On October 3 the Irish calendars record a holy man with one of the most ancient of Irish names, Nuadu or Nuada the anchorite. The Martyrology of Tallaght, the earliest of the Irish calendars, records him simply as Nuadu anchorita, ‘Nuadu, the anchorite’. He does not feature among the saints listed at this day in the Martyrology of Oengus but the 12th-century monastic, Marianus O’Gorman, describes him as Nuadu, nuagel, ‘fresh-fair Nuadu’, in his calendar. A note adds anchoiri, ‘an anchorite’. The name is also recorded in the 17th-century Martyrology of Donegal in its more modern form of ‘Nuada, anchorite’. Although no further information is given on the calendars, I have recently been reading a paper on ‘The Officials of the Church of Armagh to A.D. 1200’ in which I encountered Nuadu, an early ninth-century bishop of Armagh who is also described as an anchorite. He is number 33 on the Ancient List of the Coarbs of Patrick compiled by H.G. Lawlor and R.I. Best, where two notices from the Annals of Ulster, the first recording a visit to Connaught and the second recording his repose, are reproduced beside his name on page 323:

811. Nuadha abbas A. migrauit to Connaught cum lege Patricii et cum armario eius. AU.

Nuadu, abbot of Ard Macha, went to Connacht with Patrick’s law and his casket.

812. Nuadha of Loch Uamha episcopus et anchorita, abbas A. dormiuit. AU.

Nuadu of Loch nUamac, bishop and anchorite, abbot of Armagh, fell asleep.

Loch nUamac has been identified as Loch Nahoo, in the parish of Drumlease, County Leitrim, by scholar T. M. Charles-Edwards, who also notes ‘Drumlease was attached to the Patrician familia, as shown by two documents in the Book of Armagh…It belonged to the minor kingdom of Calraige in north-east Connaught. Nuadu’s interest in the province of Connaught is shown by 811.1.. (The Chronicle of Ireland (Liverpool, 2006), note 1, p.271.)

I was hoping that the author of the paper on the officials at Armagh might be able to provide a definition of the term ‘anchorite’ in the context of early medieval Irish monasticism, but this is all he had to say:

13. Anchorite (Old and Middle Irish anchara, ancair, Latin anchorita.) Thirteen mentions of holders of this title are recorded in the chronicles. It first appears in 725 as a designation for Eochaid, the last being Abel and Gilla Muiredag in 1159. This role could be linked with other functions: Nuadu is called bishop and anchorite, Forannán was comarba, bishop and anchorite, Ioseph was bishop, abbot, comarba and anchorite.

Hérold Pettiau, ‘The Officials of the Church of Armagh to A.D. 1200’ in A. J. Hughes and W. Nolan, eds., Armagh History and Society: Interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish County (Dublin, 2001) 125.

The later medieval idea of an anchorite was of someone who withdrew from the world entirely and who was differentiated from a hermit by his strict enclosure, as R. M. Clay, author of a study of English anchorites explains:

THE anchorite differed from the hermit in that he lived in stricter seclusion, and was not free to wander at will. He was not merely, as the word αναχωρητης signifies, withdrawn from the world: he was inclusus, shut up in a strait prison, whether in church, chapel, convent, or castle… (‘Anchorites in Church and Cloister’ in Hermits and Anchorites of England (London: Methuen, 1914).

This later notion of an anchorite, if it also applied in Ireland, would seem to preclude someone from carrying out the duties of a bishop as an inclusus would not be free to undertake a visitation of his ecclesiastical territory as our Bishop and anchorite Nuadu did of Connaught in the early ninth century. I’m thus still uncertain what the term anchorite meant in our context and will have to do some further research.

I remarked at the beginning of this post that the saint Nuadu commemorated today bears one of the oldest of Irish names. This point was made by the author of a book on Irish saints in the 1960s:

Nuada, an anchorite, whose name is found in one of the Three Tragedies of the Gael and one of the oldest legends in Ireland, the Children of Turenn. Nuada in that legend is Nuada of the Silver Hand, so called because he lost his arm at the First Battle of Moytura between the Tuatha de Danaan and the Fomorians, which is held by some authorities to have taken place anno mundi 3303, and was supplied with a silver one by his physician Dianecht instead. It is therefore a name, and a lovely one, of great antiquity.

(Eoin Neeson, The Book of Irish Saints, (Cork, 1967) 176.

Despite the pagan mythological origins of this name, our anchorite Bishop Nuadu is not alone in bearing it in ninth century Christian Ireland. Scholar Clare Downham has brought together the entries from the Irish annals relating to the Vikings and records this entry from the Annals of the Four Masters under the year 845:

AFM 843.10

Sloighedh la Gallaibh Atha Cliath a c-Cluanaibh Andobhair, 7 argain leiss Chille h-Achaidh, 7 martradh Nuadhat mic Seigeni leo.

[A military outing by the foreigners of Áth Cliath to Cluain an Dobor, and the enclosure of Cell Achid was raided; and Nuadu son of Ségíne, was martyred by them.]

There are also various other instances of this name to be found in the annals and calendars, the Martyrology of Donegal, for example, contains two other saints Nuada, one a bishop commemorated at February 2 and the other an abbot at December 2. Sadly, nothing more seems to be recorded of these individuals either. I cannot, of course, definitively identify the ninth-century bishop and anchorite Nuadu with the saint commemorated today, but find it of great interest that this very old name of Irish legend continued to be popular as a Christian name and was borne by men of various ecclesiastical ranks who feature in our native calendars of the saints.

 

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On this day, the feast of St. Sceallan occurs in some of our native Martyrologies. His memory is recorded in the Calendar of Marianus O’Gorman. Also, we find entered in the Martyrology of Donegal, that veneration was given to Sceallan, the Leper, of Ard-Macha, or Armagh. The Irish Calendar, belonging to the Ordnance Survey Records, has a similar entry. By the Bollandists, his festival is noticed, at the 1st of September. This holy man seems to have borne patiently the loathsome disease, once so common in Ireland, and from which his appellation was derived. When he lived does not seem to be known, but it was probably in the ninth or tenth century. The name of Sceallan, the Leper, of Armagh, is not found in the Martyrology of Tallagh, contained in the Book of Leinster.

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August 29 is the commemoration of an early bishop whom tradition associates with the mission of Saint Patrick. Saint Winoc (Winnoc, Uindic, Uinnic) appears to have been identified with two different locations, one in County Down and the other in County Armagh. Canon O’Hanlon struggles to reconcile the evidence for these locations, but believes that Colgan made an error in locating Bishop Winnoc’s seat in County Antrim. I have omitted some of the topographical wrangling from his account below:

ST. WINOC, CALLED BISHOP OF RATH-ESPUIC-INNIC, OR ST. UINDIC OF TEAGHNEATHA, OR TYNAN, COUNTY OF ARMAGH.

[FIFTH CENTURY.]

WHEN with indomitable zeal, St. Patrick preached the word of God throughout Ireland, he found there numerous disciples, who accepted his teaching and profited by his example. Their names are also recorded in the lists of our National Saints; although, indeed, their acts seem discoverable in many instances, only as episodes among those given in Lives of the great Apostle. An instance occurs in the case of the present holy man. By Colgan, he is styled St. Uindic, Bishop of Rath-Easpuic Innic. He is also called Winnoc. In O’Sullevan Beare’s Catalogue, this Saint’s name is likewise entered. However, very little is known regarding his early history, or the place where he was born, He flourished in the fifth century. This Saint is registered as one of St. Patrick’s disciples; but, when he became attached to the Irish apostle is uncertain. The following anecdote has been preserved for us, in the Acts of St. Patrick, and, it serves to give us an idea, that while a confidential friend and esteemed highly by the great Patriarch of the Irish Church, Winnoc well deserved that trust, owing to his spirit of devotion and true humility. At one time, St. Patrick and St. Winnoc sat together, when engaged at a religious conference. While speaking of the Deity, and of things which especially concerned Him, these holy councillors referred to the Divine precept of charity, and they remarked that both by word and work were they bound to part with their garments, to clothe persons, who were in need of such comforts. At that moment, a cloak appeared to descend from Heaven, and it fell between them. This portent they regarded, both as an approval of their pronounced sentiments, on the part of the Most High, and as an earnest of those rewards, which they should not fail in obtaining, from the Father of lights, to recompense their future sacrifices. The saints felt greatly rejoiced and comforted; but their minds were filled with divergent opinions, regarding that miracle. Each one ascribed it to the other’s merits. St. Patrick asserted, that this gift was intended for Winnoc who had perfectly renounced all his worldly possessions, for the sake of Christ. On the other hand, St. Winnoc alleged, that it had been sent to St. Patrick, who, although possessing everything yet kept nothing; for, he had left himself naked for God’s sake, while clothing numbers, who were poor and naked. While such discussions, dictated by sincere humility on both sides, continued, the cloak was again elevated towards Heaven, and it suddenly disappeared. But, in its stead, two cloaks were next seen to descend from above. These were intended respectively for both Saints ; and thus, all reason for future discussion on that point was removed, owing to this celestial indication, that both were eminently deserving Divine approbation.

At this time, both were probably in the north-eastern part of Ireland, and, it is thought, in that district known as Hua Dercachein, said to have been in Dalaradia. However, this meeting possibly took place among the Oirghialla, a powerful tribe, descended from the three Collas,who conquered the ancient Ultonians. The country of this sept originally comprised the greater part of Ulster; and the three Collas, viz. Colla Uais, Colla Dachrich and Colla Meann, were the ancestors of distinguished northern clans. According to Marianus O’Gorman, the church of Teaghneatha—situated within that territory and in the Diocese of Armagh—was connected in an especial manner with St. Uindic or Winnoc. In mediaeval documents, this place has been written Twinha; and it is now represented by the modern townland and parish of Tynan, in the baronies of Tiranny and Armagh, County of Armagh… This place and the Saint in connection with it have been rendered “Winnic of Tynan,” in the diocese of Armagh, by the Rev. William Reeves, and by Dr. John O’Donovan. The remains of an ancient stone cross, highly ornamented, and which originally stood within the grave-yard, have been built into the wall of the church-yard, for their greater preservation…

Besides the large district of the Oirghialla, there were two other great divisions in Ulster, and known as Dalriada and Dalaradia… The country of the Hua Dercachein likewise formed a sub-division of the ancient territory of Uladh…we are informed, that at Rath-Easpuic-Innic, St. Patrick built a church, and this is said to have been situated in the territory of Hua-Derca-Chein. According to one account, this districts lay in the present barony of Castlereagh, County of Down, and adjacent to Strangford Lough. The Genealogies of the Hy-Earca-Chein are to be found in the Book of Lecan. The more ancient line of chiefs in the territory of Leath Chathail or Lecale belonged to the Ullta or Clanna Rudhraidhe. Over Rath-Easpuic-Innic, however, and in the district of Dalaradia, the Apostle of Ireland is said to have appointed Vinnoc, as Bishop…. It seems sufficiently probable, that while St. Vinnoc had been connected with Teaghnetha or Tynan, he had charge, moreover, of Rath-Easpuic-Innic, which gave him claim to be regarded as one of our primitive Irish bishops. In identifying Hua Dercachein with the valley of the Braid, in the County of Antrim, Colgan has fallen into an error. It seems rather to have been a tract in the northern part of the County Down, or on the confines of Down and Antrim…

However, notwithstanding the foregoing false conjectures as to locality, St. Vinnoc was venerated on the 29th of August, at a church belonging to the Diocese of Armagh, commonly called Tuighnean, but more correctly Teagh-neatha. Such is the identification of Marianus O’Gorman, in connection with his entry of St. Uinnic in the Calendar. The published Martyrology of Donegal registers a festival in honor of Uindic, of Tuighnetha, at this same date. Moreover, Uindic, Bishop of Rath-Easpuic-Innic, has been placed, by Rev. William Reeves, among the Saints of Down, Connor and Dromore, in that Calendar which he has compiled for these Dioceses. The day for his festival, is the 29th of August.

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