OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish Saints

  • Saint Siollan of Moville, October 21

    In the calendar appended to his Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, Bishop William Reeves notes on October 21:

    ‘ S. SIOLLAN, abbot of Magh Bile’.

    The Martyrology of Gorman commemorates him as:

    ‘Sillán, a prince who was not evil and cruel’

    and the notes add:

    ‘Sillán the Master, i.e. great-grandson of Garb, abbot of Mag bile.’

    This latter information is also found in the entry for October 21 in the Martyrology of Donegal which records:

    ‘ SIOLLAN, the Master, Mac Ua Gairbh, abbot of Magh-bile.’

    Saint Siollan is the second saint of the monastery of Moville to be commemorated this month, as another of its abbots, Sinell, has his feastday on October 1. Here’s a reminder of the history of this foundation from Archbishop Healy:

    Moville, or Movilla, is at present the name of a townland less than a mile to the north-east of Newrtownards, at the head of Strangford Lough, in the county Down. This district was in ancient times famous for its great religious establishments. Bangor, to which we shall refer presently, is not quite five miles due north of Moville…Further south, but on the western shore of the same Lough, anciently called Lough Cuan, were the Abbey of Inch, the famous Church of Saul, in which St. Patrick died, and the Church of Downpatrick, in which he was buried with SS. Brigid and Columcille. And in one of the islands in the same Strangford Lough, now called Island Mahee, quite close to the western shore, was that ancient monastery and school of Noendrum, of which we have already spoken. Religious men from the beginning loved to build their houses and churches in view of this beautiful sheet of water, with its myriad islands and fertile shores, bounded in the distance by swelling uplands, that lend a charming variety to this rich and populous and highly cultivated county.

    …Finnian is said to have returned to Ireland and founded his school at Moville about the year A. D. 540, that is some twenty years after his namesake of Clonard had opened his own great school on the banks of the Boyne. The name Maghbile means the plain of the old tree, probably referring to some venerable oak reverenced by the Druids before the advent of St. Patrick. At present there is nothing of the ancient abbey-school except a few venerable yews to mark the city of the dead, and an old ruined church on the line of the high road from Newtownards to Donaghadee. This old church, which was one hundred and seven feet in length, in all probability did not date back to the original foundation of the place, although it undoubtedly stands on the site of St. Finnian’s original church. The spot was aptly chosen, sheltered by an amphitheatre of hills from the winds of the north and east, and commanding far away to the south a noble prospect of Lough Cuan’s verdant islets and glancing waters.

    St. Finnian died in A.D. 589, according to the Annals of Ulster, at a very great age.

    Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum or Ireland’s Ancient Schools and Scholars by the Most Rev. John Healy (6th edition, Dublin, 1912), 245 , 249, 254.

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  • Saints Hewald the Dark and Hewald the Fair, October 3

    October 3 is the commemoration of two of the Saxon saints who came to study in Ireland, the brothers Hewald, one of dark colouring and the other of fair. They joined in the great missionary endeavour to convert their continental kinsmen and met a martyr’s death. The summary of their lives below, taken from Father Richard Stanton’s Menology of England and Wales, ends with the translation of the relics of the Saints Hewald to Cologne, alas I seem to remember reading somewhere that their shrine disappeared in 1945:

    THE THIRD DAY.
    At Cologne and elsewhere, the commemoration of the two Brothers HEWALD, Martyrs and Priests, who died at the hands of the pagans, to whom they came to preach the Gospel of Christ.

    These two brothers were priests and Englishmen by birth, though they had lived long in Ireland as voluntary exiles, in order to their spiritual profit. They were known as the Black and White Hewald, from the difference in their hair, but no other names are given to them. They were both distinguished for their piety, but the elder is said to have been more learned in the Sacred Writings. These holy priests were attracted by the example of St. Willibrord and his companions, and, urged by a like zeal for souls, set off to preach the Gospel to the Old Saxons on the Continent. They took up their station at some place in Westphalia, and were kindly received in the house of a farmer, and immediately sent a message to ask for an audience of the lord of the district. While they were expecting an answer, they were constant in their prayers and psalmody, and daily offered the Holy Sacrifice on the portable altar, which they had brought with them. This led the inhabitants of the place to suspect that they had come to teach a new religion, and, fearing lest they should be favourably received by their ruler, they at once fell upon them and put them to death. The White Hewald was killed with the blow of a sword, but the other brother was reserved for many torments. The bodies of the Martyrs were then thrown into the Rhine. The murderers soon paid the penalty of their misdeed, as their lord was greatly displeased with their barbarous act, and ordered them all to be put to death.

    Miraculous events showed how precious was the death of the two brothers in the sight of God. One of them appeared in a vision to an English monk of the name of Tilman, settled in the neighbouring country, and told him to seek their bodies where a light from heaven should point out the spot. This he accordingly did, and buried the sacred remains with great reverence. Shortly afterwards the great Pepin ordered them to be translated to the city of Cologne, when they were placed in the Church of St. Cuniberht.

    R. Stanton, A Menology of England and Wales (London, 1892), 473-4.

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  • Saint Fidarle of Rahan, October 1

    October 1 is the feastday of Saint Fidarle (Fidairle, Fiodhairle, Fidharleus), an eighth-century abbot of the County Offaly monastery of Rahan. Rahan is the modern spelling of this placename, past variants include Rathen and Raithin. The Irish Raithean translates as ‘a ferny place’ and the locality was also known in the Irish Annals as Raithin Uí Suanaigh meaning ‘the Ferny Land of the O’Swanys’. The O’Swany family were the hereditary successors to St Carthage at the monastery of Rahan from the eighth century onwards. Our saint is a member of this family as the Martyrology of Tallaght, the earliest surviving Irish calendar, makes clear in its recording of his name at this day:

    Fidairle húa Suanaig ‘descendant of Súanach.’

    The later Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman notes not only his family but also that of his monastery:

    Fidarle descendant of Suanach, (and) abbot of Rathen.

    The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal adds the recording of the date of Saint Fidarle’s repose in the Annals of Ulster:

    1. A. KALENDIS OCTOBRIS. 1.

    FIODHAIRLE, Ua Suanaigh, Abbot of Raithin. The age of Christ when he went to heaven was 762.

    Although no further information on Saint Fidarle as an individual seems to have survived, if you are interested in learning more about the monastery he once governed there is a comprehensive report by the Heritage Service of Offaly County Council available online here. It is richly illustrated with maps, drawings and photographs of the site and brings together the major historical sources in its appendices.

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