OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Irish Saints

  • Saint Mobhi of Glasnevin, October 12

    12 October sees the feastday of another one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, Saint Mobhi of Glasnevin, famed as the founder of a monastic school and as a teacher of some famous saints, among them Saints Colum Cille and Saint Cannice, whose feast falls the day before that of his former master. Saint Mobhi is famous also for having the rather curious adjective ‘clarinech’ appended to his name, this is usually translated as ‘flat-faced’. The earliest Irish calendar, the Martyrology of Oengus, attempted to explain why. The entry for today reads:

    12. Declare Fiacc and Fiachra, at the same time —
    great is that treasure!
    my Bi, strong that triumph!
    that fair flatfaced one.

    The notes for this entry read:

    Mobi, i.e. of Glasnevin on the brink of the river Liffey on the north side. Mobi son of Beoan, of Corco tri of the Luigni of Connaught. Uaine, Findbarr’s daughter, was his mother. In Cell maic Taidg was he conceived and brought forth, and of a dead woman he was begotten.

    Table-faced was he, for the earth pressed him down, so that he was one flat board. Mobi the Table-faced of Glasnevin in (the country occupied by) the Danes. Berchan was Mobi’s name. Beoaith son of Senach was his father’s name, and Huanir the Fair, daughter of Finnbarr, his mother’s name. Mobi etc.

    The later Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman records the saint as ‘Clarenech (‘table-face’), from Glasnevin in Fingal on the river Liffey’s brink, on the north side, and Berchan was another name of his.’

    The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal refers to Saint Mobhi’s famous Glasnevin foundation and to some of its notable students:

    MOBHI CLAIRENECH, [Abbot], of Glas Naoidhen in Fine-Gall, on the brink of the river Life, on the north side; and Bearchan was another name for him. The year of the Lord when he resigned his spirit was 544. He was of the race of Eochaidh Finn Fuathairt, of whom Brighit is descended; and Uanfinn, daughter of Finnbarr, was his mother. The Life of Colum Cille, chap. 35, states that Colum Cille went to Glas Naoidhen, where Mobhi Clairenech was with two score and ten persons at his school ; and among them were Cainneach, Ciaran of Cluain, and Comgall; and after the dispersion of the school, Mobhi requested of Colum Cille not to accept of any land till he should give him leave. The same life states, chap. 39, that when Colum Cille was at Doire, where the king of Erin, Aedh, son of Ainmire, was, Aedh offered that town to Colum Cille, and that Colum refused to accept of the town because he had not the permission of Mobhi, and that on his coming forth from the town, two of Mobhi’s people met him, bringing the girdle of Mobhi with them to him, after Mobhi’s own death, together with his permission to him to accept of land. When Colum received the girdle he said: “Good was the man who had this girdle,” said he, “for it was never opened for gluttony, nor closed on falsehood.” On which occasion he composed the quatrain:

    “Mobhi’s girdle, [Mobhi’s girdle],
    Nibhdar sibhne im lo,
    It was not opened for satiety,
    It was not closed on a lie.”

    In his classic work on the monastic schools of Ireland, Archbishop John Healy recounts the time spent by Saint Columba at Glasnevin:

    It was the custom in those days for the students to visit the various saints of Erin, who were celebrated for holiness and learning; and so we find that Columba, when he had finished his studies under Finnian of Clonard, directed his steps to the school of another great master of the spiritual life, St. Mobhi Clarainech of Glasnevin.

    The students’ cells at Glasnevin were situated on one side of the River Tolka, and Mobhi’s church was on the other, at or near the spot where the Protestant church now stands. The light-footed youngsters of those days, however, found no difficulty in crossing the rapid and shallow stream at ordinary times. But when the river was swollen with heavy rains, it was no easy task to breast the flood; yet such was Columba’s zeal in the service of God that on one such occasion, to his master’s admiration and surprise, he crossed the angry torrent, that he might be present as usual at the exercises in the church. “May God be praised,” said Columba, when he had crossed safely over, “and deliver us from these perils in future.” It is said that his prayer was heard ; and that all the cells, with their occupants, were suddenly transferred to the other side of the stream, and remained there ever after.

    Columba had for companions at Glasnevin St. Cannech, St. Ciaran, and St. Comgall—and during their entire lives a tender and ardent friendship united these holy men together. A pestilence which broke out in A.D. 544, and of which St. Ciaran appears to have died, scattered the holy disciples of St. Mobhi’s School; so Columba resolved to return home to his native territory.

    Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum or Ireland’s Ancient Schools and Scholars by the Most Rev. John Healy (6th edition, Dublin, 1912),296-297.

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  • Saints Loman and Fortchern of Trim, October 11

    October 11 is the feast of two County Meath saints associated with the mission of Saint Patrick, Loman and Forthchern of Trim. Patrician hagiography records that Loman was a Briton, and his royal convert Fortchern son of an Irish king and a British mother. The monastery of Trim produced a number of Irish saints, a fact alluded to in the entry for the day in the Martyrology of Tallaght:

    Lomman i nAth Truim cum suis omnibus et Fortchern.

    The Martyrology of Oengus mentions Fortchern first and then adds an interesting epithet to the name of Lomman:  

    Fortchern, Lommán lainnech, ‘Fortchern, Lomman the scaly’.

    The theme is continued in the entry of Marianus O’Gorman:

    Fortchern,- Lomman lomda, ‘Fortchern,- stript Lomman.’

    The accompanying notes record of Fortchern:

    epscop, deiscipul Patraic, 7 ó Ath truim il-Laeghaire dó, ocus ó Chill Fortceirn i n-Uibh Drónna i Laighnibh, ‘a bishop, a disciple of Patrick, and from Áth Truim in Loeguire was he, and from Cell Fortcheirn in Huí Dróna in Leinster’.

    and a note in the margins describes Loman in similar terms:

    in marg. Loman espoc, descipul oile do Phátraic, 7 ó Áth Truim dó beós.

    The Martyrology of Donegal records the Patrician associations of both saints and the royal background of Forthchern:

    FOIRTCHERN, son of Feidhlimidh, son of Laoghaire, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. He was a bishop, and a disciple of Patrick, and he was of Ath-Truim in Laoghaire, and of Cill Foirtcheirn in Ui-Dróna, in Leinster.

    LOMMAN, Bishop, another disciple of Patrick, and he was of Ath-Truim also; and Darerca, sister of Patrick, was his mother.

     So, what does the hagiography of Saint Patrick record of our saints? Below is an account taken from the diocesan historian of County Meath, Father Anthony Cogan, which includes an extract from the writings of Tírechan:

    ON the banks of the historic Boyne, in the heart of a rich and beautiful country, encompassed with ruins of churches, monasteries, and castles, whose gray mouldering walls speak of ages long past, and celebrities long forgotten, stands the capital of the once powerful palatinate of Meath the ancient and celebrated city of Ath-Truim, “the pass or ford of the elder trees”. Many and varied were the scenes which this old town has witnessed from the days of St. Loman, its first bishop, to the last election of a representative to sit in a foreign parliament. In the early ages Trim was the seat of an episcopal see said to have been the most ancient in Ireland, and had a monastic school of the first class, which dispensed its blessings to the neighbourhood …

    The ecclesiastical origin of Trim is thus accounted for by Tirechan, a writer of the seventh century:

    “A.D. 433. When Patrick, in his holy navigation, came to Ireland, he left St. Loman at the mouth of the Boyne to take care of his boat forty days and forty nights; and then he (St. Loman) waited another forty, out of obedience to Patrick. Then, according to the order of his master (the Lord being his pilot), he came in his boat, against the stream, as far as the ford of Trim, near the fort of Feidilmid, son of Loiguire. And when it was morning, Foirtchern, son of Feidilmid, found him reciting the Gospel, and admiring the Gospel and his doctrine, immediately believed; and a well being opened in that place, he was baptized by Loman in Christ, and remained with him until his mother came to look for him; and she was made glad at his sight, because she was a British woman. But she likewise believed, and again returned to her house, and told to her husband all that had happened to her and her son. And then Feidilmid was glad at the coming of the priest, because he had his mother from the Britons, the daughter of the king of the Britons, namely, Scothnoessa. And Feidilmid saluted Loman in the British tongue, asking him, in order, of his faith and kindred, and he answered: ‘I am Loman, a Briton, a Christian, a disciple of Bishop Patrick, who is sent from the Lord to baptize the people of the Irish, and to convert them to the faith of Christ, who sent me here according to the will of God’. And immediately Feidilmid believed, with all his family, and dedicated (immolavit) to him and St. Patrick his country, with his possessions and with all his family; all these he dedicated to Patrick and Loman, with his son Fortchern, till the Day of Judgment. But Feidilmid crossed the Boyne, and Loman remained with Fortchern in Trim, until Patrick came to them, and built a church with them, twenty-two years before the foundation of the Church of Armagh”.

    In the Annals of the Four Masters, at 432, we read:

    “Ath-Truim was founded by Patrick, it having been granted by Fedhlim, son of Laoghaire, son of Niall, to God and to him, Loman and Fortchern”.

    Rev. Anthony Cogan, The Diocese of Meath: Ancient and Modern, Volume 1 (Dublin, 1862), 44-48.

    Father Cogan also summarizes the names of the saints of Trim recorded in the Irish calendars, noting that Fortchern has a second feastday at February 18, one day after a collective feast for the saints of Trim:

    In the Martyrology of Tallaght, the festivals of the following saints of Trim are marked at the 17th of February: St. Aedha; St. Coelochtra; St. Cormac, Bishop; St Cuimaen, Bishop; St. Finnsegh, viz.: St. Lactan, Bishop; St. Lurech Mac Cuanach, ‘hostiarius Patricii’; St. Ossan; and St. Saran.

    The festival of St. Fortchern is marked at the 18th of February; and that of St. Loman “cum SS. omnibus”, at the 11th of October.

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  • Saint Dubhthach Mac Ua Lugair, October 7

    On October 7 some of the later Irish calendars of the saints record the name Dubhthach. This name does not appear in either The Martyrology of Tallaght or that of Saint Oengus, but the 12th-century Martyrology of Gorman lists Dubhthach, along with three other saints not mentioned on the earlier calendars. The 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal repeats this information and speculates that Dubhthach may have been mentioned in the hagiography of Saint Moling, as one of those who accompanied the saint in his mission to relieve the Leinstermen of the payment of a tribute known as the Borumha:

    7. G. NONIS OCTOBRIS. 7.

    DUBHTHACH. I think this is he whom Moling mentions as having gone with himself to seek a remission of the Borumha from Finnachta, king of Erin. This is what he says in the work called the Borumha itself:

    “Dear the three who met the difficulty,
    Who went with me for my welfare,
    Dubhthach, Dubhan, who concealed sorrow,
    And Cuan of Cluain-mor.”

    The name Dubhthach is borne by a number of Irish holy men but is also known from the pre-Christian era. The most famous pagan bearer of the name is perhaps the chieftain Dubhthach, father of Saint Brigid of Kildare.

    Our Dubhthach also started life as a pagan, for he appears in the hagiography of Saint Patrick as one of the early converts. There he is depicted as a poet who along with his pupil. the future Saint Fiacc of Sletty, encounters our national apostle at that fateful Eastertide at Tara. King Laeghaire, knowing that Saint Patrick will be calling, instructs his court to give him a cool reception. Let’s allow Archbishop John Healy to bring us the details of what happens next:

    They were all surprised when they saw Patrick, with his attendants, in the very midst of the hall ; but, in obedience to the King’s command, no one rose to do him homage except only Dubthach Maccu Lugair, the chief of  the poets of Erin, and also a youth, then a poet student, namely Fiacc, who afterwards became a wondrous bishop, whose relics now repose in Sletty. Patrick blessed them, for it was not only an act of faith, but a brave, nay, a daring act of faith; and Dubthach, we are told, was the first who believed on that day, and his faith justified him.

    Dubthhach’s courage and his learning are great assets to the Patrician mission. Fifteen years after he was granted the privilege of being the first believer from Tara, Saint Patrick consults Dubthhach on choosing a bishop:

    When Patrick met Dubthach he besought the poet to recommend to him a suitable person to be made bishop from amongst his own disciples. The chief poet of Erin had a large school of bards under his direction. The course of training continued for many years, and the disciples usually accompanied the master when making his rounds. But Dubthach was now growing old, for he was chief poet of Erin when he first met Patrick at Tara some fifteen years before and rose up to do him honour against the king’s command. Fiacc was there, too, a mere stripling at the time, but already in training for the bardic order. He was a nephew of the king-poet, being his sister’s son, and hence was from the beginning a special favourite of Dubthach.

    Needless to say, despite all of this Dubthhach selflessly proposes his star pupil and Fiacc, equally selflessly, accepts ecclesiastical rather than bardic high office.
     Dubhthach’s service to Patrick does not end there, for he is also an important figure in the legal sphere. The hagiographical accounts present the reform of the Irish laws as a joint collaboration between the pair:

    Dubthach Mac Ua Lugair, the Arch Poet of Erin, was the very first to rise up to do honour to Patrick and accept his doctrine. Afterwards he became Patrick’s fast friend, and most sagacious counsellor. He was ready, as in the case of Fiacc of Sletty, to hand over to Patrick his most promising pupils for the service of the infant Church. In the reform of the Brehon Laws his services were simply invaluable, for as Chief Poet he had a professional knowledge of the whole Brehon Code, and was thus enabled to exhibit, as we are told, to Patrick, ‘all the judgments and all the poetry of the men of Erin, and expound  every law which prevailed amongst the men of Erin, through the law of nature and the law of the seers, and in the judgments of the island of Erin and in the poets.’ Chiefly through his assistance Patrick was enabled to produce an expurgated code of the ancient laws of Erin, and  secure its adoption by the King and the chiefs of Erin. For such services Patrick was duly grateful to Dubthach, and to all the Bardic Order, and he always welcomed its junior members into the service of the infant Church.

    Most Rev. J Healy, The Life and Writings of Saint Patrick (Dublin, 1905), 149-150, 391, 568-569.

    I am left with the impression that Dubhthach is a man whose life straddles two different worlds – the pagan and the Christian – but whose learning and courage are equally valued in both.

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