OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish Saints

  • Saint Maonach of Dunleer, October 17

    At October 17 the Martyrology of Donegal records:

    17. C. SEXTO DECIMO KAL. NOVEMBRIS. 17.

    MAENACH, son of Cláirin, Abbot of Lann Léire, A.D. 720.

     

    A footnote adds that the year 720 is the date given for the repose of this saint in the Annals of Ulster. The place name associated with the saint, Lann Léire, is modern Dunleer, County Louth and a local researcher has made an interesting historical archive on the district available here. In the nineteenth-century Bishop Reeves sought to derive the name from the old Irish words lann, church and léire, austerity, but modern scholarship inclines to the view that it simply means ‘the church in the district of Léire’ rather than ‘the church of austerity.’ The name was in common use up until the twelfth century but after the coming of the Normans the lann element was replaced by dún, fort. The monastery of which Saint Maonach was abbot was originally founded by the saintly brothers Furadhran and Baithin. Our saint is the first abbot to be mentioned in the Annals after the founders. Thus Lann Léire must have been a foundation of some importance and various commentators have noted that no other County Louth monastery is referenced so frequently in the Irish Annals. Not only are its abbots recorded but so too are other events such as as attacks by the Vikings as well as by native marauders, culminating in the burning of the monastery in 1148.  One can only hope that Saint Maonach exercised his abbacy in less interesting times.
    Pádraig Ó Riain in his Dictionary of Irish Saints records a number of later literary sources which take our saint out of his Ulster monastery and seek to place him in Munster. A poem, for example, listing those on whom Saint Seanán of Scattery could call on in a time of need include ‘great Maonach, son of  Láirín’. It may be, however, that in some of these sources our saint has become confused with others of a similar name. Interestingly though, the name of Maonach, in its Latin guise of Monachus is to be found at October 17 in a fifteenth-century martyrology written in Cologne. It rather suggests that our saint, although today an obscure figure, was at one time much more well known.
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  • Saint Gall of Switzerland, October 16

    October 16 is the feastday of the Irishman hailed as the ‘Apostle of Switzerland’, Saint Gall, who gave his name to the Swiss canton of Saint-Gallen. He was a contemporary of the great Irish missionary saint, Columbanus, and both were students of Saint Comgall’s monastic school of Bangor. Gall was one of those who accompanied Columbanus on his endeavours to evangelize Europe and shared many adventures with him in the territory of the Franks, but it appears that the two parted on less than happy terms, when the indefatigable, if irascible, Columbanus, wanted to journey on to Italy. Below is an account of the parting of the ways from the ninth-century Vita Galli of Wettinus:

    On their journey, however, all the athletes of God were struck down with fever; illness prevented Gall from continuing on his way. While Columban was preparing to leave, Gall threw himself at his feet and said that weakness prevented him from moving on. The holy man, thinking a little mockery might make his friend decide to accompany him, said, ‘If you do not wish to share in my work, you shall celebrate Mass no more as long as I live’. He decided, however, of his own free will to remain and to accept the condition… All this happened, I think, according to the will and the providence of God, so that Gall, whom he had chosen, might lead the people of that country to eternal life.

    G. and B. Cerebelaud-Salagnac, Ireland-Isle of Saints, (Dublin, 1966), 122-123.

    Gall remained in Swabia and he lived as a hermit near the source of the river Steinach. He reposed on October 16th, 646. In 720 the monk Othmar built an abbey on the site of the holy hermit’s cell, which was the origin of the town of Saint-Gall.

    Columbanus journeyed on to Italy, where he founded the famous monastery of Bobbio. According to some accounts, he and his former disciple Gall were reconciled before the end. On one dark night Gall arose and instructed his deacon to prepare the altar for the celebration of the liturgy, as it had been revealed to him that his old master Columbanus had died. Soon word arrived from Italy that Columbanus had ordered his staff to be taken north to Gall as a sign of forgiveness.

    Below is an account of one of the miracles of Saint Gall, taken from Walafrid Strabo’s Libellus Secundus de Miraculis S. Galli Confessoris, written before 836. For scholar, J. M. Clark, it is evidence of the presence of Irish monks at the monastery of Saint Gall during the ninth and tenth centuries, bearing in mind that at this time the Irish were referred to as ‘Scotti’ or Scots:

    And once certain newcomers of the nation of the Scots, in whom the habit of wandering has become almost a second nature, left at this monastery one of their fellow-travellers, who was afflicted with many diseases. When he had stayed here for some days, and had daily prayed, with implicit faith, for the healing of his infirmities,one night he saw in a dream an old man of venerable aspect standing beside him. He asked the stranger who he was, and learnt that he was St Gall. And forthwith he said to him: “Thou seest, ‘domine,’ that I, whose body is quite wasted away, daily wait for a manifestation of thy powers. Do not, therefore, delay further in what I believe thee to be about to do. I know I have been preserved all the time to this end that, just as thy virtue is revealed far and wide to these barbarians, in the same way the splendour and fame of thy merits may also be made known to the men of thy race.”

    The pilgrim was healed, and Strabo asserts that he was still living at the Abbey and was leading a holy life.

    J.M. Clark, The Abbey of St Gall as a Centre of Literature and Art (Cambridge, 1926), 28-9.

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  • Saint Findsech of Sliabh Guaire, October 13

    On October 13 the Irish calendars commemorate a female saint, Findsech, who flourished in Sliabh Guaire. I have not been able to find out any more about her, although the author of a paper on the cult of the nine maidens of Scotland notes that October 13 is also the feastday of one of these maidens with the not wholly dissimilar name of Fincana. I am not an expert in the etymology of Irish names, but it seems to me that the only element these two have in common is that which indicates fairness – Finn – something which the Martyrology of Oengus alludes to in its entry for our saint:

    A virgin Saint, named Findsech, was venerated on the 13th October; the Feliré Aenguis at that date has “Fair Findsech’s feast,” the commentator on which, in the Leabhar Breac adds, “i.e. a virgin, and Ernaide (Nurney) is the name of her town in Sliab Guairi in Gailenga. Or in Dal Araide, is Findsech’s church. Or in Mag Rechet in Leix.” (Morett.)

    Rev. M.Comerford “Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin” (1883)

    The Martyrology of Donegal records:

    13. F. TERTIO IDUS OCTOBRIS. 13.

    FINDSECH, Virgin, of Sliabh Guaire, in Gailenga.

    while Marianus O’Gorman notes ‘dear Findsech’ on this date.

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