy man. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, the name of Colman Mac h Laighsi, is simply inserted, at the 15th of May, or at the Ides of this same month. From the foregoing record, the Bollandists have given insertion to his feast, at the same date, in their collection, calling him Colmanus, filius Hua-Laigsi, seu Mac-ua-Laigse. He belonged to the race of Laoighsigh Ceannmoir, son of Conall Cearnach, a celebrated Ultonian hero, living in the first century. His pedigree occurs, in the Genealogies of Irish Saints; and, it serves to show, how Colman derived the tribe-name Mac Ua Loighse. According to this authority, he was son to Lugna, son of Eugene, son to Guaire, the son of Ere, son to Bracan, son of Lugad Eaighsech, son to Laigisius Cenn-mor, son of Conall Kearnach, who belonged to the noble Roderician family. This pedigree is evidently defective, however, in several generations as nine degrees are quite insufficient to fill five centuries. His kinsman, Oennu Ua Laighse, who died about the same time, is thirteen generations removed from Conall Cearnach. Besides the name of Colman, he is known by that of Columbanus — an exchange of names often occurring in the Lives of our Irish Saints, and applying to the same individual. Thus, we find Colman-Eala – called Colmanellus Colman, or Columbanus; again, the Colman Mor of Irish history, is also called Columbanus; while, the Colman of Bede is called Columbanus, in the Annals of Ulster, at A.D. 667, 675, and in those of Tighernach, at A.D. 676. In the Life of St. Fintan, Abbot of Clonenagh, whose Acts have been already published, at the 17th of February, we are told, that this religious youth, who is there called Columbanus, was a native of Leix, in the Leinster province. For the sake of making a pilgrimage, and of engaging in prayer, this Columbanus directed his course to the island of Iona, in order to visit St. Columba. Here, he remained for some time, and he lived with this latter holy Abbot. When Colman wished to return again to his own country, he asked Columba, how he should live there, not being able to confess his sins to the holy Abbot. St. Columba said, “Go to that pious man, whom I see standing among the Angels and before the tribunal of Christ, on each Sunday night.” The holy youth asked, who and what sort of man he was. St. Columba answered, “There is a certain saintly and handsome man, in your part of the country, whose complexion is florid, whose eyes are brightly sparkling, and whose white locks of hair are thinly scattered on his head.” The young man then said, “I know of no man answering to this description, in my country, except St. Fintan.” Then St. Columba joyfully said to him: “He it is, my son, whom I see before the tribunal of Christ, as I have already told you. Go to him, for he is a good shepherd of Christ’s flock, and he shall bring many souls with him to the kingdom of God.” St. Colman or Columbanus — as he is here called — having received permission to revisit Ireland, and having the benediction of St. Columba, afterwards set out for his own country. Coming to St. Fintan, Columban told him all that the saintly Abbot of Iona had said. The holy old man, Fintan, hearing these words, blushed deeply, so that his face seemed as if on fire. He told the young man to be careful and not to relate these circumstances to any other person, at least, during his own lifetime. This condition imposed a great restraint on Colman; for, St. Fintan, shortly after their interview, departed this life.

    From the foregoing account, we may infer, that St. Colman, after his return from Iona, was still a young man, who had probably learned the rudiments of monastic discipline, under that great master of a spiritual life, St. Columkille. The date regarding St. Fintan’s death is questioned. Colgan says, he died long before the close of the sixth century, and allows him to have flourished in the year 560; while Dr. Lanigan maintains it as probable, that he reached the age of about seventy, thus departing towards the year 595, or two years before the death of St. Columkille, in 597. It seems evident, that St. Colman must have commenced the foundation of a religious establishment, at Oughaval, shortly before or after the death of St. Fintan; unless we admit Dr. Lanigan’s other conjecture. This historian thinks it more probable, the bishop Columbanus, mentioned in St. Fintan’s Life, was a different person from the Leinster bishop, Columbanus Mac-loigse. He admits, however, that the term juvenus may be applied to a person near thirty years of age, and that Colman or Columbanus might have became a bishop, soon after the death of St. Fintan. Again, he may have died not long afterwards; that is to say, before the death of St. Columkille, Abbot of Iona. Our saint is called a Leinster Bishop, by Cumineus, and by Adamnan; and not a Bishop of Lagena, in Lagenia, as Mabillon misapprehends. Nor must we confound him with another visitor of St. Columba, and who was named Columbanus, son of Beognai. The present holy man was surnamed Mocu-Loigse, owing to his having been descended from the family of a prince, named Laigis. From him was derived the name of Leix, a large district of Leinster. There, St. Columban was bishop, and at place, called Tulach-mac-Comguile. A certain Columbanus is mentioned, with others, who made Scotland famous, for their holy lives, good example, and solid learning. This was sufficient to cause David Camerarius, to enrol him a Saint and Bishop, in his Menology, as the Bollandists remark, when setting a Feast for him, at this day. It seems probable, he may have been confounded, with the present holy man; however, on this matter, we cannot presume to offer any safe opinion. Unwilling to admit an Irish name, Dempster perverts Lageniensis into Longinensis; while he states, that the place was unknown, and that the day for St. Columbanus adtus was uncertain, being known only to God. The Scottish writer in question has treated Columbanus’ Acts and memory, in his familiar style of fiction and of imagination. Colgan takes him severely to task, for his misstatements, regarding that saint, and then he proceeds to examine and to produce reasons, for the information of his readers, that so they may be enabled to judge for themselves, concerning the amount of credit due to such falsehoods. No insuperable difficulty exists, in resolving that religious young man, named Columbanus from the province of Leinster, as mentioned in the Acts of St. Fintan, into Columbanus bishop in Leinster, as found in Adamnan’s Life of St. Columba. The recollection, that Leix is given, as the common country, and Columkille, as a contemporary, with the person named in either record, prevents us doubting much the identity of one and the same Columbanus. He was yet a comparatively young man, not much — if at all — exceeding thirty years of age. Admitting the supposition, it is therefore probable, that soon after Columban or Colman returned from Iona, he selected Nuachcongbail, as a site for his church. Shortly afterwards, it is probable, he was constituted a chorepiscopus or a rural bishop. The exact site for this place of settlement was at Ougheval, a townland within the parish of Stradbally, in the eastern part of the Queen’s County. That church was built, also, within the ancient territory of Leix, and in the province of Leinster. The old graveyard in which Colman’s church once stood, is even yet, a favourite place for interment. Oughaval is universally pronounced Ochval — but written Oakvale — in the neighbourhood. It is quite possible, that some portions of St. Columban’s old church remain there; but, if so, only the foundations can lay claim, to very remote antiquity. An extraordinary pile of rubble-stone building, intended to represent an old ruined church or a monastery, now occupies the site of a medieval structure, which served for parochial services, down to the seventeenth century. It was erected by Pole Cosby, Esq., about the beginning of the last century, to serve for a family place of interment. A crypt is beneath; and, it rests on a rock-foundation. The subsoil of this cemetery is naturally a dry mould, covering a fine limestone formation. The coffins of the dead are long preserved from total decay, while the decomposition of corpses proceeds rather slowly. On the west side of this churchyard, few corpses are interred, except those of unbaptized infants. A low wall, surmounting a deep and almost circular fosse, once surrounded the graveyard; but, this has been completely obliterated, within the past few years. The burial-ground itself was considerably elevated, above the level of adjoining fields. It is possible, St. Colman combined the episcopal with the abbatial functions, at Oughaval; but, regarding this matter, we have no certain record. 

    It is most probable, that he did not attain an advanced age, as he died before St. Columkille, and previous to the close of the sixth century. In Adamnan’s Life of the great Abbot of Iona, he gives an account, regarding that vision of blessed Angels, who had conducted the soul of the holy bishop Columban Mocu Loigse to Heaven. There, it is stated, that on the morning of a certain day, while the monks of Iona were putting on their shoes, to engage in various labours of the monastery, St. Columkille had resolved, that it should be observed as a holiday, and that preparations should be made, for offering up the “Clean Oblation.” That holy Abbot likewise ordered some addition to their breakfast, as on a Sunday. “And, to-day,” said he, “however unworthy I may be, it behoves me to celebrate the mysteries of the Holy Eucharist, through veneration for the spirit of Him, who hath ascended beyond the starry vault of Heaven into Paradise, during the past night, being borne thither among holy choirs of Angels. In obedience to orders received from the saint, his monks spent the day as one of rest; and, having prepared everything for a celebration of the Divine Mysteries, with white vestments, as if it were a solemn festival, they proceeded with their Abbot to the church. But, it happened, that while the usual prayer had been chaunted, during the  progress of the holy offices, and in a measured strain, St. Martin’s name was commemorated. On a sudden the holy Abbot called to his choristers, and said: “To-day you should sing for the holy bishop Columbanus,” when they had come to the aforesaid name of St. Martin. The nature of this commemoration we learn, from an ancient Liturgy, and from a form prescribed by St. Aurelianus;, for the church of Arles. According to the Rev. Dr. Reeves, St. Columba seems to have composed on the spot a proper Preface for the occasion and thus, in virtue of his abbatial authority, to have instituted a festival for the church of Hy, in commemoration of the bishop’s death. St. Martin was held in special veneration, by the Irish; and, therefore, we are not surprised at finding his name on the Missal, then used at Iona. And, after a short interval, certain persons that came from Leinster province to Iona brought an account, how the bishop had died on that very same night, when his departure had been revealed to the holy Abbot. The foregoing account is amplified, from the ancient Life of St. Columkille, attributed to Cummian. He also calls our saint, Episcopus Lagenensis. Then all the monks understood, that Columbanus, a bishop in Leinster and a dear friend of St. Columkille, had departed to the Lord. We think it probable, the present St. Colman or Columban died, early on the morning of the 15th of May. There can be no doubt, that in former times, this holy man was greatly venerated. The festival of Colman Mac Ua Laigse, or Columbanus Mcocu Laigse, is placed at the 15th of May, by Marianus O’Gorman, and by Charles Maguire. In the Martyrology of Donegal, at this same day, he is commemorated, as Colman, son of Ua Laoighse, of Tulach-mic-Comghaill, in Druimne Togha, i.e., Nua Congbail, in Laoighis of Leinster. There he led a holy life, and passed away to taste the waters of eternal life.

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