OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish Saints

  • Saint Mirren of Paisley, September 15

    September 15 is the commemoration of Saint Mirren (Mirin, Mirinus, Meadhran), to whom Paisley Abbey in Scotland is dedicated. I have previously posted the account from Bishop Alexander Forbes’s 1872 work, Scottish Kalendars, here but we revisit the saint today in the company of Canon O’Hanlon. September 15 in Volume IX of his Lives of the Irish Saints opens with an account of Saint Mirren as the lead article for the day. In a footnote we learn that Canon O’Hanlon visited the site of Paisley Abbey in 1874 and made one of his splendid sketches. In the Abbey’s dedication Saint Mirren shared the honours with a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon abbess, Saint Milburga, as well as with Saint James and the Blessed Virgin. Our knowledge of Saint Mirren is derived from the Lessons for his Feast as preserved in the Aberdeen Breviary of 1510. It depicts him as a disciple of Saint Comgall of Bangor, who worked a number of miracles at Bangor, where he was elected as prior, before going to Scotland. The editor of the 2012 edition of the Aberdeen Breviary, Alan Macquarrie, makes the point that the Irish vitae of Saint Comgall do not allude to any relationship with Mirren. The miracles attributed to Saint Mirren in the Breviary are also found in the Lives of Comgall but without reference to Mirren. Lesson Three in the office of Saint Comgall in the Breviary, however, upholds the idea that the pair were teacher and pupil as it says that ‘St Mirren was sent to him by his noble parents to be nurtured’. Modern consensus seems to be that there is no compelling reason to challenge the idea that Saint Mirren may have undertaken his Scottish mission under the auspices of Bangor as did Saint Maelrubha, who was also a monk from Saint Comgall’s famous foundation. Canon O’Hanlon’s account ends with a gazetteer of place names associated with Saint Mirren, but here modern scholarship is less confident about some of these identifications. Dr Macquarrie notes:

    Some places have been doubtfully connected with him: Forbes mentions ‘St Mirren’s Chapel’ at Kilmarnock in Lennox and St Mirren’s Well at Kilsyth. In fact the name Kilmaronock Cill mo Rónóic, from Rónán .. is unconnected with Mirren. It is sometimes said that Inchmurrin in Loch Lomond contains his name; but it is more likely that this is from the female name Muirenn.

    Alan Macquarrie, ed., Legends of Scottish Saints: Readings, hymns and prayers for the commemorations of Scottish saints in the Aberdeen Breviary (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012), p. 393.

    So, below is Canon O’Hanlon’s account from the 1870s of both Saint Mirren and the history of the Abbey at Paisley which once held his tomb. Since the Lessons found in the Office for the feast day of Saint Mirren are our sole source of information, I have also appended a nineteenth-century translation of these from another contemporary source:

    ARTICLE I.—ST. MIRINUS OR MEADHRAN, PATRON OF PAISLEY, SCOTLAND.

    [SIXTH CENTURY.)

    ALTHOUGH chiefly venerated in Scotland, St. Mirinus—also called Meadhran—seems to have been born in Ireland. Whatever is related regarding him, we find chiefly contained in the Breviary of Aberdeen, where there is an Office of Five Lessons for St. Mirinus; all of which seems to have been taken from the Life of St. Comgall, Abbot of Bangor, in Ireland. At an early age, his parents entrusted their son to the care of St. Comgall, to be trained in his school. In Bangor Monastery he assumed the religious habit, and subsequently he there became prior. The gentleness of his rule was admired by all, and he was especially loved by the monks over whom he presided. When St. Finian, Abbot of Maghbile, came to visit Bangor during the absence of St. Comgall, he asked for milk, which was not to be had, as the strict observance of the monastery required the inmates to live only on bread and herbs. However, Merinus desired the cellarer to bring from the buttery some milk, which was miraculously procured and distributed, through favour of St. Finian, to the other monks at table. On a certain occasion, one of the brethren saw Merinus surrounded with a heavenly light, while sitting in his cell. At length, St. Mirinus left Ireland in order to spread the faith in Scotland, then newly evangelized by the great St. Columkille, Abbot of Iona. The chief establishment of Mirin was at Passelet—now Paisley—one of the most busy commercial towns of Scotland. Here tradition states, that he built a religious house. Besides, St. Mirin is said to have been Abbot over the Monastery in Paisley. Here, too, he lived for a very considerable time. It is related, that one of his monks, owing to hunger and thirst, had fallen dead in a valley, called Colpdasch. However, through the merits of holy Merin, he was again restored to life. Having wrought many miracles, and having passed a life of great holiness, he slept in the Lord at Paisley. There, too, in his honour the church of that place was dedicated to God, and he is the recognised local patron.

    At the 15th of September, the Martyrology of Aberdeen enters a festival for St. Mirin, Bishop and Confessor, at Paisley, in Scotland. Adam King’s Kalendar has. a notice of St. Mirine, at the 15th of September. In his “Menologium Scoticum,” Thomas Dempster records him at the same date. The memory of St. Merinus, Abbot, is recorded in two late Manuscript Catalogues of Irish Saints, as the Bollandists remark; besides, in Greven’s additions to the Martyrology, he is called a bishop in Scotia, while Ferrarius sets him down as an Abbot. The Bollandists notice this festival of St. Merinus or Mirinus, Abbot of Paisley, at the 15th day of September.

    When the Rule of Cluny had been introduced from Wenlock in Shropshire, England, after a temporary resting place at Renfrew, the Abbey of Paisley was founded for monks of the Cluniac Order, about 1163, by Walter, High Steward of Scotland. Finding a church at Paisley already dedicated to St. Mirren or Mirinus, they combined his name with the titles of St. James and of their patroness of Wenlock, St. Milburga, when their own church and monastery were dedicated. At first, Paisley was only a Priory; but, in 1216, a Bull of Pope Honorius III. detached it from Wenlock, and had it constituted an Abbacy. The buildings then existing were burned by the English, in 1307, during the War of Independence, and the monastery seems to have been almost entirely destroyed.

    In 1406, Robert III., King of Scotland, was interred in Paisley Abbey. Little seems to have been done towards a restoration of the building, until the Abbot Thomas Tervas, who died a.D. 1459, commenced the good work, which was completed by his successor, the Abbot George Shaw. He ruled from 1472 to 1499. During the troublous times of the Reformation in Scotland, the last Abbot, John Hamilton, had ceased to exercise jurisdiction in 1545; yet, by consent of Queen Mary, he retained the abbacy in trust for his nephew, Lord Claud Hamilton. However, in the year 1557, a body of the Reformers attacked the abbey, drove the monks out of the building, and “burnt all the ymages and ydols and popish stuff in the same.” Having been present in the Queen’s interest, at the battle of Langside, 13th May, 1568, John Hamilton attended her during her flight to England, so far as the Solway. Afterwards he was declared a traitor by Regent Murray. On the 2nd of April, 1571, he was captured in the Castle of Dumbarton. His possessions were forfeited, and the abbey lands of Paisley were bestowed on William Lord Sempil. Since that period, the glorious Abbey Church of Paisley has become a venerable ruin, the traces of which reveal to the beholder its former magnificence. When entire, it consisted of a nave, choir, and north transept. The chapel of St. Mirren and St. Columba occupies the place where the south transept should have been. The total outside length of the building, in its perfect state, had been 265 feet. The chapel of St. Mirran and St. Columba, better known as the “Sounding Aisle,” is on the south side, and on the site of the south transept. The nave is the only part now roofed, and it is still used as the Presbyterian church for Abbey Parish. The chapel of St. Mirren, or “the sounding aisle,” was erected about the end of the fifteenth century.

    In Scotland are various localities, associated with the name of this saint. Thus, in the south-east boundary of the parish of Kelton in Kirkcudbright is Kirk Mirren, where the vestige of an ancient chapel and churchyard may be found. In the parish of Kilmarnock is St. Mirren’s ruined Chapel upon Inch Murryn, the largest Island of romantic Loch Lomond. Owing to the name and to the patron, some former connexion with the Abbey of Paisley may be traced. In Kilsyth, on the south of Woodend, there is a remarkable spring called St. Mirrin’s Well. In the parish of Coylton, there is a farm called Knock Murran. On the south side of the North Esk is the Burn of Murran. There are no distinct traces of this Saint’s memory anywhere on the east coast of Scotland.

    Rev John O’Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints: with special festivals, and the commemorations of holy persons, compiled from calendars, martyrologies, and various sources, relating to the ancient church history of Ireland, Volume IX, (Dublin, n.d.),  377-381.

    APPENDIX: THE OFFICE FOR SAINT MIRREN FROM THE ABERDEEN BREVIARY

    Note: This author has rendered the name of the saint as Mirin and that of Comgall as Congal, which is the practice in Scotland.

    The following is the complete office in the Breviary of Aberdeen for St. Mirin’s day :—

    PRAYER. 

    Oh God who art merciful in Thy nature, and the ruler of our desires: graciously hear the prayers of Thy suppliants, that by the intercession of Thy blessed Pontiff Mirin we may be enabled to obtain the remission of our sins: through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    FIRST LESSON. 

    Mirin, the bishop, was entrusted by his parents, at an early age, through the Divine inspiration, to St. Congal, to be brought up in the Monastery of Bangor: not only that he might instruct him in all polite learning*, but that he might likewise carefully train him in all knowledge of holiness, humility, chastity, and other virtues.  Mirin committed the precepts of eternal life and all pertaining to salvation to a retentive memory with all the ardour of his soul.

    [* Literally, ” that he might teach him in the perfection of letters.”]

    SECOND LESSON. 

    With increasing years, deeming his ancestral halls, riches, landed possessions, and other earthly goods fleeting and delusive, he resolved to carry the yoke of the Lord from his youth, and asked and received the habit of Holy Religion from St. Congal in the Monastery of Bangor. Not long afterwards, the office of Prior of the Monastery having become vacant, he was elected Prior, against his will, by Congal and his brethren. Having entered upon the duties of his office, he reproved the Brethren more from a cordial love of charity than indiscreet zeal, and the one whom he outwardly chastised he inwardly loved.

    THIRD LESSON. 

    On a certain occasion, Finian, Bishop of Moville, a man of great sanctity, came on a friendly visit to the Monastery of Bangor during the absence of St. Congal, and was kindly received by blessed Mirin, the prior, of whom, on account of delicate health, he asked a drink of milk. Now, there was no milk in the Monastery, but the cellarer, by order of the blessed Mirin, going into the cellar, found a dish filled with the best of milk, which having brought, at a nod from him, he presented to blessed Finian. Thereafter, he kindly sent it round the company, sitting according to their rank.

    FOURTH LESSON. 

    Mirin afterwards proceeded to the camp of a certain king of Ireland, for the purpose of establishing the Catholic faith upon a firmer footing, where, the wife of the king at the time being near her confinement, was sorely distressed by various pains and sufferings. The king having heard of Mirin’s arrival, would not permit him to enter his camp; but, [on the contrary,] treated him with utter contempt; which the blessed Mirin perceiving, he prayed God that that accursed king might feel the pains and pangs of the suffering wife, which immediately happened, as he had besought the Lord ; so that for three days and as many nights he ceased not to shout* before all the chiefs of his kingdom. But the king seeing himself so ignominiously humbled by God, and that no remedy was of any avail, sought Mirin’s lodging, and most willingly granted all that he had previously desired. Then blessed Mirin by his holy prayers freed the king entirely from his pains.

    [* With pain (to howl).]

    FIFTH LESSON. 

    On a certain occasion the blessed Mirin remaining in his cell past the usual time, the brother who waited upon him went to ascertain the cause of the delay. On approaching the cell he instantly stood in rapt amazement, for through the chinks and fissures he beheld a celestial splendour. That night the blessed Mirin did not join the brethren at the psalmody in the church according to their wont. But understanding by Divine inspiration that the brother had been witness to such stupendous wonders, he took him apart in the morning, and charged him to tell no one during his life what he had seen on the previous night, and that in the meantime he should not presume to approach his cell.

    SIXTH LESSON. 

    On another occasion likewise, whilst the brethren of St. Mirin were at work near the valley of Colpdasch, one of them quite overpowered by fatigue and thirst, falling down upon the ground, expired, and lay lifeless from noon till none [i.e, 12—3 P.M.]. But blessed Mirin was very much grieved that the Brother should have been removed by such an untoward and sudden death. He besought the Lord, and immediately the dead man was restored to his former life. At length, full of sanctity and miracles, he slept in the Lord at Paisley. The Church there is dedicated to God, under his invocation.*

    [*The last sentence is literally, in cujus honore, &c., ” in whose honour the said Church is dedicated to God,” &c.]

    Rev. J. Cameron Lees, The abbey of Paisley, from its foundation till its dissolution: with notices of the subsequent history of the church and an appendix of illustrative documents (Paisley, 1878), 42-44.

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  • 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.

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