OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Antrim

  • Saint Cathur, or Cathub, Bishop of Achadhcinn, April 6

    At April 6 the Irish calendars commemorate an obscure early saint, Cathur or Cathub. Canon O’Hanlon is unable to bring many details but discounts the possibility raised by the seventeenth-century hagiologist, Father John Colgan, that he was associated with the mission of Saint Patrick:

    St. Cathur, or Cathub, Bishop of Achadhcinn, Probably Aughnakeely, County of Antrim

    Sacred biography should be a record of useful individual traits of character, and of social facts, on which religious philosophy, as a science, might be based. But, we have, very frequently, in the case of Ireland’s saints, materials too scanty for information, and instruction, in most of our hagiographical essays. The Bollandists have a mere notice to this holy man, but his name is incorrectly given. St.  Cathub was born, in the early part of the fifth century, and in the year 404. He was son of Fergus. The present holy man has been classed, but incorrectly, among the disciples of St. Patrick. He is said to have been bishop of Achadh-cinn, or Achid-cinn. Some authorities only style him Abbot. His place is supposed to have been identical with the present Aughnakeely,  one of the four townlands of Craigs, barony of Kilconway, and county of Antrim. In Colgan’s time, it was called Achadh na Cille, and it lay within the boundaries of Dalriadia. At this spot, there was an ancient burial ground, although its name is not marked on the Ordnance Survey Maps. A very capable investigator has remarked, that Dalriada, or the Route, ends at the southern boundary of Kilconway, which is but a short distance from this place, It has been conjectured, that Loch Cathbadh, Latinized, Lacus Cathbadii, adjoining Dalaradia, may have taken its denomination, from the present holy man. He flourished before and after the commencement of the sixth century, and he died, on the 6th of April, A.D. 554.  It is said,  that he lived, for one hundred and fifty years. This account also agrees with a statement in the  Chronicon Scotorum; but, the year of his death was 555, according to the latter authority. It must be observed, that Rev. Dr. Lanigan doubts the attainment of his extraordinary term of life, and accounts for the story of that great age, on a conjecture of his own. Colgan suspected, that the priest, named Fothrath  or Cathbad, who was placed over a church at Fothrat, might have been the same as St. Cathub, who was revered at Achadcinn, or Achadnacill. Yet, this latter place is not named in the Tripartite, nor in any of St. Patrick’s various Acts. The Martyrology of Tallagh registers the name merely, as Cathub, Bishop, at the 6th of April. On this day was venerated, according to the Martyrology of Donegal, Cathur, son of Fergus, Bishop, over Achadh-cinn.

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  • Saint Colman of Kilroot, October 16

    Photo credit: Kilroot Power Station for J4388

     

    October 16 is the feast of a northern saint, Colman of Kill-Ruaidh, now known as Kilroot, County Antrim. Natives of this part of the world today associate Kilroot with the power station which can be seen across Belfast Lough, so the locality continues to shed light, albeit of a type unknown to its saintly patron. The account below has been taken from the revised edition of Archdall’s Monasticon Hibernicum, with notes contributed by Bishop (later Cardinal) P.F. Moran, which was serialized in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record:

    Kill-Ruaidh, called in mediaeval records, Kilroigh, Kilruaigh, Kilroe, and Kilrothe, gave name to the present parish of Kilroot. The “Felire of Oengus” mentions St. Colman in connection with this church on the 16th of October:

    “Colman of Kill-Ruaidh,” and the “Gloss” adds : “Colman, bishop, son of Cathbadh, of Kill-Ruaidh, on the bank of Loch-Laig, in Ulidia” and the “Martyrology of Donegal” also writes, on the same day: “Colman, bishop of Kill-Ruaidh, in Dal-Araidhe, on the brink of Loch Laoigh, in Uladh.” Lough-Laoigh was not Lough-Neagh, as Archdall supposes, but the modern Belfast Lough. Close upon its Antrim coast, in the townland Kilroot) is a churchyard of the same name, which still retains some traces of the ancient church. From the “Life of St. Mac Nisse” we learn that St. Colman was still a boy whilst this saint was bishop of Connor. He is there called “Colmanus Episcopus, qui Ecclesiam nomine Kellruaid fundavit” (Ada SS. Bolland, Sept. I, 665); and the learned Franciscan, Ward, adds the note: “S. Colmanus fuit Episcopus Kill-Ruadhensis, quae nunc obsoleta sedes est in Aradeorum regione (i.f., Dalaradia) ad oram stagni Juvenci vulgo Loch-Laodh in Ultonia ubi ejus festum tamquam patroni colitur xvi. Octobris.” The “Annals of the Four Masters” and the “Annals of Ulster” record, at 1122, that Connor Mac Lochlin, with an army from Tyrone, laid waste “Kill-Ruaidh, in Ulster,” and carried away great spoil.

    From the “Life of St. Ailbhe, of Emly” we glean a few interesting particulars regarding the first foundation of this ancient church. It is stated there that, “St. Ailbhe, like an industrious bee with its load of honey, returned from Rome, under the Divine guidance, to his native Ireland. And when he arrived at the sea he blessed it, and, with a breathless calm, he and his whole company crossed its waters in a frail ship uninjured, and landed on the north coast of Ireland. And there, at Ailbhe’s order, one of his disciples called Colman, founded a church named Cill-ruaidh. And whereas the spot was unprovided with fresh water, St. Ailbhe blessed a stone, in the name of God omnipotent, and forthwith there gushed from it a stream of water. Then said St. Colman to Ailbhe, “The water is scanty;” to whom Ailbhe replied: “Though the water is scanty, it will never fail; but will be a running stream as long as the world lasts.” Therefore the name of the stream is called Buanan Cylle Ruayd, i.e, the “Unfailing Stream of Kill-ruaidh.” (Codex Kilken. Marsh’s Libr. fol 136, b). The Irish Franciscan, Father MacCana, visited the spot about 1640, and closed his “Itinerary” with the following note regarding it: “Not far from Carrickfergus, on the east, is the church of Kill-ruaidh, which the English call Killread. In all times it was celebrated, and, even in my time, and that of my forefathers, it was always one of the residences of the bishops of Connor. The church was endowed in former ages with very ample possessions, and, even in my day, it was provided with no mean appurtenances. Of this place mention is made in the ‘Life of St. Albeus.”

  • Saint Murghal of Rathlin, September 29

    September 29 is the commemoration of an eighth-century abbot of the monastery on Rathlin Island, County Antrim. Canon O’Hanlon’s entry on the life of Saint Murghal draws on the evidence for his life preserved in the Irish Calendars and Annals:

    ST. MURGHAL, ABBOT OF RATHLIN, COUNTY OF ANTRIM.

    In very remote situations, many of our Irish saints chose to remove from the world, to avoid its temptations and snares. In the published Martyrology of Tallagh, we find simply the entry Murgail, at the 29th of September. A similar entry is in the Book of Leinster copy. The Feilire of Marianus O’Gorman enters Murgal, at this date, and a commentator adds, that he was the son of Uinnid, and abbot of Rechrann. This is now the Island of Rathlin, off the northern coast of Antrim. Sometimes the name of Murgal’s father is written Nenned. Our saint was probably born before or soon after the commencement of the eighth century. At a remote period, and early in the seventh century, a monastic institution had been there established at Rathlin, by St. Segene, Abbot of Iona, A.D. 630, or a little later. The succession of its Abbots has been given by Colgan. There, or perhaps at Iona, our saint had been religiously trained in monastic studies and religious discipline. He appears to have immediately succeeded as Abbot to St. Cobthach, who died A.D. 743, about twenty years before the period assigned for his own departure to bliss. The “Annals of the Four Masters” place his death at the year 764. According to the Annals of Ulster, he died A.D. 768, with which date the O’Clerys agree, and state, that he departed on the 29th of September. Additional particulars are recorded at the same date in the Martyrology of Donegal. There he is mentioned as Murghal, son of Ninnidh, Abbot of Rechrainn.

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