OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Category: Saints of Carlow

  • Saint Colmán of Midhe-Iseal, September 22

    September 22 is the feast day of one of the many saints named Colman to be found in the Irish calendars. This particular Saint Colmán is identified by both his patronym and his locality but Canon O’Hanlon was unable to bring any further details:

    St. Colman, Son of Cathbhadh, of Midhe-iseal.

    At the 22nd of September, the Martyrology of Tallagh records a festival to honour Colman, son of Cathbhadh, of Midisiul. The O’Clerys state, that Aighlenn, daughter of Lenin, was his mother. That his parents had well fulfilled their duties towards their son seems to admit of little doubt. With the other saints venerated on this day, Marianus O’Gorman calls on godly, pure-coloured Colman, son of Cathbad, to help us. The commentator adds, that he belonged to Midhisiul, interpreted Lower Meath. At the same date, the Martyrology of Donegal has an entry of Colman, son of Cathbhadh, from Mide isiul.

    Modern scholarship, however, has more to say of this saint. Professor Pádraig Ó Riain’s 2011 Dictionary of Irish Saints identifies a Columban association for Saint Colmán and says that he features in the Life of Saint Colum Cille by Saint Adamnan. Midhe-Iseal, modern Myshall, County Carlow is not his only associated locality, for he is also linked to Slanore, County Cavan and to Ros Glanna, County Tyrone.  Nor is September 22 his only feast day for he is credited with another commemoration on September 6. If that weren’t enough he is described in the calendars at September 6 as the son of Eochaidh rather than Cathbhadh. Thus, what initially appeared to be a case of just another obscure saint about whom Canon O’Hanlon struggled to write more than a few lines, is actually more complex. I propose therefore to follow up on the Columban references and bring a fresh account of the saint on his other feast day of September 6. In the meantime I can only echo the call of Marianus O’Gorman: godly, pure-coloured Colman, son of Cathbad, to help us!

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  • Saint Id of Aghade, July 14

     

    A saint associated with Saint Patrick is commemorated on July 14. Canon O’Hanlon rounds up the traditions and calendar entries concerning the feast of Saint Id (Idus) and the locality in which he flourished:

    St. Id, Bishop of Ath-Fhadhat, now Ahade or Aghade, County of Carlow.

    [Said to have lived in the Fifth Century.]

    If what is generally accepted in relation to this holy man be correct, he must have flourished at a very early period in the Irish Church. The present saint, called Id or Idus, is said to have been one of St. Patrick’s disciples, and to have been invoked in the old Irish metrical prayer, which bears the name of St. Moling. The reference to Colgan’s Manuscripts is relied on for the foregoing statement. Unless the name can be resolved into Aed or Aedus, we do not find any such person in the published Acts of St. Patrick. The Martyrology of Donegal registers a festival to honour Id, Bishop of Ath Fhadhat, in Leinster, at the 14th of July. That place to which he belonged is said to be situated in the barony of Forth, and it gives name to the present parish of Aghade, in the county of Carlow. However, if the traditional accounts regarding it, as found in the romantic literature of ancient Erinn, be founded on anything approaching truth, the denomination of his place ought rather be called Ahade. There can hardly be a question, but that the original name of Ahade was Ath Fadat, or Fadat’s Ford. There is a legendary Dindscanchas or nomenclature history of its situation, in the Book of Leinster, the substance of which is given by Professor Eugene O’Curry. [The story goes, that Etan Cend Derg or of the Red Head, with his household, fought Liath of Doire Leith, with his son Fadad and his two daughters Doe and Caichne, at Loch Lurcan, for the right of fishing in the Barrow. Liath was killed in this battle. Some time, afterwards, Fadad, the son of Liath, with his two sisters, Doe and Caichne, mustered their friends, and another battle was fought in the same place. There, on the banks of the Slaney, Fadad was killed. In commemoration of this event, the place was afterwards called Ath Fadad or the Fort of Fadad, a name which it retains to the present day, under the slightly Anglicized form of Ahade.]

    The Protestant church of the union of Ballon and Aghade stands on the site of one much older, and the foundations have been utilized for the erection of the more modern building, which is said to have been so old, that the date and cost of its erection are unascertainable. The church is prettily situated, on a gently elevated ground, and in the midst of a highly cultivated district. A rivulet running close to the churchyard adds greatly to the beauty of this tranquil scene. Some interesting tombs and their inscriptions are to be found there. It has been stated, that about the middle of the twelfth century, by Dermod Mac Murchad, King of Leinster, a nunnery had been here founded, for nuns of the order of St. Augustine, but it was then attached to the nunnery of St. Mary de Hogges, in the city of Dublin. There is now no remembrance of the nunnery in this locality. A blessed well—but without a name—is there, while other antiquities exist, and numerous human remains have been turned up, between Ahade and the town of Tullow.

    Under the head of Ath Fadat, Duald Mac Firbis enters the name Id, bishop of Ath-Fadat, in Leinster, for this day. At the 14th of July, St. Idus, Bishop of Ath-Fada, in Leinster, is set down by Rev. Alban Butler. In the “Circle of the Seasons,” at this same date, he is simply called a bishop in Leinster. Little of a reliable character can be gleaned regarding him.

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  • Saint Strofan of Cluan-Mor, May 23

    Among the saints commemorated on the Irish calendars on May 23 is a Saint Strofan, possibly associated with the monastery of Clonmore in County Carlow. Canon O’Hanlon supplies the details:

    St. Strofan or Straffan, of Cluan-Mor, probably Clonmore, County of Carlow.

    The record Strofan Cluana Moir is found, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 23rd of May. The Bollandists reiterate this statement, by entering the present holy man as Stephanus Cluainmorensis. According to Colgan, a saint called Stephen was venerated, at this date, in a place called Cluainmhor, which was situated, he says, within the territory of Ely O’Carroll. Other accounts, however, place his monastery in Lagenia or Leinster. There is a celebrated Clonmore, i.e., “the Great Lawn, or Meadow,” in the barony of Rathvilly, and county of Carlow. What he states about this Stephen, Colgan advances, on the testimony of St. Mochemoc’s Acts, which we have already recorded, at the 13th day of March. A holy man of this name is found, where Duald Mac Firbis enters, under the head of Cuil Carra, Senach, son of Ecin, with Srafan, and Senchell, and Brodigan —five bishops—and Aitecaem and Bishop Mac Cairthin, and Conlough and Brigid, in Cuil Carra. It is doubtful, however, if the Srafan here named be the same person as the present saint. We read, again, in the Martyrology of Donegal, that Sraffan, of Cluain-mor, was venerated on this day.

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